Flagship care and rights summer school returns

An annual summer school for professionals, policymakers, researchers and students working in the care sector returns as a face-to-face event this summer after two years being hosted online.

Registration for the 12th annual Essex Autonomy Project Summer School, which takes place at Wivenhoe House at the Colchester Campus from 27 to 29 July, is now open.

The Summer School, which has been described by previous attendees as “three days of stimulating intellectual debate”, is the flagship event in the Essex Autonomy Project’s calendar.

It gives participants the chance to find out about the latest research, policy and practice developments relating to embedding autonomy and human rights in care settings.

The 2022 Summer School will focus on social care and human rights with sessions looking at complex communication, consent and co-production. There will be keynote addresses from Michael Bach, Managing Director of the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society in Toronto, Professor Peter Beresford of the University of East Anglia, and Professor Victoria Joffe, Dean of the School of Health and Social Care.

Previous participants have described the Summer School as an “invaluable space to consider issues away from the immediacy of day-to-day implementation dilemmas” and an opportunity that “brought greater clarity to certain concepts while suggesting further avenues for learning.”

Professor Wayne Martin, of the School of Philosophy and Art History, is Principal Investigator on the Essex Autonomy Project. He said: "For two years we shifted the annual Summer School online. There were definitely some advantages to that. We had truly global participation; some delegates even participated from Australia in the middle of the night! But we are pleased to be returning to the in-person Summer School this year.

"It is an extraordinarily productive event and holding it at Wivenhoe House gives the whole thing the feel of a retreat, with lots of time for discussion and debate. This year it will be an opportunity for researchers and professionals and activists and service users to take a step back and reflect on what has happened over the last two years, and think together about how we can use the present moment to improve respect for the human rights of persons living in care settings."

Early bird registration closes on 20 April with prices starting at £425. Fees includes three days tuition, course materials, lunches and refreshments, and the Autonomy Summer School Dinner at Wivenhoe House on 27 July.

Postgraduate students can register for free.

Register online or contact the Essex Autonomy Project team for more information.