A total of 363 people attended this year’s Work, Employment and Society Conference at the University of Leeds in September, the highest total for a WES conference.

The conference attracted delegates from 26 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa and Turkey. Of all delegates, 27% were from outside of the UK.

Topics included in the conference streams were body work and emotional labour, global political economy, comparative analysis and the changing regulatory role of the state, in and out of work: poverty / precariousness, and social movements, unions, representation and voice. Overall there were 285 oral presentations and 5 special events.

The keynote speakers were Professor Jill Rubery and Professor Ching Kwan Lee. The plenary speakers were Costas Lapavitsas, Janine Leschke, Engelbert Stockhammer on Tuesday 6 September, Andrew Sayer, Tracy Shildrick and Imogen Tyler on Wednesday 7 September and Anne Alexander, Kate Hardy and Joh Kelly on Thursday 8 September.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in the conference and we look forward to seeing you at the next one.