The 7th European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS2019)

The Final Call for Papers deadline has passed.

If you are listed as the author or co-author on a paper that has been accepted for presentation, please visit the Presenter Registration page. To register as an Audience member, please visit the Audience Registration page. Thank you.


The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2019 (ECSS2019)

"Independence & Interdependence"

The technological and logistical advances of globalisation have enabled us to become independent and empowered as never before, but at the same time made us more dependent on the very things allowing autonomy. While technologies allow us to communicate with those on the other side of the world, they can also make us detached from those immediately around us, and in some cases alienated, or lonely. And yet this increased interconnectedness offers great opportunities to work together to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues, and reminds us of our responsibilities towards each other. Our independence is contextualised in the relations we enjoy with others; in our families and communities, shared institutions, in our wider societies, geographical and political entities, and finally as a part of the one world we all share.

The conference theme for ECSS2019 is Independence & Interdependence, and we hope and expect this important thematic lens to encourage wide reflections on the importance and interrelation of such concepts as autonomy and identity, rights and responsibilities, and power and control; and within a variety of contexts from politics and geopolitics to energy, sustainability and the environment; and from education, technology and logistics, to culture and language; from psychology and security, to considerations of equity and justice.

In conjunction with our Global Partners, including the University of Sussex and Birkbeck, University of London, we look forward to extending you a warm welcome in 2019.

The ECSS2019 Organising Committee

Kwame Akyeampong, University of Sussex, UK
Anne Boddington, Kingston University, UK
Eddie Bruce-Jones, Birkbeck College School of Law, University of London, UK
Evangelia Chrysikou, University College London, UK
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Tom Houghton, Curtin University, Australia
Ljiljana Markovic, University of Belgrade, Serbia
James W. McNally, University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, USA

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: The Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, UK
  • Dates: Tuesday, July 09, 2019 ​to Wednesday, July 10, 2019
  • Conference Theme: "Independence & Interdependence"
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: February 22, 2019*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: April 23, 2019
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: May 24, 2019

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.


Conference Programme and Abstract Book

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule. All registered delegates who attend conference receive a printed copy of the Conference Programme at the Registration Desk on arrival. Only one copy of the Conference Programme is available per delegate, so please take good care of your copy.


Speakers

The European Conference on the Social Sciences 2019 (ECSS2019) is a multidisciplinary conference held concurrently with The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment 2019 (ECSEE2019). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either of these conferences permits attendance in both.

  • David James Cantor
    David James Cantor
    University of London, Refugee Law Initiative, UK
  • Haruko Satoh
    Haruko Satoh
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Tom Houghton
    Tom Houghton
    Curtin University, Australia

IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) – “Innovation and Value Initiative”

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is housed within Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and in June 2018 the IRC began an ambitious new “Innovation and Value Initiative”. Officially launched at the United Nations in a special UN-IAFOR Collaborative Session, the initiative seeks to bring together the best in interdisciplinary research around the concept of value, on how value can be recognised, and measured, and how this can help us address issues and solve problems, from the local to the global.

David James Cantor
University of London, Refugee Law Initiative, UK

Biography

Professor David James Cantor is the founding Director of the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Trained originally as a social anthropologist, Professor Cantor worked as a practitioner in the legal field during the 2000s for organisations such as the Refugee Legal Centre, a London-based public law centre where he litigated refugee and human rights cases until 2007, and UNHCR. In a consultancy capacity, he has advised, trained and undertaken research for a range of governments mostly from the global south, as well as numerous INGOs and northern and southern NGOs. During 2016–2017, Professor Cantor worked part-time as Senior Advisor to the UNHCR Americas Bureau.

Professor Cantor’s research has a strong legal and policy focus. Current and past topics include: returns by refugees and IDPs; reparations for displacement; IDP protection during armed conflict and organised criminal violence; human mobility in disasters linked to natural hazards; refugee law and its relationship to human rights law, IHL and IDP law. He has a long-standing connection with Latin America, where he has carried out fieldwork since 1998 in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. Since completing his PhD in 2010, he has published five books, two special issues and over 30 journal articles and book chapters.

Whilst running the RLI, Professor Cantor has organised over 100 conferences, workshops and seminars, founded the International Refugee Law book series (where he remains editor) and the distance-learning MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies. He has led international collaborations and secured competitive research funding for almost 20 projects as PI or Co-I (including AHRC, ESRC, GCRF, Leverhulme Trust). He was selected as an ESRC Future Research Leader in 2012 and sits on the Research Council Peer Review College. In 2017–2018, he won the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Award for Research Project of the Year (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences).

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Why Do We Protect Refugees?
Haruko Satoh
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Haruko Satoh is Specially Appointed Professor at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), where she teaches Japan’s relations with Asia and identity in international relations. She is also co-director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre and she was previously part of the MEXT Reinventing Japan project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia (PAHSA)” with six Southeast Asian and four Japanese universities.

In the past she has worked at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Chatham House, and Gaiko Forum. Her interests are primarily in state theory, Japanese nationalism and identity politics. Recent publications include: “China in Japan’s Nation-state Identity” in James DJ Brown & Jeff Kingston (eds) Japan’s Foreign Relations in Asia (Routledge, 2018); “Japan’s ‘Postmodern’ Possibility with China: A View from Kansai” in Lam Peng Er (ed), China-Japan Relations in the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); “Rethinking Security in Japan: In Search of a Post-‘Postwar’ Narrative” in Jain & Lam (Eds.), Japan’s Strategic Challenges in a Changing Regional Environment (World Scientific, 2012); “Through the Looking-glass: China’s Rise as Seen from Japan”, (co-authored with Toshiya Hoshino), Journal of Asian Public Policy, 5(2), 181–198, (July 2012); “Post- 3.11 Japan: A Matter of Restoring Trust?”, ISPI Analysis No. 83 (December 2011); “Legitimacy Deficit in Japan: The Road to True Popular Sovereignty” in Kane, Loy & Patapan (Eds.), Political Legitimacy in Asia: New Leadership Challenges (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), “Japan: Re-engaging with China Meaningfully” in Tang, Li & Acharya (eds), Living with China: Regional States and China through Crises and Turning Points, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Professor Satoh is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. She is Chair of the Politics, Law & International Relations section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Tom Houghton
Curtin University, Australia

Biography

Dr Tom Houghton is Director of the MBA (Oil & Gas) at Curtin Graduate School of Business, Australia, and was previously a Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, UK. His principal field of research is sustainable energy economics and he has a keen interest in energy for development, having established a training program in Renewable Energy for Developing Countries with UNITAR. Dr Houghton is a Visiting Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Japan, where he provides courses in sustainable energy to MBA students. Before joining Strathclyde he spent more than five years in the power industry and a further eight in the banking sector, latterly as director at the Japanese bank Nomura. With colleagues in Asia and the United States, he established a consulting company in the renewable energy sector in 2011. Dr Houghton holds an MEng from Imperial College, an MBA from London Business School and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.

Featured Presentation (2019) | Ensuring Equality from the “Low Carbon Dividend”

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2018) | Innovation for Low Carbon Energy: Are Power Utilities Ready?