Conference & Call for papers

Call for submissions - ‘Socio-economic Inequalities and Poverty Discrimination’ - 20 July 2025

The Socio-economic Inequalities and Poverty Discrimination Working Group (SEIPD) and the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism invite scholars and practitioners to submit contributions to the group’s inaugural conference on
3 October 2025, to be held at the Faculty of Laws of University College London, United Kingdom. The inaugural conference will provide a unique opportunity to gather leading scholars and practitioners from different fields to debate the central but often neglected theme of socioeconomic inequalities and poverty discrimination.

Conference theme: ‘Rising Socio-economic Inequalities: the Potential and Limits of Law’
Rising socio-economic inequalities point to the growing disparity between the development of domestic and international legal standards and the lived realities of socio-economic distribution. Although progress can be observed in the fight against absolute poverty, recent crises—including the COVID-19 pandemic, long-lasting economic crises, and the severe consequences of climate change—have stalled these efforts and contributed to a resurgence of rising inequalities. These crises particularly affect middle- and low-income individuals and families, presenting severe challenges to those already in poverty, as well as disparately affecting vulnerable groups through intersectional disadvantages. At the same time, crises often present opportunities for the extremely rich to accumulate wealth, benefiting from tax cuts, bailouts, crisis-related business  opportunities, and various forms of financial speculation.
In this context, basic goods essential for the subsistence of individuals and their families become increasingly inaccessible as part of a fluctuating market whose forces are idealised as natural or inevitable. Housing, food, water, education, and other fundamental rights become commodities, concentrated in the hands of a few and out of the reach of those most in need. The link between wealth concentration and extreme situations of poverty -such as homelessness, mal-nutrition, and other crippling social conditions- is thus stark. Meanwhile, stigmatisation and discrimination serve as further drivers of poverty, reducing and virtually removing chances of social mobility for those already marginalised and living in conditions of economic vulnerability. Meanwhile, when legal systems fail to address socio-economic inequalities, they effectively exclude significant portions of the population from meaningful democratic participation and undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Extreme inequality creates power imbalances that distort democratic processes, allowing privileged groups to exert disproportionate influence while marginalised communities remain systematically excluded from decision-making.

Despite its arguably limited successes, the law plays a central part in tackling rising socioeconomic inequalities and poverty discrimination. Where policy fails, legal standards and obligations are often invoked to counter retrogressions and violations of human and fundamental rights. Still, views vary radically as to the function, potential, and limits of the law in tackling socio-economic inequalities and poverty. For some critics, the law is ineffective, complicit, or even a driver of poverty, allowing, creating, or perpetuating the conditions that enable extreme wealth accumulation and deepen inequalities. For others, the law has untapped potential that must be explored to activate, advance, and further develop legal standards that address socio-economic inequalities at the domestic and international level. In the equality and non-discrimination law field, the debate has mainly focused on recognising socio-economic grounds of discrimination, such as poverty, socio-economic disadvantage, economic status, and class, among others. Our conference recognises the relevance of this discussion but aims to expand beyond it. More specifically, it acknowledges that equality and non-discrimination are fundamental concepts in any democratic society, underlying legal systems and across different fields of law. In this context, it aims to explore the functions of equality and non-discrimination in limiting extreme inequalities across varied dimensions. The recognition that normative equality is fundamental to all domains of law and policy -including (but not limited to) economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights, and even tax law- requires interdisciplinary dialogue and spurs growing communication among equality law, other legal fields, and social sciences more broadly.

Submissions

The conference welcomes submissions that engage with the conference’s general theme as outlined above. It invites  contributions from scholars and practitioners in law and other relevant fields whose work explores and addresses poverty and socio-economic inequalities through diverse methodologies in research and/or practice. Applicants are requested to submit their application by email to socioeconomicinequalitiesgroup@gmail.com with the email subject “SEIPD Conference 2025”, no later than 20 July 2025. We expect to send responses by mid-August 2020. Submissions must contain an abstract of a maximum of 300 words detailing the subject of the contribution and a short (100-word) bio. Selected participants may submit a working paper (6000 words). It is possible to participate without submitting a full paper. If you will not be submitting a full paper, please indicate so in the application. Panels will be formed thematically, aiming to promote and optimise fruitful interactions among participants. There is a possibility that some papers may be considered for publication in a special issue. We strongly encourage the participation of early career scholars and PhD students in the conference.

Practicalities

The conference will occur on the premises of the Faculty of Laws of the University College London, United Kingdom. The event is conducted in person only. However, specific requests may be considered under special circumstances. To facilitate participation, the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism will provide partial financial support of up to GBP 300 to a few non-London-based candidates. Preference will be given to applicants who do not have funding from their home institutions. If you wish to apply for this support, please indicate so in the body of your e-mail and specify whether your institution is able to partially fund your participation. We strongly encourage those who have access to institutional funding to rely on those resources when possible.

Further information

• Further information can be requested through email at socioeconomicinequalitiesgroup@gmail.com.
• The SEIPD is a group of early career legal scholars and practitioners concerned with the structural and pervasive issues arising from socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination. The working group aims at promoting and facilitating academic and practical collaborations in research and tackling socio-economic inequality and related issues through law. https://seipd.org/
• Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/centres-institutes-and-groups/global-centre-democratic-constitutionalism
• UCL Faculty of Laws, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000
  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/