News and Events
Check here for details about AWCA Worldwide events and other working class-related news and insights.
16 April 2026
AWCA Doctoral Support Group
The next AWCA Doctoral Support Group meeting is taking place 7-8.30pm on Tuesday 19th May. The group is for prospective, current and recent working-class doctoral students, so please do share this with others in your network.
Sign up here to receive the calendar invite.
01 April 2026
AWCA Worldwide Event: 'Should class be a protected characteristic?'
We are delighted to invite you to the next Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA) Worldwide event, taking place 7-8pm on Wednesday 22nd April 2026.
Join AWCA Chair, Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, and Rachael O'Connor, Associate Professor of Legal Education to discuss the position of class in UK equality legislation.
Register here to receive the event invite.
6th November 2025
AWCA Worldwide Seminar: 'Disrupting the Load of Imposter Work: Empowering Working Class Students from within the Ivory Tower'
On the 6th November, AWCA Worldwide were delighted to welcome Rachael O’Connor for a session exploring imposterism in higher education.
Rachael is an Associate Professor in Legal Education and Academic Lead for Personal Tutoring at the University of Leeds, trustee of LawCare and solicitor (non-practising). Her research develops reverse mentoring and other partnership-centred methods to empower underrepresented voices in changemaking, supporting decision makers to embed lived experience into practice. She has co-authored a book on supporting working-class students and published on working-class law students experiences of imposterism.
31 January 2025
AWCA Chair Geraldine Van Bueren KC wins debate: Should class be a protected characteristic?
Professor Van Bueren (center) with the other event speakers. The debate was organised by The River Group and held in London on 22nd January.
6 November 2024
Join AWCA and the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, & Justice (NCRTJ) for the upcoming 2024 Australia Conference: ‘Class, Race, Place: Exploring Intersectionality for Access to Higher Education Globally’.
On December 6th, 2024, the NCRTJ and the AWCA will co-host an online conference. The conference theme: ‘Class, Race, Place: Exploring Intersectionality for Access to Higher Education Globally’, focuses on the intersecting aspects that limit, deter or impact access to tertiary education in Australia and across the world.
The conference will showcase research, practices and experiences of race, class, place, and gender intersectionality, and its impact on access, support and success in higher education. The conference begins online at 4:00pm (AEST) with a Welcome to Country, and introductions by the AWCA and NCRTJ. The conference will include two keynote lectures, a panel discussion, and conference presentations. Please see the agenda.
The conference will bring together international academics, research students and community, from multi-disciplinary areas. The conference is open to everyone, especially those who are interested in: Indigenous Studies, Class Studies, Gender Studies, Inequality and Poverty Studies, International Relations, History, and Education. We welcome anyone with lived experience of conference themes and those who wish to become more informed on issues related to social class, place, poverty, race, gender and education.
Topics of Interest:
Intersectionality in Race and/or Class and/or Location and/or Gender Dis/Ability and/or any other intersections, in Higher Education and/or Disciplinary perspectives and experiences
Alliance, allyship and unity across borders
International commonalities/Shared experiences
Other related intersectional themes
Organisers:
Professor Emma-Jaye Gavin, AWCA, NCRTJ, Federation University (ej.gavin.ncrtj@gmail.com)
Professor Steven Roberts, AWCA, Monash University
2 August 2024
Call for abstracts: Class, Place, Race: Exploring Intersectionality for Access to Higher Education Globally
This hybrid conference will be co-hosted by AWCA and the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice (NCRTJ). It will be held in person in Ballarat, a town 1.5 hours from Naarm (Melbourne) CBD, and also offered online.
More information here.
27 April 2024
Upcoming seminar, Digital Divide and Intersectional Class Discrimination.
Featuring AWCA Worldwide Chair Geraldine Van Bueren.
Click here to register.
4 March 2024
Class in Classics Report published
AWCA Affiliate Group, the Network for Working-Class Classicists, publishes their 2024 UK ‘Class in Classics’ Report.
Find it here.
19 February 2024
Food security
AWCA Chair Geraldine van Bueren quoted in “Food security: ‘right to grow’ movement gains momentum but faces legal hurdles”. Read more here.
12 January 2024
International symposium
Join us for the International Symposium on Intersectional Class Discrimination and Cultural Rights. Held at Berkeley Law 26th and 27th January 2024.
More information here.
28 November 2023
AWCA Chair’s Recent Presentation at Oxford University
You can watch Geraldine Van Bueren’s talk here.
15 October 2023
Save the dates!
We are thrilled to announce an upcoming AWCA seminars, hosted by our board members in Australia (Steve Roberts) and the U.S. (Michele Statz).
BEING A UNIVERSITY LEADER OF FIRST-GEN/WORKING CLASS HERITAGE
This seminar will feature three prominent leaders in university and health care settings. Please join us as they discuss how their own intersectional identities-- First Gen, Indigenous, Mexicana/Chicana-shape how they navigate institutional structures and hierarchies.
31 October at 8 pm UK / 2 pm CT / 5 am Melbourne
USA EVENT Speakers include:
Registration available here.
AWCA AUSTRALIAN SEMINAR 2024
Thursday September 7th (9.30am UK time; 6.30pm Melbourne time; run time, 75-90 mins) RESERVE A SPOT HERE
Part one (35 mins talk; 15 mins Q&A):
Presentation: Class in Australia, by Associate Professor Steven Threadgold, University of Newcastle and Associate Professor Jessica Gerrard, University of Melbourne
Part two(approx 30 mins):
Panel Q&A: Intersectional perspectives on being (working) classed and in the Australian Academy
Panel members:
Associate Professor Emma Gavin, Faculty of Education, Monash University
Dr Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, School of Engineering, RMIT University
Dr Sherene Idriss, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University
Dr Sarah Attfield, School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney
Dr Gene Flenady, Dept of Philosophy, Monash University
01 August 2023
Doctoral Support Group
Tuesday September 26th at 7.30pm - via zoom.
Contact c.johnston@uwe.ac.uk for details
We welcome any student from a working-class background who is embarking on, taking the journey toward or near completion of their Doctoral studies - we are a friendly group of students and working-class academics who are here to support each other.
1 May 2023
The Discrimination Law Association warmly invites you to join our Practitioner Group Meeting on Thursday 11th May 2023 at 6pm online via zoom, where the topic will be “the relevance of unincorporated UN treaties in equalities law”.
The UK has ratified a wide number of UN treaties that make detailed provision regarding equality and non-discrimination principles. This talk will discuss how practitioners can use these treaties and the associated UN mechanisms when bringing anti-discrimination cases. It will consider the procedure of the UN bodies: the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that deal with complaints of breach. In particular considering the admissibility criteria for a complaint. It will go on to discuss the application of non-incorporated UN anti-discrimination treaties in domestic litigation. In particular, their relevance in arguments concerning the interpretation of Convention rights, being used as an aid to statutory interpretation and assisting in developing the common law, before considering the future scope for arguments relying on direct effect.
More information here.
1 May 2023
New blog post by AWCA Board Chair
The Less Travelled Path – Banning Class Discrimination
Featured on the British Sociological Association’s Everyday Society site.
26 April 2023
Upcoming Conference on Working Class Identity in STEM: CHANGING RESEARCH CULTURES FOR THE FUTURE
14/06/2023
University of Nottingham
Changing Research Cultures for the Future is a STEM-focused conference aimed at building networks of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, working against long-ingrained imposter syndrome and isolation felt by researchers, academics and students currently working or going into STEM fields.
This conference will also give working-class students a unique opportunity to network amongst their future colleagues in STEM fields, offering potentially life-long industry connections for students who have not had the networking privileges afforded to some of their peers. We hope this conference will directly improve the morale and self-esteem of students in attendance, and offer a unique opportunity for those already working in STEM to meet others from similar backgrounds.
Event Speakers:
-Professor Lee Eliot-Major, University of Exeter (Keynote)
-David McMahon, University of Nottingham
-Emily Jade Hansell, University of Loughborough
-Dr Jez Turner, University of Nottingham
More information here.
April 7, 2023
Upcoming event: “Making Class a Protected Characteristic”
AWCA Chair, Geraldine Van Bueren KC, and Chris Milsom will be speaking at the upcoming Discrimination Law Association’s Practitioner Group Meeting on April 27th. The conversation will explore:
• is the existing law sufficient?
• arguments for and against making class a protected characteristic
• the way forward
More information and registration for the Zoom session can be found here: https://discriminationlaw.org.uk/stories/dla-pgm-caste-discrimination-27-april
January 21, 2023
Upcoming event: “Working-Class And Working In Higher Education: Possibilities & Pedagogies”
This event seeks to bring together those who identify as coming from a working-class background and who are currently working in higher-education or aspiring to do so. The event will be a supportive space to discuss the lived experience of being a working-class academic (aspiring to otherwise), the implications of a working-class background upon pedagogy alongside contemporary barriers to transitions to and through academia and so called ‘strategies for successes’.
December 21, 2022
Project website launched: “ACADEMICS OF WORKING-CLASS HERITAGE TALKING”
Led by our very own board member, Charlie Davis, the project provides an exploratory space for academics identifying as being of working-class heritage (WCH) to share stories about their biographical roots and routes into and through academia.
December 20, 2022
AWCA Chair delivers “Poverty, Human Rights and University Diversity Politics” lecture at Utrecht University.
The full lecture can be viewed here.
May 9, 2022
AWCA University code and chairperson’s letter featured in The Times
See the full piece here.
Sir, To improve social mobility and reduce dropout rates, the international Alliance of Working Class Academics adopted the University Code on Equal Opportunity for Working Class Students and Academics 2021. The code’s questionnaire identifies students from a diverse range of working-class families. The questions include whether students have been in care, occupations and employment status of parents when students were 14, and whether parents socialised with university graduates. “First generation” students and postcodes are insufficient because some professionals did not attend university, and postcodes can include a wide range of incomes.
Professor emerita Geraldine Van Bueren QC
Alliance of Working Class Academics; Queen Mary, University of London
Thursday, May 05, 2022
February 24, 2022
Upcoming conference of interest:
Working Class Studies Association (U.S.) 2022 Conference, June 20 - 23: Class Dynamics at Work. More information here.
February 1, 2022
AWCA Chair, Geraldine Van Bueren QC, speaks at the launch event of the Network for Working-Class Classicists.
You can watch the video here.
October 29, 2021The Alliance of Working Class Academics is pleased to announce the University Code on Equal Opportunity for Working Class Students and Academics. We recognize the Code as critical step for formal recognition of working-class academics, students and culture.
Read more here:
September 1, 2021
Female Film Club hosts “Social Class in the Film Industry”
The event features AWCA Chair, Geraldine Van Bueren, QC and will live-stream on September 1, 2021. More details here.
Working-Class Writers Festival
This is a dynamic new festival of national significance which will take place in Bristol in 2021.
It aims to enhance, encourage and increase representation from the working class across the country, whilst connecting authors, readers, agents and editors. Info: https://www.bristolideas.co.uk/projects/working-class-writers-festival/
AWCA Board Member Paul Craddock’s new book profiled in The Times
Hearty congratulations, Paul! You can find the write-up here.
AWCA Board Member Charlie Davis’ research featured on Youth Circulations.
Read “Creating a research-engaged pedagogy to support vocational learners transitioning into higher education” here.
Congratulations, Geraldine!
The Association of Working Class Academics celebrates Professor Emerita Geraldine Van Bueren QC’s recent award of a two year Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship for her work on 'Class, Social Mobility and Law.'
Upcoming event featuring AWCA chair
“Rethinking Class and Social Mobility” will be the theme of a virtual discussion with Professor of International Human Rights Law and Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Geraldine Van Bueren QC.
More information here.
Relevant U.S. Resource for AWCA members:
Ezra Rosser’s Poverty Law blog (and concurrent tweets) feature emergent poverty law scholarship. Find out more, get your own work publicized, and subscribe here.
Upcoming Conference Session on Class: Identity Politics Needs Some Class
The Annual Canadian Sociological Association Conference
Congress 2021 of the Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Alberta | May 31 – June 4 2021 (Virtual)
https://www.csa-scs.ca/conference/en/
Free Webinar: Working Class Journeys in the Academy
February 24, 2021.
7:30 pm London
Featuring guest speakers Dr. Nicola Ingram and Dr. Deirdre O’Neill.
Email: craig.johnston@winchester.ac.uk for details.
AWCA Board Member Carole Binns’ work profiled in LSE post, “Is social class relevant in higher education today?”
Read more here.
AWCA Board Member publishes in Times Higher Education (Feb. 2021)
“How to navigate choppy, elitist waters as a working-class academic”
Read more here.