Conference | 8 November 2024 | Institute of Historical Research London
Pat Thane: Reflections on History, Policy and Action
Revised Call for papers, deadline – 12 July 2024
This workshop, which is being generously funded by the Royal Historical Society and the Social History Society and with the support of the IHR, is to celebrate the work of Professor Pat Thane. Pat Thane is a pathbreaking figure in the historical profession, spearheading research on public policy, politics and activism in modern Britain. She is one of a pioneering generation of female scholars who changed the face of their respective fields and left a legacy in the work of their supervisees and collaborators. Pat Thane has pioneered research on the development, implementation and decline of welfare states and on women’s lives as activists both inside and outside political parties. She has championed the writing of histories of marginalised groups: the old, disabled people, single mothers and the poor. Pat’s research encompasses longue durée studies of old age from ancient times to the present, as well as international comparative approaches to welfare.
The workshop will comprise a series of conversations between people with a past connection with Pat who have benefited from her work, as well as an invitation to emerging scholars to discuss her scholarship and how her work informs and inspires new directions in interdisciplinary fields. This event will include historians, sociologists, political scientists, policy specialists and economists. It will create a unique opportunity for PhD students and ECRs to meet with Pat, fellow academics and practitioners in the field, and together think through how Pat’s work acts as a springboard to further expanding knowledge and understanding in a range of historical and policy contexts.
This call is looking for papers which are more early-stage ‘work-in-progress’ than fully formed papers, contributions from ECRs and PhDs are especially welcome. Participants may, for example, want to grapple with individual problems, case studies, sources, or methods, and the emphasis will be on feedback and discussion rather than presentation and questions. Innovative presentation methods will be welcomed. Contributions will, therefore, be short (10 mins max) and might consider any of the following themes:
- Poverty
- Inequalities, including of living standards and gender
- Labour politics
- Women and activism
- Old Age
- Public policy
- The Welfare State – new approaches
There will also be an option to present a poster for those who would like to submit this rather than a paper.
We will hold the workshop on Friday 8th November 2024 at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR). We will be looking to publish selected contributions in either a special issue or an edited collection. We anticipate publication in 2026.
Thanks to funding from the Royal Historical Society we will be able to offer some travel bursaries for those whose institutions will not support this. Please let us know when you submit your abstract if you would like to be considered for one of these bursaries.
Submission guidelines:
Abstracts for both paper and posters: maximum 250 words
Presentation Length: 10 minutes
Deadline for submission: Friday 12th July
If you would like to be considered for this workshop, please send a short bio and an abstract of 250 words explaining what you would like to present/discuss to h.glew@westminster.ac.uk by 12 July 2024.
Image: Wiki Commons – CC 2.0