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Inaugural British Journal of Sociology Conference

15-16 April 2024, LSE, UK

To mark their new tenure, the Editors of the British Journal of Sociology (BJS) invite submission of abstracts for a major international conference at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 15 and 16 April 2024.

The BJS conference will showcase cutting-edge research from across the discipline of sociology, and will also feature keynotes, plenary sessions curated by the Editors, and a series of author-meets-critics sessions debating high-profile new books. It will provide a pivotal in-person platform for more than 200 academics across the discipline to advance their research in conversation with colleagues, to learn about the most exciting theoretical, empirical, and methodological developments in the field as well as to foster new synergies and collaborations around pressing challenges relevant to sociology. View the full two-day programme and the programme summary.

Registration for the conference has now closed.

Keynote speakers:

Claire_Alexander

Professor Claire Alexander

Claire Alexander is a Professor of Sociology and Head of the  School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester. She has researched and published work on the issues of race, ethnicity and inequality in Britain – with a particular focus on youth – for over 30 years. Claire has also written on South Asian diaspora and migration to Britain,  racial inequality in Higher Education, race and the curriculum, and the Indian restaurant trade in East London. She is a member of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE).  Claire is author of The Art of Being Black (1996), The Asian Gang (2000), The Bengal Diaspora (with Joya Chatterji & Annu Jalais)(2016) and The Asian Gang Revisited (2024). 

230815 Ben Ansell-22

Professor Ben Ansell

Ben Ansell is Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College. He received his PhD in Government from Harvard University and previously taught at the University of Minnesota. His books include From the Ballot to the Blackboard: The Redistributive Politics of Education, (William H. Riker prize for best book in political economy) and Inequality and Democratization: An Elite-Competition Approach, co-authored with David Samuels (Woodrow Wilson APSA Best Book Prize and the William H. Riker best book in political economy prize) and Inward Conquest, co-authored with Johannes Lindvall. He was Principal Investigator of the European Research Council funded project WEALTHPOL and is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the 2023 BBC Reith Lecturer, with his lectures building on his recent book Why Politics Fails (Viking / Penguin).

EK Portrait Barcelona 2022

 Professor Eric Klinenberg

Eric Klinenberg is Helen Gould Shepard Professor of Social Science and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the author of the new book, 2020: A Reckoning (Bodley Head, 2024), as well as Palaces for the People: How to Build a More Equal and United Society (Vintage, 2018), Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone (The Penguin Press, 2012), Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media (Metropolitan Books, 2007), and Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (University of Chicago Press). He's also co-author, with Aziz Ansari, of the New York Times #1 bestseller Modern Romance (The Penguin Press, 2015). Professor Klinenberg's scholarly work has been published in journals including the American Sociological Review, Theory and Society, and Ethnography, and he has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, and This American Life.

 

Please send any queries to bjs@lse.ac.uk. A list of Frequently Asked Questions can be found below. 

The BJS Editors

Dr Rebecca Elliott, LSE

Professor Sam Friedman, LSE

Dr Ali Meghji, University of Cambridge

Professor Aaron Reeves, University of Oxford

FAQs

Where can I find out more about accommodation?

Please see our Travel Guide for information on nearby hotels.

What are the nearest stations to LSE?

There are a number of London Underground and National Rail stations nearby. Holborn and Temple tube stations are within a 10-minute walk. Blackfriars, Charing Cross, City Thameslink, and Farringdon rail stations are all within a 20-minute walk. Please see our location on Google Maps for more information.

Where can I find out more about accessibility at the conference?

We are committed to making the conference as accessible as we can to all delegates. Please see our Accessibility Map. AccessAble have produced detailed access guides to LSE's campus, and route maps between key locations.

Does the CfP include the possibility of publishing an article?

There will be no possibility of publishing papers in the journal with the CfP, but you are of course welcome to submit papers to the BJS later down the line.

Is there any additional funding that I can apply for?

Unfortunately, the BJS cannot offer additional funding besides the travel bursaries and fee waivers detailed above. We recommend contacting your home institution regarding funding for attending overseas conferences.

How can I attend the conference?

Registration for the conference is now closed.

How can I attend the Evening River Cruise?

Registration for the Evening River Cruise is now closed.

Where can I find the conference programme?

You can find the programme here. We will not be printing the programme at the conference.

How can I attend the Evening River Cruise?

Presenters and delegates have the option of joining an Evening River Cruise on the first day of the conference. The cruise will depart from Temple Pier immediately after the evening reception at 8.30pm and will return at 10.30pm. Tickets are £10 per person and include a complimentary welcome drink on board. They can be purchased here

Is there a prayer space I can access during the conference?

LSE's Faith Centre is open to visitors and has spaces for reflection and prayer.

I'm presenting at the conference, what should I prepare?

Each session will last 1 hour and 30 minutes, with 30 minutes reserved for Q&A. If you are on a panel of three you should expect to present for around 18 minutes, if you are on a panel of four you should expect to present for around 14 minutes.

You can use a PowerPoint Presentation but are not required to. If you plan to use a PowerPoint Presentation you must bring this with you on a USB. You will not be able to plug in your laptop.

Please arrive to the room where your panel is taking place 5 minutes before the start time.

Key dates

  • Abstract submission deadline: 20 October 2023
  • Decision on paper acceptance: w/c 13 November 2023
  • Bursary application deadline: 4 December 2023
  • Presenter booking deadline: 12 January 2024
  • Conference dates: 15 and 16 April 2024

Bursary information

Attending an in-person conference is a valuable opportunity to disseminate your research and make new connections; however, we understand that the associated costs often pose a barrier to participation for some. To ensure that as many researchers as possible can benefit from participating in the British Journal of Sociology Conference, registration fees for the conference have been capped at £100 for two days. In addition to this, we are able to provide the following financial support for those experiencing financial hardship:

  • 25 Conference Fee Waivers: These waivers cover the entire £100 registration cost, ensuring that participants can attend the conference at no expense.
  • 15 Travel Bursaries: For participants who require assistance with conference travel and accommodation expenses, we offer 15 travel bursaries to help offset the costs associated with attending our event. There are 10 bursaries of up to £250 and 5 bursaries of up to £1000, to offer greater levels of support to those in lower-income countries. The bursaries of up to £250 are available to delegates in countries in Category A and the bursaries of up to £1000 are open to those in Category B countries. Please refer to the BJS list of countries by category here.

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for a conference bursary, applicants must have had an abstract accepted, and meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • You are a postgraduate researcher, an early career researcher, and/or experiencing financial hardship.
  • You must have no or limited access to funding for conference participation. You must have no or limited access to funding to cover the full cost of travel and accommodation.
  • Preference will be given to those who do not receive any funding for conference participation.

We are no longer accepting bursary applications.