Conferences

This year’s annual Social Policy Association conference will take place at Swansea University (Singleton Park Campus) from 6-8 July 2022 on the theme of ‘Inter-generationality: Challenges and Prospects’. It will be delivered in a ‘hybrid’ format so that key parts of the conference will also be accessible online.

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*Conference registration is now open! See full details of rates for in-person and online attendance below*

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Inter-generationality: Challenges and Prospects

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Keynote speakers:           

Prof Chiara Saraceno (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung)

Baroness Minouche Shafik (London School of Economics) 

We have invited participants to reflect on the theme of inter-generationality from all available angles, in any national context – and welcome contributions from researchers at all stages of their careers, and from any disciplinary perspective relevant to social policy in theory and practice.

While every era faces questions about the treatment of different generations, in ours they have become especially pressing.  Lengthening lifespans, changing birth-rates and an increasing awareness of the implications of past and current policies for future generations all have implications for how we understand the scope, priorities and values of social policy.  And talk of inter-generational clashes of interest – between, for example, ‘baby-boomers’ and the generations which have followed – is high in the public consciousness.  The panning-out of these issues and trends is inflected by other social divisions – for example class, gender and ‘race’ and ethnicity – and has been exacerbated by challenges to previous presumptions about the provision of social and public services, and to the institutional legacies of past generations.  As elsewhere, these trends and impacts have been highlighted all the more starkly by the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, and political changes such as Brexit and the emergence of right-wing populism.  And they touch upon every area of social policy, often unsettling previous assumptions and posing fresh questions about how we view the role of welfare states, the relationship between family and state, our responsibilities to the vulnerable and the values which inform decisions about the allocation of resources and the nature of services themselves.

In all these senses, inter-generational issues are at the heart of many of the most urgent challenges faced by contemporary societies.

About our keynote speakers

Professor Chiara Saraceno was formerly Professor of Sociology of the Family at the University of Torino and Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, where she retains a visiting role, as well as being Honorary Fellow at the Collegio Carlo Alberto.  Through a research career spanning 50 years, she has been recognised as one of Europe’s foremost analysts of intergenerational issues, and has fulfilled consultative roles with the Italian government, the European Commission, and the OECD.  She has been honoured for her work as a Grand Ufficiale (Great Knight) of the Italian Republic.

Baroness Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics, having previously served as the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank, Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.  She is author of the widely acclaimed What We Owe to Each Other (2021), which makes a case for a new social contract fit for the 21^st century.

Other plenary events include a panel discussion on the conference theme featuring:                                   

Rocio Cifuentes (Children’s Commissioner for Wales)

Helena Herklots (Older People’s Commissioner for Wales)

Sophie Howe (Future Generations Commissioner for Wales)

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Abstract submission: closed on 14 March 2022

Publication of draft programme: 23 May 2022

The conference programme is provisionally scheduled  to run from 12.30pm on 6 July, to 2.30pm on 8 July.

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Registration and Conference Rates

Registration to the SPA Conference 2022 is now open!

Early bird deadline: Wednesday 18 May 

Registration closes:

For speakers / those requiring accommodation: Wednesday 15 June

For non-speakers / those not requiring accommodation: Wednesday 29 June

We have worked hard to keep registration rates low again this year. Due to the ‘hybrid’ nature of the conference, we are offering two overarching rates – an online rate and an in-person rate. Conference fees are also differentiated according to early-bird, membership, PhD rate and, for in-person attendance, day rate.

You can find all the conference rates here (PDF).

Please note that the full conference rate includes the conference dinner and annual awards ceremony, as well as
accommodation for your preferred number of nights.

The conference will take place on the university’s Singleton Park Campus.

If you have any queries about registration rates, please email conference2022@social-policy.org.uk.