The Sociology team in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work (SSESW) held a workshop on 14 September, with support from Athena SWAN. Entitled Contesting Inequalities, the workshop marked the re-launch of our BA Sociology programme. The event drew together academics, students, graduates and voluntary sector representatives to discuss conceptual and empirical work on contemporary forms and patterns of inequality.

Sam Friedman (LSE) opened the workshop with a talk on ‘The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged’. The event also included fascinating talks from two of our PhD graduates, Martina McAuley (Housing Rights Research Officer) and Lisa Wilson (Nevin Economic Research Institute), on debt and gendered employment. SSESW colleague Cate McNamee presented an analysis of attitudes to Syrian refugees in Northern Ireland, co-authored with Carmeron D Lippard (Appalachian State University). Eoin Flaherty (UCD) presented on complex inequality, financialization and class-based power resources. We were delighted to welcome Distinguished Professor of Sociology Sylvia Walby (Lancaster), who gave the closing keynote on ‘Contesting Gender Inequality in the Crisis: UK and EU’.