Hosted by the Bristol Poverty Institute

We invite you to join us at this hybrid-format event which will feature a range of sessions across two days, including formal presentations, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. We aim to attract a broad audience, representing the public, private and civil sectors alongside academics from across the globe at all career stages. Together, we will explore how the pandemic has impacted on different dimensions of poverty and how we can combine our different expertise, approaches, and perspectives to help improve the lives of those suffering from poverty. 

The COVID pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, disrupting all of our lives. Inevitably, some were worse affected than others and, as with many things, it was often those already marginalised who felt the heaviest impact. New inequalities emerged and existing inequalities were exposed and exacerbated. Many of these have persisted long beyond the peak of the pandemic and, even now, when life has settled into a so-called ‘new normal’ for many. Political choices resulted in a pandemic that was experienced unequally, killed unequally, and impoverished unequally and this has reduced trust in government and health systems. 

We need to explore and understand all of the ways that the pandemic has impacted on our societies and what needs to be done to mitigate the negative impacts and harness the opportunities. In order to do this, we need to bring together a multi-sector audience – including those with lived experience – with varied perspectives, approaches and knowledge. Our conference seeks to do this, across our two-day programme with a mix of thematic and regionally focussed sessions and a combination of in-person and online engagement opportunities to try to open the door for everyone to be part of the conversation. 

The conference will be delivered across two days: the first in-person in Bristol and the second, online. On Day 1 (Wednesday 5^th June), we will convene in the fantastic Wills Hall Conference Centre in Bristol to explore the impacts of the pandemic on different dimensions of poverty within the UK, with thematic sessions on topics such as mental health, structural inequalities, education, employment, and social mobility, as well as dedicated networking spaces. On Day 2 (Thursday 6^th June), we will bring together a global online audience to take a journey around the world with us exploring the impacts of the pandemic in different regions. We will start with an Asia and Oceania-focused session in the morning, moving on to Europe and Africa in the middle of the day and, finally, the Americas later in the day, corresponding with respective time zones. 

• To find out more about the conference overall, please visit the BPI website
• For more information and to register for Day 1 (in-person), please visit our Eventbrite page
• For more information and to register for Day 2 (online), please visit our Zoom events page