Past Events

Over the past few months, the UK and devolved governments have provided a series of temporary lifelines to help those facing hardship to weather the Coronavirus storm. But we need more sustained efforts to keep afloat those already struggling and prevent more people from being pulled under.JRF will shortly be publishing the biannual report Destitution in the UK 2020. A research team led by Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick (Heriot-Watt University) have estimated levels of destitution on the eve of the pandemic…

This event is part of the Transnational Law Institute's 2021/21 Seminar Series, focusing on Pandemics & Inequality. About this Event The fatal burden of inequality: why are certain groups more affected in this pandemic, and what to do about it? Event Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has served both to expose and exacerbate already longstanding inequalities. The risks of infection, severe disease and death are not equally distributed in the population – rather, a very familiar pattern is emerging whereby different…

The vital labour of 'key workers' has been widely lauded during the pandemic. But can the trend of recent decades toward inequalities in earning and status be reversed? Meet our speakers and chair Kate Bell (@kategobell) is the Head of the Rights, International, Social and Economics department at the TUC. Deborah Hargreaves (@deborahharg) is the Chair of the London Child Poverty Alliance and a founder and director of the High Pay Centre, an independent think-tank that monitors executive pay. She…

How can 2021 become a turning point for progress on climate change? With COP26 on the horizon and the incoming Biden administration poised to rejoin the Paris Agreement, climate action will be high on the agenda in 2021. But to make urgently necessary progress towards decarbonisation, the world must go further, embedding transformative economic changes across the board and building on them in the decades to come. This will mean connecting the climate crisis to economic strife and addressing both…

While it is now widely accepted that inequality is the defining issue of our time and there is growing research on the drivers and impacts of inequalities, there has been less focus on how inequalities are experienced and resisted by ordinary people and communities. The newly launched Politics of Inequality research theme at the International Inequalities Institute explores the practices of resistance, mobilisation, and contestation from a bottom-up perspective. This panel will discuss the following questions why we established this…

We live in a world of increasing inequality, exploitation, and a fixation on growth at all costs. We need new forms of business and there are a growing number of co-operatives that are owned and controlled primarily for the benefit of their workers. This workshop will be a practical journey through the stages of setting up a worker co-op, exploring the different options and decisions you’ll make along the way.

Official Launch event for Poverty 2nd Ed by Ruth Lister (member of the House of Lords, Emeritus Professor, Loughborough University and vice-chair of the Compass Board). Friday 5th February 6.00pm to 7.30pm – by Zoom Why does a society that is so rich accept so many people living in poverty?  What does it mean for those who suffer and crucially what are we to do about? Join us for an evening of discussion, questions, ideas and proposals and to formally celebrate the launch of Ruth…

Join a discussion with chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, Chris Stark, as we explore the possibility of a greener and better environment after the pandemic. At the heart of Local Trust and the Big Local programme, is a vision of empowered, resilient, dynamic, asset-rich communities making their own decisions on what is best for their area. This is why we’re excited to be hosting a series of talks with several leading experts and high-profile thinkers on how, after coronavirus, we can…