The conference theme concerns ‘rights’.  From rights claimed on the basis of humanity to those relating to a specific group in a specific setting; are rights so ubiquitous that they are rendered meaningless?  What does it mean to have rights, morally and/or legally?  How are they allocated, by whom, and who is included and excluded?  These are some of the questions that the conference hopes to address. Key note speakers are Dr Neil Stammers of the Justice and Violence Research Centre, University of Sussex and Professor Lydia Morris of the Sociology Department, University of Essex. 

Abstracts submitted for presentation at the conference might cover some of the following topics –though this list is not exhaustive of the theme of rights and related abstracts on other topics are welcome: 

• Theoretical perspectives on rights from classical to more recent developments in theories of rights
• Legal vs. moral rights
• Human rights
• Citizenship and rights
• Gender based rights
• Age based rights –children and the elderly
• Animal rights
• Disabled peoples’ rights
• Minority culture/language rights
• Religious rights
• Workers’ rights
• The intersection of different types of rights
• Intellectual property rights, including music/film rights
• Research process -what rights do we afford to participants?