Global leader in Disability Studies, University of Leeds hosts inaugural Conference

Attracting researchers and activists from all over the world, the biennial Disability Studies Conference is being hosted for the first time by the Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds.

The transference of the internationally leading disability studies conference to the University of Leeds cements the University’s position as a global leader in the field of disability studies. Leeds has pioneered research and education in the field of Disability Studies since 1990 and the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) at the University of Leeds was the first university centre in the UK to establish disability studies as an academic field of research and study.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

The conference brings together researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activists from around the world (including the US, India and Europe) to share and debate research, ideas and developments in disability studies. From within the University of Leeds, participants are drawn from the Faculties of Social Sciences, Arts, Humanities and Culture, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Medicine and Health, and Leeds University Business School, demonstrating a wealth of cross-disciplinary expertise in disability studies

Keynote speakers include leading British disability activist Bob Williams-Findlay and our own Dr Miro Griffiths, Lecturer in Social Policy and Disability Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Disability Studies, both alumni of the MA Disability Studies.

Other keynotes include Professor Sami Schalk, author and Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr Marie Sépulchre, Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Work at Lund University in Sweden.

As Miro Griffiths, Co-Director of the Centre for Disability Studies explains,

The conference is an opportunity to allow our ideas to flourish, receive respectable critique, and be situated in progressing the realisation of accessible and inclusive societies. The University of Leeds is, historically and contemporarily, active in exploring and furthering the interdisciplinary nature of Disability Studies.

Global leader in disability studies

The interdisciplinary nature of the conference is reflected by the Centre for Disability Studies, a Faculty level research centre supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences, which boasts an interdisciplinary network of researchers in Social Sciences, Humanities and STEM across the University of Leeds.

From its inception, the Centre for Disability Studies has taken a pioneering role both nationally and internationally in disability studies. Members are united by their commitment to carrying out research and teaching that helps to achieve equality and social justice for disabled people, globally.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the award of the first masters in Disability Studies at Leeds, the first such programme in the UK. The postgraduate programmes have been taken by many important disability activists, policy-influencers and academics from around the world.

In a world-first in 2023, the University of Leeds opened its doors to students around the world with the pioneering new online Master’s programme Disability Studies, Rights and Inclusion which aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for and protect the rights of disabled people and communities.

This distinctive online course opens the doors for people from a range of diverse backgrounds to contribute to this important area of social justice and disability activism.

Hannah Morgan, programme lead in the School of Sociology and Social Policy

Hannah Morgan also teaches an online introductory course to the social model of disability.

Accessible and inclusive facilities

The conference is held across the Esther Simpson and Newlyn buildings, both of which boast gold standard Changing Places Toilets (larger accessible toilets, with equipment such as hoists, curtains, adult-sized changing benches and space for support workers).

More information for disabled visitors to the University of Leeds is available here.

Advocacy and policy influence

The Centre for Disability Studies is committed to working alongside disabled people’s organisations to progress liberation and eradicate injustice.

The sheer variety of the Conference attendees points to the importance to the work of the CDS of collaborations with advocacy groups and policy audiences.

Dr Hannah Morgan, lead organiser of the conference, and Associate Professor in Sociology says:

Hosting the conference at the University demonstrates its world class accessible facilities and brings a diverse, inclusive international experience to our campus.