Call for active listeners
University of Antwerp, Belgium
8th & 9th October 2026
The Socio-Economic Inequalities and Poverty Discrimination working group (SEIPD) is pleased to announce its second conference themed: “Litigating socio-economic equality and poverty anti-discrimination: strategies and limitations”, to take place at the University of Antwerp, co-hosted by the Law and Development Research Group of the Faculty of Law, between the 8th and 9th of October 2026. In this context, SEIPD invites those interested in participating in the conference as active listeners. In this capacity, no formal presentation is required. It is expected that participants engage in the discussions held in each session.
This conference builds on the discussions of the group’s inaugural conference held in 2025 at the University College London and opens space for new insights on its pressing theme. Following the more academic-oriented and conceptual nature of the elaborations of the inaugural conference, this edition aims at a practice-oriented framing. While nevertheless engaging the academic community, it encourages an indispensable interaction between scholars and practitioners in debating strategies for the engagement of law as a tool for combatting socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination. Insights from varied jurisdictions across the globe draw a picture of central developments in legal strategies in combating these issues, raising important considerations as to the potential and limits of equality and non-discrimination law as part of international, constitutional and statutory law in dealing with issues of a socio-economic nature.
Registration
Interested scholars, practitioners and students are warmly welcome to register as active listeners through this link:
Programme
DAY 1 — Thursday, 8 October – Room: s.R219, Building R, City Campus
11:00–11:15 | Welcome and Introduction
11:15–11:30 | The Law and Development Research Group: Development, Poverty and Inequalities
Gamze Erdem Türkelli – University of Antwerp
11:30–11:45 | A Belgian Equality Law Forum: Bridging Language and Institutional Barriers?
Cathérine Van de Graaf – University of Ghent
11:45–13:30 | Panel I — Mobilising Law: Litigation, Institutions and Socio-Economic Rights
Chair: Tainá Garcia Maia, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Lucas Dikkers — Radboud University
Justin Winchester — University of Oxford – ‘Correcting a Failure to Launch: Three Judgments on the UK’s Socio-Economic Duty’
Marion Sandner — University of Antwerp
Miguel Ruiz Díaz-Reixa — University of Girona / Observatori DESCA
13:30–14:30 | Lunch14:30–16:00 | Panel II — Structural Litigation and the Limits of Judicial Intervention
Chair: Michael George Marcondes Smith – University of Antwerp
Jorge Forero Neme — Universidad de los Andes / Ministry of Justice and Law, Colombia
Konrad Turnbull — University of Groningen – ‘The Lived Chilling Effect: Reconceptualising Legal Harm in Equality Law’
Nancy Leong — University of Denver Sturm College of Law – ‘The Time Value of Poor People’s Rights’
Rodrigo Merayo Fernández — European University of Madrid
16:00–16:15 | Coffee Break
16:15–17:00 | Day 1 Closing Reflections: the SEIPD project
The SEIPD Steering Committee
19:00 | Conference dinner
DAY 2 — Friday, 9 October – Room: s.V152, Building s.V, City Campus
11:45–12:00 | Welcome Coffee
12:00–13:30 | Roundtable — Courts and Economic Inequalities: What Can Litigation Achieve?
Chair: Wouter Vandenhole – University of Antwerp
Paul Lemmens — Former Judge, European Court of Human Rights
Pablo Saavedra — Universidad Alfonso Ibañez, Former Executive Secretary, Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Tainá Garcia Maia – Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
13:30–14:30 | Lunch
14:30 –16:00 | Interactive Session — Strategies Beyond Litigation
Chair: Stefania Rainaldi Redon – UNICEF / Queen Mary University of London
Milla Vidina — Senior Policy Officer, EQUINET;
Gisela de León — Legal Director, CEJIL;
Diego Valadares — Office of the High Commissioner
16:00–16:15 | Coffee Break
16:15–17:00 | SEIPD Working Session — The Future of the Working Group
17:00–17:30 | Closing Remarks
Visit www.seipd.org for more information about the working group.
This event is sponsored by the Global Engagement fund of the University of Antwerp and the Matthieu el al prize for the social sciences and humanities.
