How has austerity impacted people in the UK? What are the implications of this for theology and faith-based social action? In the second year of the Life on the Breadline research, this half-day online conference grapples with these questions with a particular focus on Christian responses to UK poverty and austerity.

We are pleased to announce two keynote speakers: Human geographer Dr Sarah Marie Hall from the University of Manchester speaking on the legacies of austerity, and theologian Professor Rachel Muers from the University of Leeds speaking on Christian social action and class.

The provisional timetable is:

09:30 – Conference starts: Introduction

09:35 – Life on the Breadline: the unequal impact of austerity and challenges for theology – Chris Shannahan, Stephanie Denning and Robert Beckford

09:55 – Keynote – Sarah Marie Hall (University of Manchester), followed by Q&A

10:45 – Break

10:55 – Keynote – Rachel Muers (University of Leeds), followed by Q&A

11:45 – Break

11:55 – Political theology responds to the challenges of austerity – Peter Scott

12:15 – Whole group discussion

12:35 – Closing: call for action

12:40 – End

The conference is free to attend and registration through Eventbrite will be open until 8th September 2020.

Due to Covid-19 the conference will take place online through Microsoft Teams. People who have registered to attend will be emailed the link to join the conference two days beforehand.

This conference is part of the ESRC funded project 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st Century City'. Life on the Breadline represents one of the first major fieldwork-based theological analyses of Christian action on UK poverty during the ‘age of austerity’.

Organised by the Life on the Breadline research team: Dr Chris Shannahan, Professor Robert Beckford, Professor Peter Scott, and Dr Stephanie Denning