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The Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) are delighted to formally announce our upcoming conference on Poverty and Social Justice in a Post-COVID World. This important conference marks the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, which established the foundations which the BPI has built upon since our launch in 2017.   

We invite you to join us at this hybrid-format event which will feature a range of sessions across two days, including formal presentations, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. We aim to attract a broad audience, representing the public, private and civil sectors alongside academics from across the globe at all career stages, from PhD researchers to world-leading Professors. Together, we will explore how the pandemic has impacted on different dimensions of poverty and how we can combine our different expertise, approaches, and perspectives to help improve the lives of those suffering from poverty. 

The conference will be delivered across two days: the first in-person in Bristol and the second, online. On Day 1, we will convene in the fantastic Wills Conference Centre in Bristol to explore the impacts of the pandemic on different dimensions of poverty within the UK, with thematic sessions on topics such as mental health, families, finances, structural inequalities and social mobility, as well as dedicated networking spaces. On Day 2, we will bring together a global online audience to take a journey around the world with us exploring the impacts of the pandemic in different regions. We will start with an Asia and Oceania-focused session in the morning, moving on to Africa and Europe in the middle of the day and, finally, the Americas later in the day, corresponding with respective time zones. We hope you can join us for this engaging two-day event, wherever you are in the world and whatever your background.   

Description 

The COVID pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, disrupting all of our lives. Inevitably, some were worse affected than others and, as with many things, it was often those already marginalised who felt the heaviest impact. New inequalities emerged and existing inequalities were exposed and exacerbated. Many of these have persisted long beyond the peak of the pandemic and, even now, when life has settled into a so-called ‘new normal’ for many. Political choices resulted in a pandemic that was experienced unequally, killed unequally and impoverished unequally and this has reduced trust in government and health systems. 

Whilst the title of our event talks about a ‘Post-COVID World’, this is with recognition that COVID is very much still here, affecting lives and resulting in premature deaths. Indeed, the launch of this conference itself was slightly delayed due to one of our key team members being off sick with COVID herself. The focus of the conference is on poverty, social justice and inequalities in today’s world; a world which has been shaped and impacted by the pandemic in various ways. Many jobs and working habits have completely changed. The ways we socialise, exercise and communicate are different. Health services have been hit incredibly hard. Governments are struggling to overcome deficits accrued as a result of essential measures such as the furlough scheme. Several economies and societies are in crisis. Mental health issues are rife. ‘Long COVID’ continues to burden the lives of those affected and their families. Children whose education was disrupted – particularly those who didn’t have the equipment or support at home for adequate home schooling – are struggling to get back on track and their trajectories may have been impacted irreparably. Food bank usage in the UK and other countries is at an all-time high. COVID has caused so much inequality and made life so much harder for many people. However, it has also presented us with new perspectives and new opportunities. It has shown that, when there is sufficient political will, it is possible to give everyone in the UK a roof over their head and increase benefits for many poor households. It has also led to new ways of working for many people, which can offer a better work-life balance and break down some barriers.  

We need to explore and understand all of the ways that the pandemic has impacted on our societies and what needs to be done to mitigate the negative impacts and harness the opportunities. In order to do this, we need to bring together a multi-sector audience – including those with lived experience – with varied perspectives, approaches and knowledge. Our conference seeks to do this, across our two-day programme with a mix of thematic and regionally focussed sessions and a combination of in-person and online engagement opportunities to try to open the door for everyone to be part of the conversation. 

 

Programme 

This two-day event has a hybrid format: Day 1 (5th June) is an in-person event in Bristol and Day 2 (6th June) is online for a global audience. Please note that this is hybrid not blended, and you therefore cannot attend day 1 online. 

Across the two days, we will explore different dimensions of poverty in 2024, bringing together different types of experts under different foci to dissect the issues, challenges and solutions to tackling poverty in all its forms everywhere. Day 1 will have thematic sessions on mental health, families and finance and structural inequalities and social mobility. Day 2 will be structured around regional discussions, with sessions on Asia/Oceania, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. As with our previous conferences, we are honored to have a wide range of speakers and participants from all over the world bringing different theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches to the analysis and mitigation of poverty. 

We are in the process of finalising our programme and will be updating the web pages with more information soon – watch this space! The headline programme for the two days will be: 

Day 1: UK focus (in-person) 

• Registration and refreshments 
• Welcome and introduction 
• Thematic session 1 
• Lunch and networking 
• Thematic session 2: Structural inequalities and social mobility 
• Refreshment break 
• Thematic session 3 
• Closing remarks 
• Networking 

 

Day 2: Global focus (online) 

• Asia and Oceania focussed online session 
• Europe-focused online session 
• Africa-focused online session 
• Americas-focused online session 

We already have a fantastic array of speakers with broad expertise lined up to discuss these topics and are excited to share more information on this with you in due course. However, we do have some capacity to accommodate additional speakers, particularly from outside academia. If you are interested in speaking, please get in touch with the BPI team via bpi-conference-2024@bristol.ac.uk telling us a little about yourself, your proposed topic, and at which session you would be interested in speaking. If this aligns with our programme, we will provide you with some additional detail and request a formal abstract for review by the BPI Director and Manager. 

 For more information please visit the individual registration pages for the two days: 

• Day 1 (in-person) information and registration
• Day 2 (online) information and registration

Conference fees 

We have taken the decision to waive our conference fees, as we believe that knowledge is power and the more people who understand poverty the better chance we have of improving lives, reducing inequalities and ending poverty in all forms everywhere. In lieu of a registration fee, we therefore ask all attendees to please make a charitable donation to a poverty-relevant cause of your choosing. This could include, for example, local food banks and/or community-based initiatives, as well as national and international NGOs. We recognise that not everyone can afford to do this, however, so it is not a requirement. The recommended donation amounts are as follows: 

£50        Standard ticket 

£20        Student/Third sector ticket 

£10        Low- and Middle-Income Country ticket 

 When making your donation, please feel free to take a screenshot and tag us on Twitter/X via @bristolpoverty as well as the recipient of your donation with the conference hashtag #BPI2024. This is optional. 

 

Data/travel bursaries 

We recognise that costs of attending a conference can be a barrier to attendance for some, particularly those with lived experience of the topics under discussion. We therefore have a limited number of bursaries available to enable everyone to participate. We have two types of bursaries available: travel bursaries to support non-academic attendees at our in-person event on Day 1, and data bursaries to support international engagement at our online event on Day 2. 

Please note that funds are limited, so please be respectful and only apply for these bursaries if you genuinely need them. For more information and to apply for either bursary, please read the guidance and complete the application form on the BPI conference bursaries webpage

 

Organisers 

The Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) is a Research Institute at the University of Bristol in the UK. Founded in 2017 and building on the legacy and strengths of the University’s Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research, we are dedicated to multi-disciplinary research on the causes, effects and measurement of poverty around the world to inform effective policy and practice. The BPI works in partnership with a wide range of organisations across the globe, from local community groups to national governments, united by the common goal of SDG1: To reduce poverty in all its forms everywhere.  

The University of Bristol is one of the world’s leading universities, with a global reputation for impactful research. In its research strategy, it has outlined a number of key strategic pillars and cross-cutting themes, including sustainable and equitable health outcomes, climate change and social justice. The BPI’s work serves all of these pillars and themes, with considerations of social justice, in particular, embedded in everything that we do. 

 

Contact 

If you have any queries, please contact the BPI team via bpi-conference-2024@bristol.ac.uk.