Diversity, (In)equality and Differences

A workshop in London, UK, to discuss research into some of society’s most pressing challenges.

The “Diversity, (In)equality and Differences” academic workshop, held on the 7th and 8th July 2015 in London, was organized by AHRC and ESRC, and led by AHRC on behalf of the Trans-Atlantic Platform for the Social Sciences and Humanities (T-AP). The workshop brought together a group of key experts from both the Europe and the Americas in order to discuss the opportunities and challenges in this thematic area. The objectives of this workshop were:

To enable significant opportunities for discussion across participants from Europe and Americas;
To define and identify a small number of research priorities related to ‘Diversity, (in) equalities and differences’; and
To capture any underpinning or overarching recommendations when addressing these priorities from the academic participants and the T-AP partners.

The workshop identified a clear need for a Trans-Atlantic research agenda to be more deeply explored by the research community as it is not sufficiently known. This research effort goes beyond an international comparative exercise, and requires theoretical and conceptual reflection to unravel the implications of such a new endeavour if closer large-scale research collaboration between Europe, North America and South America is to achieve its full potential.

Inequalities, mobility, contested/hidden pasts, well-being and diversity were the key cross cutting areas in the discussions. These areas manifested themselves into four general themes: Culture and heritage enabling inclusion; mobility, flows and relationships in the Trans-Atlantic; the implications of economic development and the diverse constructions of inequalities; and the role of Social Sciences and Humanities in understanding well-being.