Socio-Legal Studies Association


Where law meets social sciences & the humanities

Seminar Competition

Applications will reopen in autumn 2024.

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. 

Applicants must be members of the SLSA. 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

Please download the Seminar Competition Guidance (updated 13 November 2023) for full details of how to enter. Please ensure that your proposal accords with the guidance.

If you have any queries, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The closing date each year is the third Monday in December. Decisions are normally announced in early February.

The chair of the seminar competition subcommittee is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


Seminar Competition winners

2024

Representing Minority Language Voices in Court

Date and Venue: tbc

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: tbc

Applicant: Nora Jaber, University of Exeter

Award: £1000

Climate Change Mitigation and Human Rights

Date and Venue: tbc

Applicant: Colin M Luoma, Brunel University

Award: £985.58: 

Law and Global Justice: Research Centres without a Research Field?

Date and Venue: tbc

Applicants: Catherine O’Rourke, Henry Jones, Vera Piovesan and Ranime Djouider, Durham University

Award: £980

Climate Change and Migration: New Challenges, Legal Responses, and Policy Solutions

Date and Venue: tbc

Applicant: Andrea Maria Pelliconi, City University of London

Award: £999.85

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

Research outcomes

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

Research outcomes

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

Research outcomes

2013

Graphic Justice

11 September 2013, St Mary's University College, London

Applicant: Thomas Giddens

Award: £2095

Please see flyer for details.

Research outcomes

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

Research outcomes

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.

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