Social Sciences Conference

We’re inviting years 12 and 13 to join us on campus for a day packed with activities! Explore our departments of Sociology, Psychology and Psychosocial and Psychoanalytical Studies. Students will choose three taster sessions, tour our campus and hear from current students.

We are excited to offer a Taster Day Bursary for school groups attending this event!* School groups bringing 10 or more post-16 students can claim up to £150 towards their travel expenses.

Event Programme:

Session information:

• Psychoanalytic Criminology in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Explore psychoanalytic criminology through Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This interactive session examines the idea that we can carry multiple personalities within us and applies psychoanalytic assessment to Hyde’s brutal murder of Sir Danvers Carew. What drives Hyde’s shocking act of violence?

• “Man Up”: How Social Psychology can help us understand the idea of “Toxic Masculinity”: Explore the psychology behind the polarizing debates on 'toxic masculinity.' This session introduces how social identity research helps us understand the complexity of the term and highlights how the University of Essex Psychology Department equips students to tackle global challenges like this.

• Doing a cultural study of mobile phones:  This talk explores how we understand media technologies through one of the most iconic modern inventions, the mobile phone. By treating technologies like mobile phones as having a 'biography,' we’ll examine their journey from creation and use to relationships formed and their eventual transformation into waste.

• Victims and the criminal justice system: This talk will look at how victims of crime experience the criminal justice process focusing primarily on their experience of the courts.

• What is education for?: Explore the vital role of education in society. Is it solely for job preparation or for shaping informed democratic citizens, or both? This session traces Britain’s struggle to broaden access to higher education and examines its value in fostering achievement, critical thinking, and intercultural understanding essential for democracy.

Please do get in touch with us if you have any questions about the event in the meantime, we'd love to hear from you.

*Please note, this offer is not available in conjunction with the Schools Membership travel bursary.