Reminder: Call for Papers - Social Policy Association Postgraduate Workshop 
Series

Social policies for children: childcare, child poverty and child 
development 

Dept of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford
9.00-5.30, April 18th 2008

** Please forward to postgraduates in your department. Apologies for cross-
posting **

The Social Policy Association (SPA) is pleased to announce the first event 
of 2008 in its Postgraduate Workshop series to complement its successful 
annual Postgraduate Conference. This follows the successful launch of the 
SPA’s Postgraduate Workshop series last year. The workshop will bring 
together postgraduate students sharing a focus on social policies for 
children, a policy area which has risen to the top of the policy agenda in 
recent years as governments across the world seek to promote successful 
child outcomes - both for children as ‘beings’ and ‘becomings’ – and to 
affect parental (and particularly maternal) employment. The workshop is a 
one-day event for a small number of postgraduates working in this area to 
come together for presentations and detailed discussion around this common 
theme. We are delighted to have two recognised experts in the area - Fran 
Bennett and Teresa Smith from the Department of Social Policy and Social 
Work at Oxford University - to chair the day.

Aim of the workshop to explore social policies for children

The aim of this postgraduate workshop is to bring together postgraduate 
researchers, academics and professionals researching issues around 
children - child development, child poverty, childcare and beyond - in 
order to present, discuss and explore perspectives, priorities, research 
questions and findings. The importance of social policy research in 
relation to children, child well-being and child outcomes has gained a 
central place both in academic and policy arenas. Central debates concern 
child well-being, enhancing child development, the importance and design of 
family policies for parental employment as well as work-family 
reconciliation, the need to ensure a productive labour supply for the 
future, and beyond, and this event aims to bring together postgraduate 
students working on these issues to share both their research findings and 
research experiences. The workshop will be an excellent opportunity to 
learn about and discuss new research from postgraduate researchers about 
these issues, as well as to meet and network with fellow postgraduate 
researchers with a similar focus to share experiences as well as findings. 
The issues are multi-disciplinary by nature and abstracts are welcomed from 
postgraduate students within any discipline, which may include, but is not 
limited to, social policy, economics, education studies, politics and 
sociology.

We are delighted to have Fran Bennett and Teresa Smith to contribute as the 
event’s Academic Chairs for a day which will consist of presentations by 
postgraduate researchers and those working in these policy areas, followed 
by ample time for discussion. It is anticipated that the event will bring 
together 6-8 presenters, and non-presenting participants and poster 
presentations are encouraged. 

Call for papers

The event is planned for 9.00-5.30 on Friday 18th April 2008 at the 
Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford. 
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent to 
[log in to unmask] by Friday 7th March and should include your 
name, postgraduate year of study and university department. Participants 
are expected to present on the day and are strongly encouraged to submit a 
written paper in advance of up to 5000 words in order to stimulate 
discussion of their presentation. As with all SPA Postgraduate Workshops 
and Conferences, all written papers received will be eligible to be 
nominated for consideration for the SPA’s Best Postgraduate Publication 
Award which will be published in the Social Policy Review. There is no 
charge to attend the event and the SPA will provide up to a maximum of £40 
per participant for travel and accommodation expenses.

If you would like to become a member of the SPA or would like more 
information about any of the SPA’s activities for postgraduates please 
visit www.social-policy.com or contact the SPA’s Postgraduate 
Representative at [log in to unmask] 

Many thanks,

Dr Adam Whitworth,
Dept of Social Policy and Social Work,
University of Oxford,
Postgraduate Representative of the Social Policy Association