Summary

Welcome to London! Welcome to the 8th European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS2027), held in partnership with Birkbeck, University of London, the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at The University of Osaka, and in affiliation with University College London (UCL).

Description

What better place to come together than London, and what better venue than its intellectual beating heart? One of the world’s greatest cities, London has long been an intellectual, cultural, financial and political centre of global affairs, historically and presently instrumental in the writing and implementation of policies of enormous impact near and far. London, its institutions and its individuals have shaped the modern world as we now know it. It is in London that world- changing philosophies and movements have been born, manifestos and treatises written, and countries and borders drawn. Revolutionary ideas across science, economics and philosophy have emanated from this city, carried by Britain's power as the first industrialised country and then its empire, and subsequently by the global reach of its language and culture. The University of London, and UCL in particular as one of the founding institutions, was shaped by radical ideas, and was the UK’s first entirely secular university, admitting students regardless of religion, as well as the first to admit women on equal terms with men. It is to this extraordinarily dynamic context that we bring our conference.

All IAFOR conferences are inspired by our three watchwords: international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary. The international dimension of our work reflects the importance of global engagement and cooperation. The intercultural dimension recognises that meaningful dialogue requires understanding across different cultural and social contexts. The interdisciplinary dimension acknowledges that complex problems require collaboration across academic fields and methodologies. The social sciences use empirical methods to analyse human behaviour and societies. Through their various disciplines, qualitative and quantitative approaches and methodologies, social scientists seek ways to better understand how humans and humanity function, so as to address the myriad and complex problems and issues that we face, and all in the pursuit of a more sustainable and just world.

In a context of polycrisis, we are confronted by enormous global challenges, such as climate change, demographic shifts, wars, mass migration, pandemics, energy shocks, and all in an era of artificial intelligence and uncertain futures. The problems we face have perhaps never been more challenging, and yet we have never had more tools to rise to these challenges.

At ECSS2027, delegates will present, hone their research, engage in rigorous debate, network across different fields, and establish and nurture the personal friendships and professional partnerships so crucial to their academic lives and intellectual journeys.

We have so much to learn from each other!

For and on behalf of the IAFOR International Academic Board

Dr Joseph Haldane, The Osaka University, Japan
Chairman and CEO, IAFOR

Professor Jun Arima, The University of Tokyo, Japan
President, IAFOR

Professor Anne Boddington, Kingston University, United Kingdom
Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR

International, Intercultural, Interdisciplinary

The 8th European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS2027) is an interdisciplinary conference held alongside The European Conference on Education (ECE2027) and The European Conference on Aging & Gerontology (EGen2027). Registration for any of these conferences will allow delegates to attend sessions in the others. In keeping with our mission, we open the plenary sessions to all delegates across the conferences. We do this as every individual delegate has their own different overlapping interests.