The future of social policy, its limits and its possibilities, is to be examined in a series of free public lectures at Liverpool Hope University.
Beginning on October 26th, the series of lectures will bring some of the UK’s leading social policy practitioners and academics to Liverpool Hope.
The first lecture, ‘Inequality and the quality of society’ will be given by Professor Kate Pickett, Professor of epidemiology at the University of York. Professor Pickett is the co-author of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better and co-founder of the Equality Trust, a non-profit organisation which seeks to explain the benefits of a more equal society.
Topics under the microscope in the rest of the series include social and economic inequality, the crisis in the NHS and Labour plans for renationalisation, the problems of the 21st century welfare state, poverty propaganda, corporations in Brexit Britain and the environment.
The lectures are hosted by Liverpool Hope’s Department of Social Work, Care and Justice, which is one of the newest Departments in the University, but also one of the largest. The Department has a strong commitment to issues of social justice, and radical social work which shapes both its research and teaching. The Distinguished Social Policy Lecture Series follows on from the highly successful Distinguished Social Work Lecture Series, which took place at the university in 2016/17.
Dr Steve Corbett, Lecturer in Social Policy at Liverpool Hope University, said: “With the triple crises of post-2008 financial crash austerity, Brexit and the shock 2017 election result, social policy issues are at the forefront of national debate. There is a clear appetite among the public to start to think about these issues in different ways and this series brings together leading social policy practitioners and academics, who will share their analyses of current events and visions for the future. We will be encouraging open discussion with the aim of empowering positive change.”
All lectures will take place at Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool L16 9JD. Refreshments will be served from 5pm for a 5.30pm start.