Seminar Competition
Applications will reopen in June 2025.
The SLSA invites submissions for its annual seminar competition. We are happy to fund successful seminar proposals which can realistically draw other sources of funding in addition to an SLSA award. The money can be used to support the delivery of either an individual seminar or short conference, or a series of events. There are no restrictions concerning the subject matter, provided that applicants can show relevance to the socio-legal community.
Grants of between £500 and £3000 will be awarded.
Note: all applicants to the scheme must be current members in good standing of the Socio-Legal Studies Association. You can check your membership status here.
Note: a proportion of this funding pot is ring-fenced for those in precarious employment.
Applications will not be considered where the event is targeted at staff or students of a single institution. Preference will be given to high-quality proposals from applicants who have not held an award under this competition in the last three years.
See below for details of all previous winners.
Reports of all SLSA seminars are published in the Socio-Legal Newsletter. Please see our newsletter archive.
How to enter
If you have any queries, contact
The chair of the seminar competition subcommittee is
Seminar Competition winners
2024
Interpretation in Courts in Wales and the Republic of Ireland – simultaneous and consecutive interpretation compared
Date and Venue: 18 October 2024, The Temple of Peace, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff
Applicant: Róisín Á Costello, Trinity College Dublin
Award: £1000
Contemporary Challenges in Migration Research
Date and Venue: 17 May 2024, Ulster University Belfast
Applicants: Neil Graffin, Open University, & Sarah Craig, University of Ulster
Award: £800
See announcement and flyer for details.
The Juridification of Justice: Potentials and Limitations
Date and Venue: 18–19 April 2024, University of Exeter
Applicant: Nora Jaber, University of Exeter
Award: £1000
Law’s Role in Shaping and Responding to Disability and Motherhood
Date and Venue: tbc
Applicant: Jaime Lindsey
Award: £1000
Climate Change Mitigation and Human Rights
Date and Venue: 23 January 2025, Brunel University
Applicant: Colin M Luoma, Brunel University
Award: £985.58:
Law and Global Justice: Research Centres without a Research Field?
Date and Venue: Workshop, 25 April 2024; PGR Conference, 26 April 2024, University of Durham
Applicants: Catherine O’Rourke, Henry Jones, Vera Piovesan and Ranime Djouider, Durham University
Award: £980
See workshop programme and PGR programme for details.
Climate Change and Migration: New Challenges, Legal Responses, and Policy Solutions
Date and Venue: 19 June 2024, University of Nottingham
Applicant: Andrea Maria Pelliconi, City University of London
Award: £999.85
See website and announcement for details.
Calculating Climate Reparations: Legal Perspectives
Date and Venue: tbc
Applicant: Sahar Shar, University of Bristol
Award: £996
2023
Socio-Legal Approaches to Protecting Athletes from Financial and Physical Harm: Challenges, Reflections and Solutions
Date and venue: 9 June 2023, Manchester Law School
Applicants: James Brown and Sarah Carrick, Manchester Metropolitan University
Award: £1000
See website for details.
Prevent, Surveil and Protect: The Fight against Terrorism
Date and venue: 27 March 2023 online and 19 May 2023 in person
Applicants: Hannah Wishart and Kat Langley, University of Sunderland
Award: £900
See website for details and event ebook for details.
The Vulnerable Accused in the Criminal Justice System Conference
Dates and venue: 13–14 September 2023, University of Birmingham.
Applicants: Roxanna Dehaghani, Cardiff University, Samantha Fairclough, University of Birmingham, and Harriet Pierpoint, University of South Wales
Award: £1000
See website for details.
Prisoner Rights: Time for a Rethink?
Date and venue: 26 July 2023
Applicants: Greg Davies, University of Liverpool, and Robert Jones, Cardiff University
Award: £1000
See website for details.
Fantasy Legal Exhibitions
Date and venue: 18–19 July 2023, British Museum, Postal Museum, Middle Temple and IALS, London
Applicants: Victoria Barnes, Brunel University, and Amanda Perry-Kessaris, University of Kent
Award: £950
See announcement for details.
2022
Legal Masterplots: A Way Forward for Socio-legal Studies?
Dates and venues: Workshop 1, 10 May 2023, Southampton Law School; Workshop 2, 7 June 2023, Durham Law School
Applicants: Chris Bevan and David Gurnham
Award: £900
Abolition Feminism: Breaking Free from the Master’s Tools
Date and venue: 15–16 September 2022, online
Applicants: Flick Adams, Fabienne Emmerich, S Lamble, Molly Ackhurst, nic aaron and Jodie Beck
Award: £800
See website for details.
New Directions in Law and Time Scholarship
Date and venue: 14 October 2022
Applicants: Tanzil Chowdhury and Kathryn McNeilly
Award: £1000
Venue: QMUL School of Law, London. See website for details.
2021
Mental Capacity in the Context of Sexual Relationships and Intimacy
Date and venue: 23 May 2022, Keele Hall, Keele University
Applicants: Laura Pritchard-Jones and Bev Clough
Award: £1000
See link for further details.
Covid-19 and Birthing Services: Socio-legal Reflections and Lessons
Workshop 1: Obstetric Violence during COVID-19: Coerced/unconsented vaginal examinations
7 April 2021 online
Workshop 2: Choices during COVID-19: Restrictions on maternal request caesarean sections and homebirthing
14 April 2021, 6–8pm online
Applicants: Anna Nelson and Elizabeth Chloe Romanis
Award: £700
Art/Law Network Online Seminar Series 2021: HOMEing –Beyond 2020
Series of seven online seminars between March and September 2021
5 March 2021 online
Applicants: Lucy Finchett-Maddock, Sean Mulcahy and Sophie Doherty
Award: £1000
2020
Decolonising the Criminal Question: Colonial legacies, contemporary problems
16–17 September 2021, University of Warwick
Applicants: Henrique Carvalho, Ana Alivertia and Anastasia Chamberlen, University of Warwick
Award: £1830
The Gender Pay Gap: From history to computer algorithms
Date and venue: 20 November 2020, Online hosted by Northumbria University
Applicant: Elisabeth Griffiths, Northumbria University
Award: £1875
See webpage for full details.
Workshop Series on Critical Perspectives on Land Registration
30 October, 20 November 2020 and 22 January 2021
Online hosted by Birkbeck, University of London
Applicant: Sarah Keenan, Birkbeck, University of London
Award: £1875
See website for details of the first, second and third workshops.
Benefits in Wales: Opportunities and challenges for social security devolution
24 November 2020, online
Applicant: Mark Simpson, Ulster University
Award: £1875
2019
Law at the Margins of the City
26 March 2019
Birkbeck School of Law, London
Applicant: Moniza Rizzin Ansari, Birkbeck University of London
Award: £1240
Please see website for details.
Here Versus There: Beyond comparison in queer and sexuality politics
17 June 2019
Maynooth University, Ireland
Applicant: Kay Lalor, Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University
Award: £1600
Please see website for details. This is the first of two events to be funded under this scheme.
Here Versus There Seminar 2: Academic–Activist Exigencies in Neoliberal Modernity: Transnationalizing queer-feminist lives
20 June 2019
Manchester Metropolitan University
Applicant: Kay Lalor, Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University
Please see website for details or read more on the blog.
The Perennial Problem of Disclosure – A way forward?
3 July 2019
Bristol Law School, University of the West of England, Bristol
Applicant: Ed Johnston, University of the West of England
Award: £1500
Please see website for details.
Legal Design: Concepts, methods, norms and examples: POSTPONED
Date: tbc
Venue: City, University of London
Applicants: Amanda Perry-Kessaris, Kent Law School, and Emily Allbon, City, University of London
Award: £1527
Please visit webpage for further details.
Interdisciplinarity as Resistance
Redisigned due to the pandemic as an online resource: Hyphae.xyz
Applicant: Rose Sydney Parfitt and Lucy Fincett-Maddock
Award: £2000
See website for details.
Universal Credit and Gender equality: Exploratory workshop on prospects for actual or fictional judicial review challenges
Date: 21 October 2019
Venue: Birmingham University Law School
Applictant: Nicole Busby, Strathclyde University
Award: £1950
See webpage for details.
2018
The Time(s) and Temporality of International Human Rights Law
2 July 2018
School of Law, Queen's University Belfast
Applicant: Kathryn McNeilly, Queen's University Belfast
Award: £1840
Please see webpage for details and registration.
Our Arts in the North
5 July 2018
Assembly Rooms, Newcastle City Centre
Applicant: Rebecca Moosavian, University of Leeds
Award: £2000
Please see website for details.
Security, Borders and International Development: Intersections, Convergence and Challenges
25–26 April 2019, University of Warwick
Applicant: Celine Tan and Ana Aliverti, Warwick University
Award: £2000
Transmitting Justice: Transparency, Visuality, and Mediatization
Date and venue: 10 December 2018, 83 Pall Mall, London
Applicant: Sarah Moore, University of Bath
Award: £2000
See website for details.
Legality with a Vengeance
25 May 2018
City University London
Applicant: Anna Chadwick, Glasgow University
Award: £2000
Further details to be announced in due course.
2017
Law, Translation and Migration: An enlightening relationship
21 September 2017
Birmingham Law School
Applicant: Sophie Boyron and Aleksandra Cavoski, University of Birmingham
Award: £1533.06
Please see webpage for details.
Devolved Nations and International Law
16 June 2017
Venue: Bangor University
Applicants: Yvonne McDermott Rees and Hayley Roberts, Bangor University
Award: 2400
Power, Property and the Law of Trusts Revisited: Roger Cotterrell's contribution to critical trusts scholarship
25–26 October 2017
Kent University
Applicants: Nick Piska and Hayley Gibson, Kent University
Award: 2000
See webpage for details.
The Voluntary Sector in Criminal Justice: A seminar to set the research agenda
5–6 June 2017
University of Sheffield Centre for Criminological Research
Applicant: Philippa Tomczak, University of Sheffield
Award: £3655.65
A report of the day is available here.
2016
Imagining the State for Progressive Politics
19 May 2016
Kent Law School, University of Kent
Applicant: Davina Cooper, University of Kent
Award: £3618
Please see flyer for details.
Reproductive Futures: Reproductive choices?
4–5 July 2016
Southampton University
Applicants: Natasha Hammond-Browning and Claire Lougarre
Award: £3392
Please see flyer for details.
Labour Law for a Warming World? Exploring the intersections between work, regulation and environmental sustainability
12 September 2016
University of Warwick School of Law
Applicant: Ania Zbyszewska
Award: £2500
Please see flyer for details.
International Economic Law in Context: Workshop 2 – Governing the planet: issues in global environmental governance
3 November 2016
Warwick Arts Centre, Warwick
Applicants: Celine Tan and John McEldowney, University of Warwick
Award: £2400
This is the second workshop in a series organised by Centre for Law, Regulation and Governance of the Global Economy (GLOBE), University of Warwick. See website for details.
2015
Symposium on Law and Compassion
1 July 2015, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London
Applicants: Dermot Feenan and Daniel Bedford, University of Portsmouth
Award: £3000
Appointing Judges in an Age of Diversity: An international conference on the JAC's 10th anniversary
6–7 November 2015, University of Birmingham
Applicants: Graham Gee and Erika Rackley, University of Birmingham
Award: £2215
Lost in Translation? From science to regulation
Date: 19 January 2016, University of Birmingham
Applicant: Aleksandra Cavoski, University of Birmingham
Award: £876
Law's metaphors
25 September 2015, School of Law, University of Southampton
Applicant: David Gurnham, University of Southampton
Award: £1022
International Economic Law in Context: Workshop 1 – Rethinking international investment law: civic advocacy, representation, University of Warwick: call for papers
3–4 May 2016, GLOBE, University of Warwick
Applicants: Celine Tan and John McEldowney, University of Warwick
Award: £2400
This was the first workshop in a series organised by GLOBE. A report of this event is available here.
2014
The Cultural Life of Death in Punishment
1 September 2014, Senate House, University of London
Applicants: Lizzie Seal and Evi Girling
Award: £3000
The Green Economy and Human Well-being: Integrating human development in environment-related economic policies: indicators and impact
November (date to be confirmed)
Applicants: Elena Blanco and Jona Razzaque
Award: £500
Please download attachment for further details of this event to be held at the University of the West of England's Frenchay Campus in Bristol.
Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society Conference
12–15 June 2014, Edinburgh University
Applicant: Paul du Plessis
Award: £500
New Technologies, Developments in the Biosciences and the New Frontiers of Human Rights
18 June 2014, Durham University
Applicant: Noa Vaisman
Award: £500
Crimea: EU, human rights and public international law
1 May 2014, Durham Law School (Postgraduate Conference)
Applicants: Aoife O'Donoghue and Catherine Turner
Award: £500
2013
Graphic Justice
11 September 2013, St Mary's University College, London
Applicant: Thomas Giddens
Award: £2095
Please see flyer for details.
2011
Economic and Social Rights in a Time of Austerity
1 July 2011, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
Lead applicants: Aoife Nolan, Law School, Durham University and Sandra Fredman, University of Oxford
Award: £3096
Podcasts of all sessions are available for download on the seminar website.
2010
Socio-Legal Perspectives on Contemporary Mobilities: Theoretical and Policy Implications
17 & 18 November 2010, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge
Lead applicant: Louise Ackers, Liverpool Law School
Award: £3500
The Role of Databases in Transitional Justice Research
26 October 2010
Lead applicants: Louise Mallinder and Catherine O'Rourke, Transitional Justice Unit, University of Ulster
Award: £400
2009
Socializing Economic Relationships – New Perspectives and Methods for Analysing Transnational Risk Regulation
15 & 16 April 2010, Centre for Socio-legal Studies, Oxford
Lead applicant: Dr Bettina Lange, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University,
Other applicant: Dr Dania Thomas, School of Law, Keele University
Award: £4000
2007
Children’s Participation in Research Processes: Putting Theory into Practice
10-12 September 2007, University of Liverpool
Lead applicant: Professor Christina Lyon and
Other applicant: Mike Jones (formerly of The Children’s Society)
Both applicants are from the Centre for the Study of the Child, the Family and the Law, Liverpool Law School, University of Liverpool
Award: £3590
Positions on the Politics of Porn: A Debate on Government Plans to Criminalise the Possession of Extreme Pornography
15 March 2007, University of Durham
Lead applicant: Clare McGlynn
Other applicants: Erika Rackley and Nicole Westmarland
All applicants are from the University of Durham
Award: £1097.50
In 2008, it was judged that none of the entrants was suitable for a seminar grant. In 2012, the scheme was suspended for one year.