There are still few places left to present in the symposium 'Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion in a Changing India – Social Policy between Development and Growth?' at this year's Social Policy Association conference, which will be held at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, 14th-16th July 2014. The symposium aims to continue the conversation between the DSA and SPA, and particularly to follow the inaugural workshop of the Indian Social Policy Association in late March (see: http://www.jgls.edu.in/sites/default/files/events/C-I-S-P-T-M_0_0_0.pdf for more details).

We are interested in work discussing all aspects of social policy and social politics in contemporary India and South Asia but particularly encourage contributions directly addressing the symposium abstract (see below). We also want to specifically invite PhD students to respond to this call. Please feel free to share this information with colleagues in your respective Departments - part of this exercise is to publicise the new Indian Social Policy Association and connect more potential members based in the UK and Europe with Dr. Keerty Nakray.

The deadline for abstract submissions is fast approaching (Feb 7th 2014 - i.e. next Friday) - so if you are interested, please act fast and contact Stefan Kühner, stefan.kuehner@york.ac.uk, for more details and with any questions you may have.

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Poverty reduction and social inclusion in a changing India – social policy between development and growth?

There is a recognised link between social policy and development and a growing need to establish social policy studies at the forefront of growth agendas at the national and international level. The contribution to development of Social Policy as an academic field of inquiry and social policies in action is particularly pressing in middle-income countries such as the BRICs and MINTs, where growth has been relatively strong in the recent decade but where social problems such as large-scale material poverty and social exclusion act as a brake on potential. The necessity of engaging with the concerns of social policy internationally, is evidenced further by the existence of trends that affect all countries including: persistent and multidimensional inequalities leaving large proportions of national populations highly vulnerable and insecure; the reconfiguration of social risks through increased casualisation of labour markets; and the changing relationship between public, corporate and third sector actors in the fields of welfare and development. This symposium will discuss the relevance and applicability of insights from global social policy developments and Social Policy research specifically to India and South East-Asia. Contributions will consider linkages between specific poverty reduction and social protection programmes and outcomes, such as human well-being, equality, capabilities, freedom and (inclusive) growth. The symposium is convened by the newly constituted Indian Social Policy Association, which aims to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration in teaching and research between India and the United Kingdom, in co-operation with the Development Studies Association and Social Policy Association.