Call for participants: UKexit, territorial politics and the constitution

Postponed due to the UK General Election - new date to be announced

A workshop for early career researchers has been organised by Katy Hayward (Queen’s University Belfast), Jo Hunt (Cardiff University), Nicola McEwen (University of Edinburgh) and Daniel Wincott (Cardiff University) in conjunction with the UK in a Changing Europe, to be held at Cardiff on 11 December 2019.

The workshop is intended to provide early career researchers with the opportunity to present their work to senior scholars in the field and to build collaborative relations with the UK in a Changing Europe, an ESRC funded initiative intended to help social scientists enhance their ability to achieve impact and to engage with non academic audiences. The intention is to build a community of younger scholars who can contribute to the work of UKICE on an ongoing basis while benefiting from the opportunities for engagement and impact that such collaboration will afford.

Socially, politically, legally and in its government structures, the UK is a profoundly territorial state. It is impossible to make sense of Brexit without understanding its territorial aspects, which are deeply ingrained in its causes and consequences. National and territorial identities show complex patterns across the UK. These identities are implicated in the causes of Brexit, which it in turn repoliticises them. Brexit has brought to the fore previously neglected multiple territorial legal jurisdictions of the UK – and triggered a much wider discussion of territorial aspects of the UK’s constitutional arrangements. It raises profound questions about the devolution and the operation of inter-governmental and inter-parliamentary relations, while also arguably heightening the possibility of a basic change to the territory governed by Whitehall and Westminster. Inter-governmental relations relate not only to arrangements within the UK itself – they also raise questions about the UK and Ireland – but to ‘the totality of the relations among the peoples of these islands’. The border on the island of Ireland has, of course, become a key focus for Brexit debates. Set in a longer term perspective, borders on Great Britain as well as with Ireland (north and south) may also demand attention and analysis.

The UK in a Changing Europe, an academic organisation dedicated to providing state of the art social sciences insights into Brexit to a non-academic audience, is keen to widen its network of early career researchers. To this end, this workshop is planned as part of a series of workshops bringing together younger and more experienced scholars to discuss new research on key areas of the Brexit debate. Younger scholars stand to benefit from being part of networks in their area of expertise, whilst also profiting from the opportunities that collaboration with UKICE will provide to achieve greater impact for their research.

We encourage applicants from applicants working in a range of relevant academic disciplines (including Law, Politics, Sociology, and Geography) and on any or all parts of the UK or these islands. In order to participate through presenting a paper, please email a title and 250 word abstract in to Professor Daniel Wincott at GovernanceAndBrexit@cardiff.ac.uk. If you wish to participate in the workshop without presenting a paper, please send a 250 word summary of your research interests by 8 November to the same email address. The workshop timetable will be finalised by the end of November. There will be support for travel for successful applicants and a lunch will be provided.

For further information contact Becky Lloyd Cardiff University on GovernanceAndBrexit@cardiff.ac.uk.