Background
In 1905, Eleanor Rathbone played a key role in establishing the School of Social Science at the University of Liverpool. She was the first woman to be elected to Liverpool City Council in 1909 and, in 1929, she was elected as an independent MP.
A pioneering feminist who was also deeply concerned with the corrosive impacts of poverty, Eleanor Rathbone was instrumental in the establishment of Family Allowances (introduced in 1945 and later called Child Benefit). She was also a passionate advocate of human rights and served as the Founding Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Refugees.
In fact, throughout her adult life Eleanor Rathbone was committed to progressive social reform and, in recognition of her contribution to the University and, more broadly, to the advancement of social justice, the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology convenes an annual series of public lectures in her name.
The Eleanor Rathbone Social Justice Public Lectures were established in 2008 and they are coordinated by Professor Barry Goldson.
The lectures are free to attend and audiences typically comprise a range of ‘publics’ from within the University and the wider city of Liverpool and beyond.
Current programme (2024-25)
The programme for 2024 - 2025 will be released shortly.
Previous presenters
The Eleanor Rathbone Social Justice Public Lectures are presented by leading figures who have made/are making distinctive contributions to the advancement of social justice.
Previous presenters (in alphabetical order) include: Louise Amoore, Professor of Political Geography, Durham University; Alice Bloch, Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester; Wally Brown CBE DL; Aditya Chakrabortty, Columnist, The Guardian; Deborah Coles, Director, INQUEST; Mary Daly, Professor of Sociology, University of Oxford; Lesley Dixon, CEO of PSS; Danny Dorling, Professor of Human Geography, University of Oxford; Claire Dove CBE DL, Crown Representative for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector; Lisa Doyle, Executive Director of Advocacy and Engagement, Refugee Council; Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights Law, London School of Economics and Political Science; Nick Hardwick, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons; Gordon Hughes, Professor of Criminology, Cardiff University; Omar Khan, Director of the Runnymede Trust; Ruth Levitas, Professor of Sociology, University of Bristol; Baroness Ruth Lister, Professor Emerita, Loughborough University and Member of the House of Lords; Jimmy McGovern, Dramatist and Screenwriter; Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales; Pat O’Malley, Honorary Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Australian National University; Sophia Parker, Director of Emerging Futures, Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Susan Pedersen, Professor of History, Columbia University; Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology, University of York; Nicole Rafter, Professor of Criminology, Northeastern University; Phil Scraton, Professor of Criminology, Queens University Belfast; Andrew Sayer, Professor of Social Theory and Political Economy, Lancaster University; Professor Ann Skelton, Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; Baroness Vivien Stern CBE, Member of the House of Lords; David Stuckler, Professor of Political Economy and Sociology, University of Oxford; Sylvia Walby, Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University; Sandra Walklate, Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool; Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission; Tony Wright MP, Chair of the Public Administration Select Committee and the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons; Gary Younge, Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester, and Lucia Zedner, Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Oxford.
Please note that the designations and affiliations of the selected previous presenters were accurate at the time of their respective lectures.
Further information
If you would like to receive regular information/updates on the Eleanor Rathbone Social Justice Public Lecture Series, please send an email – with ‘Eleanor Rathbone Lectures Email-List’ as the subject line - to: slsjmret@liverpool.ac.uk.
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