GIR Conference 2026
Inequalities in Fragile Contexts
Inequalities in Fragile Contexts
On 3 July 2026, the Graduate Inequality Review (GIR) hosted its Annual Conference, with the theme Inequalities in Fragile Contexts, bringing together 70 researchers, practitioners, and students from across Europe, Asia, North America, and other regions. The conference enabled participants to join online from around the world, creating an international forum for interdisciplinary dialogue on one of today's most pressing global challenges. The event was organised in partnership with University of Oxford Department of Social Policy and Intervention (Oxford DSPI) and the Oxford University Press.
The conference opened with keynote messages from Professor Robert Walker (Oxford DSPI) and Mr Robin Simpson, Independent Consultant to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Drawing respectively on contemporary research and decades of international development practice, the keynote speakers encouraged participants to rethink conventional understandings of fragility, emphasising that inequalities are shaped as much by institutional choices and access to essential services as by crises themselves. Their messages set the tone for a day of thoughtful discussion between academic researchers and practitioners.
The half-day conference featured 11 presentations by early-career researchers examining inequalities through diverse disciplinary lenses. Spanning themes of governance, digital inclusion, climate justice, education, migration, humanitarian response, gender, and care, the presentations demonstrated that inequalities are rarely isolated or accidental. Rather, they are produced and reproduced through the institutions, policies, and systems that shape everyday life, while crises such as climate change, conflict, and economic insecurity often expose and deepen pre-existing structural disadvantages.
The conference was organised around three thematic sessions: Inequalities in Structures; Environment, Climate, and Place; and Health, Care, and Society. Together, the sessions highlighted the importance of examining inequality not only through economic indicators, but also through questions of governance, recognition, participation, and access to essential services. Across presentations, participants learned that addressing inequalities requires strengthening institutions, centring the experiences of those most affected, and designing policies informed by both rigorous research and lived experience. The discussions in each session were further enriched by the contributions of panel experts Professor Diego Sánchez-Ancochea (Oxford Department of International Development), Dr Amelia Farber (Oxford Department of Education), and Dr Rossella Ciccia (Oxford DSPI).
The success of the conference reflects the collaborative efforts of the organising committee of the GIR. Special thanks go to Quinn Sanderson (Project Lead), Sreya Pattipati, Samuel Johnson, Fatima Warraich, Carolina Rota, and Marianne Vital (Editor-in-Chief), whose dedication ensured the smooth delivery of the event, as well as to the conference moderators, presenters, keynote speakers, panel experts, and participants for creating an engaging and intellectually stimulating forum for dialogue.
The GIR is a student-led publication based at the Oxford DSPI. Through its annual journal, conference, and blog, GIR provides a platform for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to engage with contemporary debates on inequality from interdisciplinary and global perspectives.
The conference opened with keynote messages from Professor Robert Walker (Oxford DSPI) and Mr Robin Simpson, Independent Consultant to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Drawing respectively on contemporary research and decades of international development practice, the keynote speakers encouraged participants to rethink conventional understandings of fragility, emphasising that inequalities are shaped as much by institutional choices and access to essential services as by crises themselves. Their messages set the tone for a day of thoughtful discussion between academic researchers and practitioners.
The half-day conference featured 11 presentations by early-career researchers examining inequalities through diverse disciplinary lenses. Spanning themes of governance, digital inclusion, climate justice, education, migration, humanitarian response, gender, and care, the presentations demonstrated that inequalities are rarely isolated or accidental. Rather, they are produced and reproduced through the institutions, policies, and systems that shape everyday life, while crises such as climate change, conflict, and economic insecurity often expose and deepen pre-existing structural disadvantages.
The conference was organised around three thematic sessions: Inequalities in Structures; Environment, Climate, and Place; and Health, Care, and Society. Together, the sessions highlighted the importance of examining inequality not only through economic indicators, but also through questions of governance, recognition, participation, and access to essential services. Across presentations, participants learned that addressing inequalities requires strengthening institutions, centring the experiences of those most affected, and designing policies informed by both rigorous research and lived experience. The discussions in each session were further enriched by the contributions of panel experts Professor Diego Sánchez-Ancochea (Oxford Department of International Development), Dr Amelia Farber (Oxford Department of Education), and Dr Rossella Ciccia (Oxford DSPI).
The success of the conference reflects the collaborative efforts of the organising committee of the GIR. Special thanks go to Quinn Sanderson (Project Lead), Sreya Pattipati, Samuel Johnson, Fatima Warraich, Carolina Rota, and Marianne Vital (Editor-in-Chief), whose dedication ensured the smooth delivery of the event, as well as to the conference moderators, presenters, keynote speakers, panel experts, and participants for creating an engaging and intellectually stimulating forum for dialogue.
The GIR is a student-led publication based at the Oxford DSPI. Through its annual journal, conference, and blog, GIR provides a platform for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to engage with contemporary debates on inequality from interdisciplinary and global perspectives.
|
The 2026 GIR Conference is organised in partnership with the Oxford University Press (OUP). The OUP is launching an innovative resource. Oxford Intersections is a new interdisciplinary research initiative bringing together voices from across the globe to address urgent challenges—from inequality to sustainability. Be part of a growing network shaping real-world impact: |
|