23 October 2008, Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action

Segregated Communities: Lessons for 'Shared Futures'
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, University of Ulster and Queen's University, Belfast

This was a one day event with two programme projects in Northern Ireland which debated and discussed their findings with community activists, participants in the research and local and national government representatives.

24 September 2008, Royal Institute of British Architecture, London

Identities and Social Action: Contemporary Identity Practices

This was the final event marking the end of the Programme, full circle from the Programme launch at the Royal Society of Arts. This one day seminar was intended for policy, political and academic audiences. It was about presenting the main findings from the Programme over the last four years:

• Are traditional identities in decline?
• How do new migrants build 'identities on the move'?
• What new post-colonial identities and identity intersections are emerging in UK cities?
• What is happening to white English identities and to Britishness?
• What are the relationships between identity and social exclusion and identity and community cohesion?
• What are the new directions in identity theories and methods?
• How are class and gender being reconfigured?

These and other questions were addressed in a mix of parallel workshops and plenary panel sessions.

Speakers included:

Simon Hughes MP (President of the Liberal Democrats); Baroness Lola Young; Shaun Bailey (Conservative Candidate for Hammersmith); Marc Verlot (Director of Policy, Equalities and Human Rights Commission), Zohra Moosa (Fawcett Society); Michelynn Lafleche (Director of the Runnymede Trust)

Presentations can be downloaded below:

Charles Antaki (Loughborough University); Katy Bennett (Leciester University); Rupert Brown (Sussex University); John Curtice (Strathclude University); Steve Garner (University of the West of England); Paul Du Gay (Warwick University); Christine Griffin (Bath University); Roxy Harris (King's College London); Anthony Heath (Oxford University); Miles Hewstone (Oxford University); Wendy Hollway (The Open University); Sue Jackson (Birkbeck College); Anthony Manstead (Cardiff University); Coretta Phillips (LSE); Diane Reay (Cambridge University); Ben Rogaly (Sussex University); Deborah Sporton (Sheffield University); Elizabeth Stokoe (Loughborough University); Rachel Thomson (The Open University); Valerie Walkerdine (Cardiff University); Nira Yuval-Davis (UEL)

Wednesday 16 July 2008. The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University

Does Work Still Shape Social Identities and Action: Project Seminar

The seminar marks the end of the Identities and Social Action Programme funded research project: Does Work Still Shape Social Identities and Action? This project was designed to examine the question of contemporary work identity in the context of wider debates about the nature of social identity. For a variety of writers employment is no longer the main orientation point around which people form identity as perhaps they once did, instead they look to activities outside economic life for meaning, such as popular culture and consumption. Drawing on interviews from teachers, railway workers and bank employees in two geographic locations across four generations the project sought to understand how people thought about their work now and in the past.

For more information on this event click here or contact Dr Christine Wall at c.wall@londonmet.ac.uk

9-11 July 2008, St Catherine's College, Oxford

Encounters and Intersections: Religion, Diasporas and Ethnicities
ESRC Identities and Social Action, AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society and AHRC Diasporas, Migration and Identities

This conference has taken encounter and intersection as its frame. It explored the nature of relations between different faith and ethnic groups, between diasporic and indigenous citizens and between convivial, and not so convivial, multicultures in current, complex, post colonial contexts. We interested in examining patterns and trends in contemporary identity practices, the intersections between social identities and how intersection and multiplicity are experienced and lived.

The conference was a two day, open, call for papers event which brought together members of the three core ESRC/AHRC Programmes working on identity issues (ESRC/AHRC Religion and Society Programme, AHRC Diasporas, Migration and Identity Programme and ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme) with the wider community of scholars working on these topics. It was jointly organised by the Directors of the three Programmes.

For more information click here

Wednesday 2 July 2008, The Commonwealth Club, 25 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5AP

Modern Motherhood … Changes and Challenges

The conference was opened by The Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families in the Department for Children, Schools and Families and chaired by Mary MacLeod, chief executive, Family and Parenting Institute. The conference heard reports on the findings of two important new research studies undertaken by the Identities and Social Action Programme, which have looked at becoming a mother in the 21st century. It will raise and debate issues arising from these studies.

The two studies are:

• The Making of Modern Motherhood project led by Professor Rachel Thomson and Dr Mary Jane Kehily (The Open University)
• Becoming a Mother project led by Professors Wendy Hollway (The Open University) and Ann Phoenix (Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education).

Click here for more information or please email Swati Patel at patel@familyandparenting.org or phone her on 020 7424 3460.

20 June 2008, De Montfort University

Media, Class and Value: Project Symposium

This symposium marked the end of the Identities and Social Action Programme funded research project: Making Class and the Self through Televised Ethical Scenarios (Prof Bev Skeggs, Dr Helen Wood and Dr Nancy Thumim). This project analysed the performance demands and responses to ''reality'' television programmes in relation to contemporary theories and modes of identity formation. Focussing on programmes which foreground transformation, it studied the dramatic techniques which framed the subject positions on offer to audiences.

The symposium was opened by Dr Anita Biressi and Dr Heather Nunn and closed by Professsor David Morley. For more information about this event click here or contact Dr Helen Wood: hwood@dmu.ac.uk

7-8 March 2008, University of East London

Identity, Performance and Social Action: Community Theatre Among Refugees

The conference was organized to mark the end of the Identities and Social Action Programme funded research project: Identity, Performance and Social Action: Community Theatre Among Refugees. The project explored how the use of specific experimental community theatre techniques (Playback and Forum Theatre) can deepen our understanding of the ways refugees settle in London and integrate in British social, economic and political life.

In addition to sharing the main findings of the research, the conference provided an opportunity to discuss some of the major theoretical, methodological and political issues relating to the subject, as well as an opportunity to learn more about the specific community theatre techniques used as the main research method.

For more information click here

For more details on the research project see www.uel.ac.uk/ipsa

10 March 2008, The Resource Centre, London

Community Cohesion and Identity: Feedback from the Front-line
A research, policy, and practice workshop
Community Development Foundation and The ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme

The ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Community Development Foundation collaborated in a lively and interactive workshop around key issues in community cohesion and identity. The workshop focused on some of the thorniest issues in cohesion practice and policy, examining the latest research findings and best practice examples. This event was held in conjunction with the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

For more information click here

10 April 2008, Loughborough University

Identities: Theoretical and Methodological Journeys
ESRC Identities and Social Action, Social Sciences, Loughborough University and National Centre for Research Methods

This one day conference was funded by the ESRC Identities Programme and Social Sciences, Loughborough University and the NCRM and was particularly aimed at postgraduates and new researchers as well as peer audiences and those planning and developing empirical research on identity topics. Researchers at the end of three year ESRC grants investigating a range of identity topics illustrated and described their methodological journeys and the new forms of knowledge of emerging.

For more information click here

16 April 2008, School of Social Sciences. Cardiff University

Social Identity and Social Action in Wales: End-of-Project Dissemination Meeting

This project forms part of the Identities and Social Action Programme and has focused on a range of issues such as the role of the Welsh language in Welsh identity and how this fits into the wider relationship between Wales and the rest of the UK.

The aim of the meeting was to disseminate the findings of the project and to benefit from the insights of potential users of the research. The intention was to explore and discuss the implications of the findings with academics and policy makers which have an interest in the topic of Welsh identity.

5 February 2007, Accenture Hotel and Conference Centre, Milton Keynes

Thinking Spatially about Identity - A Colloquium
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Department of Geography, The Open University

The aim of this colloquium was to discuss different theorisations of the spatial, drawing on a range of empirical cases and examples from current research projects on identity issues.

For more information click here.

12 February 2007, London Metropolitan University

Meeting of the Identities and Social Action Programme Psycho-Social Sub-Group

This was a meeting for Programme members whose research includes psycho-social approaches and themes. Researchers are in the process of discussing the possibilities of a joint publication.

7 March 2007, London Metropolitan University

A Workshop on Social Class and Identity Issues
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, ESRC Centre for Research and Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) and Working Lives Institute at London Metropolitan University

The aim of this workshop was to exchange information across CRESC and the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme to obtain a cumulative picture of how research on social class and identity is developing and to work towards a joint publication. The workshop was organised around three themes:

• Theme One – Working class position as a basis for social action/identity/political mobilisation/distinctive culture
• Theme Two – Class, Culture and Education
• Theme Three – Culture and Changing Class Identities

Click here for more information.

7 March 2007, London Metropolitan University

Public Lecture: Professor Mike Savage - An Alternative History of Class Identities in Post-War Britain
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) and Working Lives Institute at London Metropolitan University

For more information and a Lecture abstract click here.

To view Power Points from the lecture click here

Please click on the pictures to view larger images.

9-13 March 2007, Brick Lane Gallery, London

Visualising Identities and Social Action – Lives in Britain Today
This event was held as part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science

The exhibition presented the results of a collaboration between photographer Chris Clunn and seven ESRC Identities and Social Action research projects. Chris Clunn has been working with researchers Dr Tim Strangleman, Dr Ben Rogaly and Dr Becky Taylor, Professor Jane Wills, Dr Deborah Sporton and Professor Gill Valentine, Professor Rachel Thomson and Dr Mary Jane Kehily, Dr Dominic Bryan and Professor Joanne Hughes to explore and reflect on what it means to research social identities and action in the early twenty first century. Chris has been embedded within a range of teams looking at subject matter as varied as council estates in Norwich, community in Northern Ireland, work identity, motherhood, and immigrant community organisation.

Please see Identities and Social Action Home Page for more information on the exhibition.

Pictures from the launch, please click on each to view a larger image.

21 March 2007, Commission for Racial Equality, London

Seminar on Young People and Identity
Commission for Racial Equality and ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme

This seminar raised issues of identity and integration amongst young people, particularly from ethnic minority groups. The seminar seeked to use research and data to gain more insight into how young people formulate their identities; what influences their choice of identity and how different identities relate to one another. The objective was to develop a tool to help policy makers create policies which contribute to an integrated society based on a better understanding of identity formation amongst young people.

For more information please contact Claire Cooper (ccooper@cre.gov.uk, 020 7939 0272)

26 March 2007 Puebla, Mexico

Sharing Experiences (Compartiendo Experiencias: Taller de análisis)
Gareth A Jones, Sarah Thomas de Benítez and Elsa Herrera

The second workshop as part of the ESRC project 'Being in Public': The Multiple Childhoods of Mexican 'Street' Children was held in Puebla, Mexico, and brought together 15 people for a day of discussion related to street children and youth, identities and the role of institutions. The Workshop aim was to close the gap between the academic treatment of street children and youth, and with reference to identities specifically, and the 'practice' of key service providing stakeholders in Puebla. As such, the meeting was an opportunity for knowledge transfer between research, government and non-governmental organisations, and more ambitiously an initial intent to the co-production of new knowledge.

Click here for more information.

12-14 April 2007, University of East London

British Sociological Association Annual Conference

The Identities and Social Action Programme has taken part in three events at this conference:

'Remembering and Forgetting: Memory, Identity and Narrative'- A symposium, organised by Prof Rachel Thomson (The Open University)

Speakers included: Dr Katy Bennett, Professor Rachel Thomson, Dr Mary-Jane Kehily, Dr Ben Rogaly, Dr Tim Strangleman, Professor Valerie Walkerdine, Dr Joanna Bornat, Dr Chris Griffin and Dr Gillian McIntosh.

The papers included in the symposium reflected on the way in which societies, communities, families, friends and individuals both remember and forget themselves, and, in turn encounter representations of their pasts. The focus of each of the papers was on the relationship between memory, identity and narrative. The aim of bringing together this diverse set of papers was to explore the significance of remembering and forgetting as identity practices.

'New Ways of Knowing: Bending the Paradigm in Identity Research' - A symposium, organised by Prof Margaret Wetherell (The Open University)

Speakers included: Professor Ben Rampton, Professor Beverley Skeggs, Dr Helen Wood, Professor Valerie Walkerdine and Professor Nira Yuval-Davis.

This symposium brought together five leading UK identity researchers to reflect on the constructionist consensus. Is this 'way of knowing' about identity now running out of steam or still realising its potential? What does this paradigm achieve – simply the demonstration that identity is complex and there are no easy conclusions? How do we move from recognising the complexity and multiplicity of identity to effective interventions in policy and political debates? What new ways of knowing might be coming into view? The symposium drew on research around new cultural formations of social class, the formation of bureaucratic selves, identity negotiation in urban classrooms, the management of subjectivities in extreme economic dislocation and the empowerment of refugee communities.

'Visualising Social Identity and Action' - A Photographic Exhibition

Seven projects (Dr Tim Strangleman, Dr Ben Rogaly and Dr Becky Taylor, Professor Jane Wills, Dr Deborah Sporton and Professor Gill Valentine, Professor Rachel Thomson and Dr Mary Jane Kehily, Dr Dominic Bryan and Professor Joanne Hughes) have been working with photographer Chris Clunn to explore and reflect on what it means to research social identities and action in the early twenty first century. Chris was embedded within a range of teams looking at subject matter as varied as council estates in Norwich, redundant steel workers in South Wales, community in Northern Ireland, work identity, motherhood, and immigrant community organisation. This exhibition presented the resulting images.

Please see Identities and Social Action Home Page for more information on the exhibition.

12 June 2007, River Rooms, House of Lords

Book Launch to celebrate the publication of Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Runnymede Trust

This event marked the publication of Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion edited by Margaret Wetherell (Director of the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme), Michelynn Lafleche and Robert Berkeley (Director and Deputy Director of the Runnymede Trust). The book brought together policy-makers and academics to discuss debates around community cohesion. The book includes contributions from Lord Parekh (Chair of the Runnymede Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain among his many roles), Profs. Avtar Brah (Birkbeck), Miles Hewstone and colleagues (Oxford and Ulster Universities), Henry Tam (DCLG), Nick Johnson (CRE) and Kate Gavron (Young Foundation).

15 June 2007, Remax House, UCL, London.

Interactions between Professionals and Clients with a Disorder - CAIR / ESRC One-day Conference.

This event presented research findings from the Identities and Social Action project 'Identity conflicts of persons with a learning disability and their professional carers' with Professor Charles Antaki, Dr Mick Finaly and Dr Chris Walton.

27 June 2007, Frenchay Campus, University of the West of England

Pride and Prejudice: Being White in Britain
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Department of Sociology, UWE

This one day workshop presented the finings for the ESRC Identities and Social Action research project 'Mobility and Unsettlement: New Identity Formation in Contemporary Britain', carried out by Simon Clarke, Steve Garner and Rosie Gilmour, chaired by Alison Gilchrist, Community Development Foundation, the presentation focused on ideas around community, Britishness, integration and immigration that emerged from interviews with white UK respondents in Bristol and Plymouth.

3 July 2007, Accenture Hotel, Milton Keynes

Qualitative Data Analysis Workshop
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and Open University Social Psychology Research Group

The aim of this workshop was for project teams to informally share data and talk together through possible analyses. Analytic groups explored embryonic themes and patterns in their data and discussed techniques of analysis. The workshop included presentations from Dr Stephanie Taylor, Dr Helen Lucey and Dr Darren Langdridge on discourse analysis, psychosocial and phenomenological analysis respectively.

24-25 July 2007, The University of Manchester

Fine Grain Analysis Workshops and Master Class with Professor John Heritage (University of California, Los Angeles)
ESRC Identities and Social Action, Psychology Department, University of Manchester and National Centre for Research Methods

The Identities and Social Action Programme, in collaboration with Manchester University and the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM), hosted Professor John Heritage (UCLA) as a visiting research fellow. Professor Heritage met with Programme researchers working on fine grain analysis during a two day Workshop.

Professor Heritage also gave a master class/seminar for peers and postgraduates (Tuesday 24th July, 2pm -5pm), discussing his methods and approaches, drawing on examples from current and past research. The event also included an interactive question and answer session with the audience.

3-4 September 2007, University of Bath

Disorders of consumption: Health, Identities and Social Policies on Consumption
ESRC Research Seminar Series on Identities and Consumption

This event focused on research, policy and practice related to the consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs, including speakers from the UK, Europe and Australasia. The conference showcased recent work from well-established researchers and postgraduate students, as well as current policy debates. (Provisional Programme)

Contact Christine Griffin for more information: psscg@bath.ac.uk

5-10 September 2007, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, Sussex University

Visualising Social Identities and Action: Lives in Britain Today
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme

Photographic Exhibition

This event focused on one of the projects with in the wider exhibition: Deprived White Community? Social Action on Three Norwich Estates, 1930-2005 (Dr Ben Rogaly and Dr Becky Taylor).

The images were exhibited at the 4th Annual Conference of IMISCOE - International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe at Sussex University. For more information on this project please contact: Dr Ben Rogaly b.rogaly@sussex.ac.uk or Dr Beck Taylor Becky.Taylor@sussex.ac.uk

20 September 2007, Cardiff University

Regenerating Identities - Subjectivity in Transition in a South Wales Workforce: A Colloquium for Policy Makers

This event presented research findings from the Identities and Social Action project: 'Regenerating Identities - Subjectivity in Transition in a South Wales Workforce', in collaboration with the Department of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.This research, carried out by Professor Valerie Walkerdine, Professor Peter Fairbrother and Luis Jimenez (Cardiff University), explored the construction of identity in relation to the changing nature of work. It did so in the context of the effects of labour market changes which brought about the closure of the steel works in Ebbw Vale in South Wales and the subsequent attempts to regenerate the area.

Playback South 2007

The Autumn Playback performances were held on Friday 12 October 2007, in Oxford House Theatre, Bethnal Green. Theatre with great sense of humour, reflection and social research!

For further information click here

24 October 2007, Graduate Centre, Libeskind Building, London Metropolitan University

One-Day Conference on 'The White Middle Classes and Urban Education'
Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) and the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme

This conference presented the findings of the ESRC Identities and Social Action research project 'Identities, Educational Choice and the White Urban Middle Classes' led by Diane Reay (now at Cambridge, formerly IPSE). The conference papers addressed issues of race and class privilege and how the white middle classes relate to, and represent their class and ethnic 'other'.

Speakers included Professor Diane Reay (University of Cambridge), Professor David James (University of the West of England, Bristol), Professor Gill Crozier (University of Sunderland) and invited speaker, Professor Stephen Ball (Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education, Institute of Education).

Please see this flyer for more information. For more information contact: Nathan Fretwell: n.fretwell@londonmet.ac.ukor telephone 0207 133 2658

27 November 2007, Church House Conference Centre, Westminster

Post-conflict identities: Practices and Affiliations of Somali Refugee and Asylum Seeker Children
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, University of Sheffield and University of Leeds

This event presented research findings from the Identities and Social Action project which has studied the contemporary identity practices of post-conflict refugee and asylum seeker children in the UK. The findings from this study highlight the identity practices that make a difference to young asylum seekers' integration in the UK and offer insights about the kind of support necessary to promote this group's social inclusion.

This project was carried out by Dr Deborah Sporton from University of Sheffield and Professor Gill Valentine from University of Leeds. It involved quantitative and qualitative research with Somali refugee and asylum seeker young people (aged 11 to 18) in order to understand how these young people's identities are shaped through their diverse histories of mobility.

28 November 2007, Regents College, London

Public Lecture: "The Realist Theory of Social Identity and It's Implications", Professor Satya Mohanty

Prof Satya Mohanty (Cornell University) visited from the United States to present a keynote address on his work on post positivist realist approaches to identity. The lecture took place at 4pm, Regents College, London.

For more information click here

28 November 2007, Regents College, London

Annual Programme Meeting

The annual meeting brought together members of the Identities and Social Action Programme. One of the main aims for this meeting was to do some creative work on the two Programme books: 'New Identities: New Intersections' and 'Identity Practices'. This event was for programme members only.

17-19 December 2007, Birkbeck College, London

Turning Psychosocial? Towards a UK Network

This event brought together academics to represent the diversity of psychosocial studies in the UK. It addressed a number of questions on the psychosocial turn: what it is and who is involved; its extent, importance and influence; differences of focus and method. It provided a forum for discussion and critical evaluation of this emergent field and lay the basis for a continuing network. The programme of the event has been informed by two principles: to maximise dialogue and to reflect on the group(s) that are in process of evolving psychosocial identities.

Contact Wendy Hollway w.hollway@open.ac.uk

1 February 2006, The Open University

Public Lecture: Professor Angela McRobbie (LSE) - The New Sexual Contract: Young Women's Identities Today
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the ESRC Centre for Citizenship, Identity and Governance (CCIG)

In this lecture Prof McRobbie outlined a feminist perspective on the current situation facing young women. Discussants for this Lecture were Professor Valerie Hey (Brunel University) and Professor Rachel Thomson (The Open University). The lecture was followed by a question and answer session and wine reception.

Click here for lecture abstract (PDF document)
Click here to view the webcast of the lecture, then go to past events.

1 February 2006, The Open University, Milton Keynes

Workshop: New Gender Regimes, Performativity and Intersectionality

This workshop picked up the research on gender issues in the Programme. It explored the conclusions for the study of gender likely to emerge when combinations of projects are put together, the possibilities for collaboration and joint publishing. It was a chance for projects with a gender dimension to find out about other work and share new thinking.

Click here for further information (PDF document)

22 February 2006, City Inn Westminster, London

Roundtable: Identity, Disadvantage and Empowerment: New Thinking
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Social Exclusion Unit

This roundtable presented new thinking on identity and social exclusion - addressing questions such as:

• What's the link between identity, disadvantage and exclusion?
• What are the best ways to empower individuals?
• How will giving users choice and voice impact on public services, on communities and on the individual?

The roundtable had two aims – to encourage dialogue and information sharing between researchers and policy makers and to disseminate the work taking place in ESRC and ODPM to a wider audience.

Click here for further information (PDF document)

15 March 2006, University of the West of England

Public Lecture: Professor Valerie Walkerdine - Minding the Gap: Thinking Subjectivity Beyond a Psychic/Discursive Division
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and Centre for Psycho-Social Studies, University of the West of England
This event was held as part of the ESRC's Social Science Week 2006

This public lecture outlined Professor Walkerdine's latest thinking on developing a relational theory of identity, discussants for the lecture were Professor Stephen Frosh (Birkbeck College) and Dr Ian Burkitt (Bradford University). The lecture was followed by a question and answer session and wine reception.

Click here for lecture abstract (PDF document)
Click here to listen to the lecture (MP3 format, 44Mb)

15 March 2006, University of the West of England, Bristol

Workshop: Psycho-Social Data Analysis
This event was held as part of the ESRC's Social Science Week 2006

This workshop focused on methodology, in particular developing psycho-social modes of data analysis drawing on psychoanalytic interpretation of film and interview material. How can such material be read through a psycho-social lens, what epistemological and procedural issues does this raise and how can these issues be resolved? Three Programme projects using, or learning to use, psycho-social methods as a central part of their work presented some material (e.g. interview data) for group discussion and analysis.

Click here for further information (PDF document)

16 May 2006, The Open University

Identities and Social Action Programme Research Fellows Workshop

This was the second meeting of the Identities Programme research fellows, establishing an informal network among those employed on the Programme projects. The meeting included a workshop on 'How to Get that Grant' led by Dr Marion Petre and a discussion on the role of emotion in identity research facilitated by Dr Helen Lucey.

Click here for further information. (PDF document)

25 May 2006, Cardiff University

Public Lecture: Professor Alex Haslam - Social Identity, Psychological Well-Being and the Health of Societies: The BBC Prison Study
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Psychology Department, Cardiff University

This public lecture presented some of the main findings from the BBC Prison Study and discussed the implications for identity and well-being. The lecture was followed by a question and answer session and wine reception.

Click here for lecture abstract (PDF document)
Click here to listen to the lecture (MP3 format, 35Mb)

25-26 May 2006, Cardiff University

Workshop: Developments in Social Identity Theory

This workshop was for projects in the Identities Programme using social identity theory as developed in social psychology as the principal lens for their identity research. Social identity theorists adopt mixed methods but mainly rely on quantitative research whether experiments or surveys. The workshop explored the main theoretical and substantive developments in social identity research that might emerge when findings from projects are combined along with discussion of the possibilities for joint publishing. Each of four projects led a session on their work. Interlocutors from the wider social identity theory community were invited to discuss the issues arising.

Click here for further information. (PDF document)

16 June 2006, Institute for Public Policy Research, London

Seminar: Mapping Changes in UK Identities
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

This event chaired by Mark Easton (BBC) presented early findings from Programme projects around changes in contemporary identities. The seminar featured two presentations form ESRC projects, one by Professor Anthony Heath, and one by Professor Ann Phoenix.

Click here to view Power Points from Anthony Heath (PDF document)
Click here for Power Points for Ann Phoenix's presentation (PDF document)

21 June 2006, London School of Economics

Workshop: New Ethnicities
ESRC Identities Programme and London School of Economics

This workshop organised jointly with Social policy at LSE, explored theory and research on new ethnicities, hybridity and racialising processes. The aim of the workshop was to think across the relevant projects in the Programme to assess what 'bigger pictures' might emerge from the combination of research sites and questions, as a platform for collaborative work and joint publishing.

Click here for further information (PDF document)

11 and 12 July2006, University of Aston, Birmingham

ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme Residential Conference

This two day conference included parallel sessions for on the Programme themes, panels picking up policy and user group foci and two guest Lectures, one given by Professor Anthony Elliot, University of Kent and one from Claire Alexander, London School of Economics.

For Conference Programme click here (PDF document)

Click here to listen to the invited lecture from Professor Anthony Elliott – Extreme Reinvention: Identity in the Global Age (MP3 Audio File)

Click here to download lecture transcript from Dr Claire Alexander, The Limits of Identity Theory. (PDF document)

5 and 6 September 2006, Loughborough University

Workshop: Fine-Grain Analysis of Talk-in-Interaction
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, Social Sciences Department, Loughborough University and the National Centre for Research Methods

This workshop was for projects engaged in the analysis of talk-in-interaction using conversation analysis, discursive psychology and sociolinguistic methods. It was a data focused Workshop with four projects presenting data from their research for collective discussion around the broad theme – where are identities in talk?

For more information click here (PDF document)

7 September 2006, Loughborough University,

Master Class: Professor Charles and Marjorie Goodwin (UCLA), Video Analysis of Talk-in-Interaction: Interactive Trajectories in the Construction of Social Identities
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme, Social Sciences Department, Loughborough University and the National Centre for Research Methods

This seminar presented a 'master-class' on the Goodwins' work, including a discussion of video methods for fine-grain data analysis and techniques for studying interactive trajectories in the construction of social identities.

For more information (PDF document) click here

24 October 2006, King's College London

Book Launch for Dr Roxy Harris and Professor Ben Rampton
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and King's College London

Dr Harris and Prof Rampton launched their new books, New Ethnicities and Language Use (Dr Roxy Harris), Language in Late Modernity (Prof Ben Rampton)

For more information Click Here

29 November 2006, London School of Economics

Public Lecture: Professor Tariq Modood - 'Essentialism and Multiculturalism'
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the London School of Economics

This lecture was chaired by Madeleine Bunting (Guardian) and included two discussants, Professor Ann Phoenix (The Open University) and Darra Singh (Chair of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion). Professor Modood's lecture discussed whether it is possible to study group identities - eg. ethnic or religious identities in the context of political mobilisation - without homogenisation, essentialism and reification. He argued that some of the current scepticism in social theory and critical social science is exaggerated. It is itself a form of essentialism and so is not an objection to multiculturalism as a public policy idea.

For more information Click Here

2 December 2006, University of Warwick

Identities: Negotiations in Contemporary Space(s) : An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

This one day Conference organised by postgraduates at Warwick University, for postgraduates researching identity included a series of presentations and parallel sessions on their research. Keynote addresses were from Prof Debbie Epstein (University of Cardiff) and Prof Les Back (Goldsmiths College, University of London).

Requests for information to M.M.Perrier@warwick.ac.uk or D.Beusch@warwick.ac.uk or N.S.Pitimson@warwick.ac.uk

Click on www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/news/identities/ for further information.

20 January 2005, Regents College London

ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme Workshop

The main objective of this event was to introduce the research teams to each other, for the first time and start the necessary networks and Programme apparatus going. A key aim was to begin the kind of intellectual debates which will sustain the Programme over the next few years and there was an opportunity for project teams to meet the Advisory Committee on an informal basis. The event included four ten minute presentations on the theme 'What is Identity?' from Dr Deborah Sporton and Prof Gill Valentine (University of Sheffield and University of Leeds), Prof Rupert Brown (University of Sussex), Prof Ben Rampton (King's College London) and Prof Wendy Hollway (The Open University) followed by a discussion.

Click on the links to view copies of the speakers' notes and slides.

14 April 2005, Royal Society of Arts, London

ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme Launch

Over 200 people gathered together to launch the Identities Programme and to listen to a series of Lectures on the theme Identity Futures/Identity Histories and to wish the research teams well. Welcoming the advent of the Programme, Adrian Alsop (ESRC Director of Research, Training and Development) noted that it represented the beginning of a sustained period of investment by the ESRC in identity research with further Programmes forthcoming.

Further information about the programme launch

Lecture Transcripts

Prof Beverley Skeggs, (Sociology, Goldsmiths College, London) New Formations of Spectacular Selves. PDF document of the lecture transcript

Dr Roxy Harris (School of Social Sciences and Public Policy, King's College London) New Ethnicities and Cultural Practices. PDF document of the lecture transcript

Lord Anthony Giddens (King's College, Cambridge University) Modernity and Self-Identity Revisited. PDF document of the lecture transcript

17 May 2005, Accenture Hotel, Milton Keynes

Methodology Workshop
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the National Centre for Research Methods

This workshop included Lectures from Dr Amanda Coffey on New Audio and Digital Technologies in Qualitative Research, Dr Mark Sheehan on Ethics and Data Protection in Relation to New Audio and Digital Technologies, Ms Alicia O'Cathainon Combining Different Sets of Data. There were also three Workshops, Dr Caroline Knowles on Visual Techniques in Ethnographic Research, Dr Corinne Squire and Dr Molly Andrewson Methods and Approaches to Narrative Analysis and Prof Wendy Hollway Psychoanalytically Informed Qualitative Methods.

Click on the links to view copies of the speakers' notes and slides.

23 June 2005, 1 Great George Street, London

Roundtable: Identity, Political Engagement and Civic Activism in 21st Century UK
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Hansard Society

This roundtable gathered together researchers from the Identities Programme with politicians, journalists, think-tank representatives and policy-makers to explore the identity factors which influence political participation and civic activism.

Click here for further information and MP3 audio files of speaker contributions.

21 September 2005, Royal Geographical Society, London

Roundtable: Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion
ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme and the Runnymede Trust

The aim of the roundtable was to bring together an invited group of politicians, policy-makers, identity researchers and community workers in a forum which would result in the research and policy agenda informing each other.

Click here for further information and MP3 audio files of speaker contributions.

25 October 2005, The Open University

ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme Research Fellows Workshop

This was the first meeting of the Identities Programme research fellows, establishing an informal network among those employed on the Programme projects. The meeting included a workshop on 'Building a Research Career' led by Wendy Stainton-Rogers and a discussion on 'Identity in Question' facilitated by Dr Peter Redman.

Click here for further information (PDF document)