The MENASP Network, hosted at the University of Birmingham, in partnership with the ILO STREAM Programme, invites submissions for its 2026 online conference taking place on 25–26 November 2026.
The conference, Social Policy and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa: Innovation, Adaptation or Business as Usual?, will bring together scholars, policymakers, practitioners, civil society actors, and early-career researchers to examine ongoing transformations in social policy and social protection across the MENA region.
Building on more than a decade of sustained engagement on welfare systems, social rights, and governance reform, the conference will critically assess how social protection regimes are responding to intersecting pressures including fiscal constraints, conflict and displacement, climate vulnerability, labour migration, demographic change, labour market informality, and digital transformation.
Rather than treating these dynamics in isolation, the conference seeks to advance comparative and interdisciplinary reflection on whether current trajectories represent innovation, adaptation, or continuity in existing policy approaches—and what alternative futures for social protection in the region may emerge.
Conference Focus
The conference will explore how welfare systems and social policy regimes across the MENA region are being reshaped by structural transformation and emerging social risks, with particular attention to questions of inequality, inclusion, governance, and state–society relations.
Special Session
Co-hosted by the MENASP Network and the ILO STREAM Programme as part of the MENASP Network Online Conference 2026, this special session, titled Between Crises and Reforms: Wage Protection, Social Security, and Labour Migration along South–South Corridors to the GCC, examines the interlinkages between labour migration, wage protection, and social protection along South–South corridors to the GCC, particularly from South Asia, Africa, and Arab countries.
It focuses on how regional crises and systemic reforms expose persistent gaps in wage protection systems, social security coordination, portability mechanisms, and migrant workers’ access to rights and entitlements. Contributions engaging with corridor-based approaches, vulnerable employment sectors, gendered dimensions of migration, and policy innovation aligned with International Labour Standards are especially encouraged.
Submission Guidelines
We welcome individual abstracts, panel proposals, and Special Session submissions. Please refer to the downloadable Call for Abstracts document for full submission requirements, including abstract structure, panel formatting, and evaluation criteria.
Important Dates
- Abstract submission deadline: 1 July 2026
- Selection process begins: 15 July 2026
- Notification of acceptance: 31 August 2026
Submission
All submissions should be sent to: info@menasp.com