Apologises for cross posting  

Dear All, 

Due to the late confirmation of our fifth speaker:  Owen Jones author of: Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, the deadline for applications has been extended until Friday 10th February 2012. However, anyone who applies before the original deadline of Monday 30th January will be given priority on places. 
 
Can I also kindly request for people to circulate this call for papers. Many thanks.

Best wishes, Jenny. 


Call for Papers and Participants for a two day BSA Sponsored Regional Postgraduate Event

Social Class and Educational Aspiration: A Postgraduate Conference and Workshop

Hosted by the University of East London On Tuesday 20th  and Wednesday 21st   March 2012

This two day event will focus on research into social class and educational aspiration and its consequences to academic and PhD empirical research in the field of sociology and education Sponsored by British Sociological Association (BSA) and the University of East London. This two day event is centred around presentations by five academics who have carried out substantial research into social class and education. These academics will also conduct PhD Workshop/PhD troubleshooter classes over the two days on discussion and questions on researching social class and education at a postgraduate level. The workshops will be led and arranged by each of the academic speakers, who will see the abstracts of the PhD students’ research beforehand to arrange suitable reading and plan the classes. 

The event is structured around:

•	Five lectures by academics who carry out sociological and educational research social class and education:

	Professor John Preston (University of East London)
	Prof John Storan (University of East London)
	Prof. Derek Robbins (University of East London)
	Dr Nicola Ingram (University of Bristol)
	Owen Jones author of: Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class


•	Eight PhD conference talks to choose from
•	Two tutorial style PhD workshops to choose from, conducted by the academic speakers 
•	Poster Presentations with wine reception 


This is an excellent opportunity to present your PhD research to some of the country’s leading academics with international reputation specialising in social class and education, as well as gaining valuable feedback from them and enhancing your network contacts with other PhD students researching the same topic. We are seeking 18 postgraduates currently registered at HEIs in the United Kingdom whose research is directly involved with sociological and/or educational work on social class and education – particularly educational aspiration – to participate in this event. Participation is open to any UK postgraduate with a substantial interest in the topic, perhaps as applied by some of the attending academics. 

We also seek conference abstracts from all 18 participating postgraduates. Eight PhD students will be selected to give a 20 minute talk and the rest will be invited to give a poster presentation. There is an option to only give a poster presentation but you must still send an abstract. Access to the PhD students’ research abstracts will allow the academics to arrange suitable reading and plan the class, while giving students the opportunity to give constructive feedback on other PhD research. We intend the conference theme to be interpreted widely, however, we are keen to see abstracts from those who can best demonstrate a critical engagement on research into social class and educational aspirations to their PhDs, particularly the more current issues in education with the (non-limiting) guidelines:
Social class in relation to: 

•	Educational aspiration, 
•	Educational attainment/achievement, 
•	Access to higher education, 
•	Recent changes in educational policies, 
•	Theoretical and methodological discussions on social class and education. 

If you are interested in taking part in this event please see http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/postgrad.htm   for further details on how to apply. You will need to complete the application form and write an abstract of no more than 250 words on how your research demonstrates a sociological and/or educational critical engagement with social class and education – in particular educational aspiration. If you have any further queries please contact Jenny and Tamsin at: [log in to unmask] .  The deadline for applications is (extended deadline) Friday 10th February 2012.  Please note that this event is free for all participants who are BSA members and £25 to all non-BSA members. All participants are expected to be present for the full two days. Places are strictly limited, so please apply early.