Sir Tom Shakespeare to present the Arthur Lewis Lecture

14 Apr 2022

The School of Social Sciences is delighted that Sir Tom Shakespeare CBE will present the annual Arthur Lewis Lecture in Manchester on 3 May with a talk on disability rights

Tom will offer an overview of the disability movement, in Britain, America and across the world, and talk about his experience of disability and development research, considering whether the idea of disability rights is something which activists in the Global North have imposed on the Global South.

Tom will discuss the limitations of a rights discourse, questioning whether it is time for a new approach, based on African ideas.

Tom Shakespeare is Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, before that working at the Medical School at the University of East Anglia. Previously, he worked for WHO for five years, and has conducted research for the World Bank, ILO, and UNICEF.

Director of Social Responsibility in the School of Social Sciences, Dimitris Papadimitriou, said “We are delighted that Professor Sir Tom Shakespeare has agreed to deliver the 2022 Arthur Lewis Lecture at the School of Social Sciences. Sir Tom is a leading academic and a formidable campaigner on disability issues. As our School and the University more broadly, have prioritised the reduction of disability-related inequalities, his unique insights on this issue will be very much appreciated by staff and students alike."

The series of annual Arthur Lewis Lectures started in 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the economist Arthur Lewis, who became Britain's first black professor when he was appointed to a Chair at Manchester in 1948.

• Registration is free and open to all via Eventbrite.