WPR SYMPOSIUM ON CRITICAL POLICY STUDIES – EXPLORING THE PREMISES AND POLITICS OF CAROL BACCHI’S WPR APPROACH

The main objective of the Symposium is to open channels of communication among researchers who have engaged with, or who plan to engage with, the WPR approach in order to bring to light the types of analyses being produced and to encourage further collaboration. 

Book of Abstracts
Our Book of Abstracts is now available.  

Conference program
The Conference Program is now available. Confirmed keynotes are Professor Emerita Carol Bacchi, University of Adelaide and Professor Elisabeth Prügl, The Graduate Institute, Geneva. 

Paper Sessions
A link to the papers and your groups for the Paper Sessions will be sent to conference participants.

IMPORTANT: Please remember that these are DRAFT papers and are not to be cited or distributed beyond the Symposium participants.

Not everyone is familiar with "paper sessions". Traditional conference presentations involve participants presenting their work to a group with a powerpoint and then answering questions from the assembled public. Paper sessions are a little different, with the main aim being to give authors feedback on papers in progress. We will therefore gather in smaller groups to enable a more in depth discussion of each paper. Authors do not give presentations on their work as such (no powerpoints!), but instead engage in discussion about their work with the others in their Paper Session. 

All papers are grouped together with six or seven other papers. Each group will meet twice  during the symposium. There will be a longer meeting on Wednesday and a shorter one on Thursday. Each paper is allocated 30 minutes for comments and discussion, and during the final paper session there will be one slot for a general discussion of the session overall. All participants are supposed to read all the papers in their group and prepare questions and comments on each paper, although you will be assigned a commentator role on another paper. Each assigned commentator will present for 10 minutes. Others can make their comments or ask questions during the general discussion.

Each Paper’s 30 minute discussion time will follow the following structure:

1) Brief comments from the author (1-2 minutes)

2) Comments and questions from the commentator (approx 10 minutes)

3) General discussion (15 - 20 minutes).

For any questions please email michaela.padden@kau.se.

Possible book publication 
The organisers are considering publishing a book after the conference of selected papers. The form of this book is still under consideration, but is likely to showcase a range of WPR applications as well as engage with some theoretical issues in relation to the approach. If you would be interested in contributing to such a work, please let Malin Rönnblom know (malin.ronnblom@kau.se)

Resources from the Symposium ‘Kick-Off’ 
A ‘Kick-Off’ event was held on 13 October 2021 and attended by some 50 scholars from around the world. The purpose of the kick-off was to discuss themes for the Symposium and become acquainted with others interested in WPR. Here are the links to:

• the video of Carol Bacchi’s presentation;
• the powerpoint slides; and 
• Carol's presentation notes.

For any questions on the content of the symposium, please contact Professor Malin Rönnblom, malin.ronnblom@kau.se.

In the menu to the right (under "Documents") you can also find a Select Reference List on WPR applications (as well as a supplement), compiled by Carol Bacchi and Anne Wilson. If you are aware of WPR applications that ought to be on the list, please send the details and a pdf (if possible) to: carol.bacchi@adelaide.edu.au

More information on the WPR approach can be found at Carol Bacchi’s webpage:

https://carolbacchi.com

We look forward to seeing you very soon!