The third 2015 meeting of the UWS-Oxfam Partnership Policy Forum was held at UWS Paisley Campus on 18th November – to coincide with the inaugural professorial lectures of Gerry McCartney and Katherine Trebeck.

The theme of the event, which was attended by over 40 representatives of partner organisations, was “Realising Social Justice: People, Politics and Policies”.

Francis Stuart of Oxfam set the scene by reviewing the July 2014 ‘Focus on Inequality’ Policy Forum discussion, which took place in the run-up to the September 2014 Independence Referendum – reporting back on the kinds of policy measures which had been considered as part of the discussion led by Stewart Lansley and David Bell, and highlighting their likley impacts in terms of reducing inequality.

Chik Collins of UWS then offered a perspective on the concept of social justice and on how it has figured in the debates in recent decades. This provided a context in which to understand the prominence of the idea in the 2014 Referendum debate, and also how it is likley to figure in the run up to the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections.

Slides for this part of the presentation are here: Realising Social Justice: People, Politics and Policies

A short written summary of Chik’s presentation on social justice is available here: Social Justice: A Contested Terrain

The subsequent discussion was led by Professor Mike Danson, formerly of UWS, and instrumental in the formation of the Partnership, but now based at Heriot Watt University.