Focus on social justice and exclusion

Social scientists will converge on Teesside University for a conference focusing on social justice and exclusion.

The University’s Social Futures Institute Annual Conference will be held from 9.00am to 4.30pm on Thursday 11 July in the University’s Centuria Building.

The theme of the conference is Social Justice and Social Exclusion: Critical Reflections on Coalition Government Policy.

The one-day conference aims to draw together social scientists from a range of disciplines to examine critically the current policy context and confront likely future scenarios for social justice.

Dr Paul Crawshaw, Assistant Dean in the University’s School of Social Sciences & Law and Director of the Social Futures Institute, said: 'The conference will bring together researchers and practitioners to debate and critique the very live issues of austerity, welfare reform and their impact on communities across the UK.'

Dr Philip Whitehead, chair of the organising committee, added: 'The conference facilitates the academic task of reflecting on, and responding to, issues of deep public concern that are evolving.' Areas for discussion include the inclusion and exclusion of people across key social policy domains such as criminal and youth justice, education, health, welfare and employment.

Teesside University Honorary Graduate Beverley Skeggs, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, will be among the guest speakers. Originally from Middlesbrough, Professor Skeggs, is co-editor of The Sociological Review.

Also speaking will be Tess Ridge, Professor of Social Policy at University of Bath, who will be looking at the hidden costs of recession and austerity policies on Britain’s poorest children.

Professor Ridge’s main research interests are childhood poverty and social exclusion, particularly exploring the experience of poverty and disadvantage from the perspectives of children themselves.

Her talk - We’re all in this together? The hidden costs of recession and austerity policies on Britain’s poorest children – will examine how policy change and welfare retrenchment may uniquely impinge on the lives of children experiencing poverty.

Peter Squires, Professor of Criminology and Public Policy at the University of Brighton, will present a talk on redistributions of risk and criminalisation.

His work covers a variety of areas of criminology and social science including youth justice, gangs and violence, crime prevention and community safety, policing, gun control and gun crime.

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