Social Futures Institute
     

Social Futures Institute conference reports

Second International Investigative Interviewing Research Conference

14-16 April 2009
This international conference examined contemporary thinking in the area of interviewing and was attended by over 140 delegates from both academic and practitioner communities. The practitioner community was largely represented by policing professionals whilst academics included those from criminology, psychology and forensic linguistics. The overarching theme, ‘Putting theory into practice: The dilemmas of law and psychology’, was indicative of the aim to encourage mutual dialogue between these two groups. An international perspective was achieved as delegates, coming from around 15 countries, ensured a global voice.

Health, Well-being and Happiness Conference

30 June - 1 July, 2008
This international conference brought together leading social scientists, humanities scholars, and local and national practitioners to present and evaluate contributions to the rapidly growing academic field of health, wellbeing and happiness studies.

Women, Identity and Employability Conference

Centre for Social and Policy Research | 07 February 2008

Keynote Speaker: Professor Sue Yeandle, University of Leeds
This event explored research and policy related to women, identity and employability. Presentations were clustered around recognition that although there is a wealth of literature on women within employment, less has focused upon women at the margins of the UK labour market and issues of employability.

Urban Futures seminars

Urban Futures seminars are jointly organised by Social Futures Institute and the Centre for the Study of Cities and Regions, Durham University. The purpose is to invite practitioners, policy makers and academics to come together to discuss key issues affecting the social, cultural, environmental and economic development of the Tees Valley.

The series has been generously funded by Tees Valley Partnership and has attracted speakers of international caliber including Patrick Le Gales (France), Marjory Mayo (UK), Brendon Gleeson (Australia), Alan Murie (UK), Ming Wen (USA), George Ritzer (USA), Roger Keil (Canada), Ann Markusen (USA), Gerry Stoker (UK).

Exploring Children’s Growth in the Early Years: Nurturing for Transition: 18 May 2006

In partnership with SureStart Middlesbrough, the Community Evaluation and Research Group based at the Social Futures Institute at Teesside University, hosted a conference at Middlesbrough Teaching and Learning Centre on the 18 May 2006. Entitled Exploring Children’s Growth in the Early Years: Nurturing for Transition, the conference aimed to promote methodology in relation to child development. This included exploring social and emotional development, early language and communicative development, and the inter-relationship between physical and emotional health in children. Guest speakers included Dr Christine Macintyre, University of Edinburgh, Dr Andrea Waylen , University of Warwick, and Dr Madeline Portwood, Senior Educational Psychologist, Durham LEA. They presented research findings on the effects of Omega-3 supplements on children’s behaviour and learning.

Sustaining Life, Designing Life: 10 - 11 March 2006

Together with the Audio Visual Festival, The Social Futures Institute hosted this two day symposium at Teesside University. This was the second AV Festival.

The symposium explored the theme of life from social, political, scientific, artistic and ethical perspectives. Speakers include Oron Catts, Tissue Culture and Art Project (Australia); Gina Czernecki, Artist (Australia/UK); Professor Robin Bunton and Professor Eileen Green, Social Futures Institute; Andy Gracie, Artist (Spain/UK); Heath Bunting & Kayle Brandon, Artists (UK); Brian Lee Dae Yung, Scientist (USA) Professor Gerda Roper, School of Arts & Media, Professor Carolyn Summerbell, School of Health & Social Care, Professor Graham Street, School of Science & Engineering (Teesside University); Tom Shakespeare, Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre (PEALs) (UK); and Kenneth Rinaldo, Inventor and Artist (USA).

For more information contact Tony Chapman on +44 (0) 1642 342321, email t.chapman@tees.ac.uk, or Catherine Iles on +44 (0) 1642 384477, email c.iles@tees.ac.uk

North East Women Against Pornography Seminar: 7 December 2005

The North East Women's Forum with the Section for the Study of Gender Violence and Gender Justice and the Social Futures Institute held a seminar at Teesside University, Clarendon Building, to launch North East Women Against Pornography (NEWAP). Guest speakers included Julie Bindel, consultant for the Poppy Project, Professor Jill Radford from Middlesbrough Sexual Violence Forum and Wendy Shepherd, Children's Services Manager Barnardos SECOS project.

Urban Futures Seminars 3: September 2004 - May 2005

A programme of seminars addressed local and national problems and policy agendas. The Urban Futures series is jointly run with the Wolfson Research Institute at the University of Durham.

Sports Therapists Visit

Professor Brent Arnold and Alan Freedman, academic staff from Virginia Commonwealth University visited the Social Futures Institute on March 17th to explore avenues for collaborative research on athletic training and sports therapy. The visit formed part of a tour of five UK universities led by Professor Graham Smith, Chairman of the Society of Sports Therapists.

An outcome of the meeting is an agreement to send a member of Teesside's sports therapy staff to Virginia Commonwealth University to establish the foundations for collaborative research and to encourage exchange visits with students between the two institutions.

A Place to Call Home: 19-20 July 2004

The Institute also hosts a biennial conference. 2004's conference was: 'A Place to Call Home: connecting people, households, neighbourhoods and cities'.

Practical Solutions: Widening Women’s Working Horizons: 17th February 2005

This conference focused on two areas – mentoring and the use of social networks – as practical solutions to some of the more personal barriers to work and progression identified by women in our research, ‘Widening Horizons: Improving the role of women in the workplace’, funded by the European Social Fund. View the research details.