If you are an Early Career Researcher, based in the UK, this is for you!
17 September 2026, 11:00 – 16:00 Goldsmiths, University of London Richard Hoggart Building, 8 Lewisham Way, London SE14 6NW
Free workshop for all British Academy ECRs based in the UK exploring social literacies research, policy and practice. Note that you need to be a member of the British Academy ECR network and therefore based in the UK to attend this event. Membership to BA ECRN is FREE and there is access to travel and accommodation support to participate in this event. More information about eligibility and registration here.
A social view of literacy foregrounds how literacies, in their many forms, are embedded in everyday life and shaped by wider political, social and environmental contexts. Since Brian Street introduced the ideological model of literacy in the 1980s, social literacies research has expanded significantly, opening new avenues for scholarship while influencing policy and practice.
This event brings together Early Career Researchers (ECRs) working across literacy studies to share research findings, community collaborations, impact initiatives and work in progress. It also provides space to reflect collectively on how this work can shape future directions in the field. By connecting researchers across disciplines, the workshop aims to foster collaboration in research, writing and impact while strengthening the ECR literacy community.
Kate Pahl, Professor of Arts and Literacy at Manchester Metropolitan University, will deliver the keynote, exploring how expanding our understanding of literacy generates new insights for research, policy and practice. A roundtable of British Academy Early Career Researchers will then showcase work engaging with literacies from socio-cultural perspectives across diverse disciplines and themes.
Following lunch, participants will take part in small-group discussions to reflect on the day’s themes. A closing panel of practitioners and policymakers will consider how social perspectives on literacy inform their work and respond to ideas emerging from the discussions.
The event is organised by the Centre for Identities and Social Justice at Goldsmiths University of London, the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation at the University of East Anglia and the British Association for Literacy in Development.
Keynote Speaker: Professor Kate Pahl
Kate Pahl is Professor of Arts and Literacy at the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has explored literacy practices in communities through her book Materialising Literacies in Communities (2014) and with Jennifer Rowsell, Living Literacies: Literacy for SocialChange (2020).
Kate is particularly interested in artefactual literacies and literacy practices in the everyday as well as poetic and artistic approaches to literacy with a focus on what happens beyond language. Her most recent project has been concerned with children and young people’s relationship to trees, through a large grant funded by NERC/AHRC/ESRC called ‘Voices of the Future’, which was part of the UKTreescapes programme. This has led to a forthcoming book, Forest Literacies that explores literacy and language practices in the forest.
Call for Presenters
If you are an ECR working in literacy studies (broadly defined), we would like to provide a space for you to present your research during this event. We are looking for three to four ECRs to share brief 5–7 minute presentations about their research and how this can shape the future of literacy studies. We welcome colleagues whose research engages with literacies from socio-cultural perspectives across a range of disciplines and themes, including:
- Literacies in international development contexts
- Literacies, decolonisation and social justice
- Literacies, politics and citizenship
- Language and multilingualism
- Visual and spatial literacies
- New materialist and posthuman approaches to literacies
- Pluriversality and learning from Indigenous literacies
Please email Kate Fox (cate.fox@bristol.ac.uk) with a brief abstract of what you plan to present.
Registration Note When booking,
please provide five keywords that describe your research – this will help us connect participants with shared interests.
Queries For any questions about the event, please contact Chris Millora: C.Millora@gold.ac.uk