Seminars

The GEPS Seminar Series for the 2025-2026 academic year has a monthly schedule, where permanent GEPS members and visiting researchers will present their work. Seminars are open to the university community upon registration. Find below the upcoming and past events.

DECEMBER 2025: ALBA LANAU

We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming GEPS seminar of the academic year, led by Alba Lanau (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), entitled: Child poverty and neighbourhood opportunity structures: managing on low income in Barcelona.

Her presentation will take place on Thursday, December 11 from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. at Seminar Room A (B3BIS/-111) in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

NOVEMBER 2025: MARÍA BALARÍN

We invite you to the next GEPS seminar of the academic year by María Balarín from Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE), entitled: La debilidad estatal: Un factor clave para el análisis de la política educativa en países del sur global.

Her presentation will take place on Thursday, November 6 from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. at Seminar Room A (B3BIS/-111) in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

OCTOBER 2025: MATTIAS NYLUND

We invite you to the first GEPS seminar of the academic year by Mattias Nylund (Gothenburg University), entitled The academic-vocational divide and its role in the social reproduction of class and gender.

The seminar will take place on Friday, October 31 from 12:00 to 13:30 p.m. at the Seminar Room A (B3BIS/-111) in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

SEMINAR PROGRAMME

Calendar with the schedule of seminars for the first semester of the academic year.

GEPS PhD Conferece 3rd Edition

On June 17, 2025, GEPS held the third edition of its Doctoral Congress. Throughout the day, the group’s PhD students presented the progress of their dissertations, while discussants — including postdoctoral researchers and faculty members — offered constructive feedback and guidance. The event once again demonstrated GEPS’s strong commitment to academic excellence and collaborative learning.

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

On 10 and 11 June, we will host the international seminar “Urban transformations, demographic change and spatial education inequalities in global cities”.

SEMINAR PROGRAMME

Calendar with the schedule of seminars for the second semester of the academic year.

JUNE 2025: HURIYA JABBAR

Huriya Jabbar (University of Southern California) will present her research entitled Teacher Turnover, Organizational Inequality, and School Improvement: How Instability Disrupts Schools and Perpetuates Inequity. In this seminar, she will present emerging findings from and ongoing longitudinal qualitative study that examines the processes and mechanisms through which turnover influences, or disrupts, schools’ efforts to improve student achievement.

The seminar will take place on Thursday, June 19th from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A (B3BIS/-111), in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

MAY 2025: ALEJANDRO CARRASCO

Alejandro Carrasco (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) presented his research entitled The School Inclusion Law in Chile: Highs and lows after 10 years of implementation. This seminar has been organized in collaboration with the IGOP research center.

APRIL 2025: MARIA RODÓ-ZÁRATE

Maria Rodó-Zárate (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) presented her current research, based on an intersectional theoretical framework, that examines how the interconnection on different social positions produces specific configurations of inequality, which are also differently configured across various spaces. The seminar focused on the methodological dimension of the study, highlighting in particular the use of Relief Maps, a visual method and a tool to collect, analyze, and represent data on intersecting inequalities.

MARCH 2025: AKIKO HAYASHI

Akiko Hayashi (Keio University) will present her research entitled Teaching Embodied: Cultural Practice in Japanese Preschools. This seminar will offer a deeper understanding of how teaching works beyond structured lessons, providing new perspectives on educational practice across cultures.

The seminar will take place on Friday, March 14 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A (B3BIS/-111), in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

february 2025: alec gershberg

Alec Gershberg (University of Pennsylvania) will present his current research entitled Politics, Accountability, and Learning: Insights from the RISE Programme’s Political Economy Case Studies.

The seminar will take place on Friday, Februrary 21 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A (B3BIS/-111), in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

JANUARY 2025: ISHARA CASELLAS CONNORS

We invite you to the first GEPS seminar of the year 2025 by Ishara Casellas Connors, from Texas A&M University (USA), entitled From Barriers to Bridges: Supporting Displaced Learners in Their Postsecondary Journey. Her qualitative research explores how racialized systems expand or limit refugees access to higher education.

The seminar will take place on Friday, January 31 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A, in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form: LINK TO THE FORM

DECEMBER 2024: EDUARDO TAPIA

We invite you to the next GEPS seminar by Eduardo Tapia (Linköping University), entitled School and Residential Segregation: An Analytical Approach. His presentation examines the role of residential segregation in shaping school segregation in Sweden.

The presentation will take place on Friday, December 13 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A, in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form: Link to the form

november 2024: marco romito

Marco Romito (Università di Milano-Bicocca) will present his research entitled The perspective of social boundaries to analyze trajectories in education. Emergent issues from and ongoing research.

The seminar will take place on Friday, November 22 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at Seminari A (B3BIS/-111) in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB and online. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form LINK TO THE FORM

november 2024: ben ross schneider

We invite you to the first GEPS seminar of the academic year, as well as the inaugural lecture of the GLOBED Master’s Program by Ben Ross Schneider (MIT Political Science), entitled Routes to Reform: Education Politics in Latin America.

The seminar will take place on Monday, November 4 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at the Sala d’Actes, in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UAB. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form: https://rb.gy/c0lxh8

SEMINAR PROGRAMME

Calendar with the schedule of seminars for the first semester of the academic year.

SEMINARS 2023-2024

May 2024: Xavier Bonal

We invite you to the next GEPS Seminar by Xavier Bonal (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), entitled Navigating Educational and Urban Landscapes: Middle-Class School Choice Strategies in Local Education Markets.

The presentation will take place on Friday, May 31 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm at Seminari A, in the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology of the UAB. Those who wish to attend the seminar must register through the following form: https://rb.gy/bmxci. 

APRIL 2024: AINA TARABINI AND JUDITH JACOVKIS

Aina Tarabini (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Judith Jacovkis (Universitat de Barcelona) presented their book Perduts pel camí. Desigualtats en les transicions educatives després de l’ESO for the first time in front of the GEPS members.

The book, available through the Fundació Bofill website, tries to explain how important is to focus on educational transitions to understand the (re)production of social inequalities.

march 2024: manuel ángel río ruiz

Manuel Ángel Río Ruiz (Universidad de Sevilla) leaded a seminar about his current research on public nursery schools or Escoles Bressol Municipals (0 to 3 years old), in Barcelona. The presentation follows an extensive fieldwork including in-depth interviews and visits across the ten districts of the city.

february 2024: flora petrik

Flora Petrik (Universität Tübingen) presented her research on the connection between social class and educational choices in Higher Education. In concrete, she is working on issues related to first generation university students and biographical trajectories from a Bourdesian perspective. 

january 2024: anja neundorf

Anja Neundorf (University of Glasgow) has been doing research on long-term effects of authoritarian and democratic education. The results of her study show that democratic education has a positive impact on citizens’ support for democracy, while those who lived, and studied, during dictatorship times are more skeptical regarding democratic values.

january 2024: Ngaire honey

Ngaire Honey, from Universidad de O’Higgins (Chile), hosted the first GEPS seminar of the year 2024. Honey’s study on “academically excellent” (AE) schools in Chile tries to bring some light on the scholarly debate regarding the effect of academically selective schools on student behavior, performance, and persistence.

december 2023: Prof. Martyn hammersley

In his presentation, Martyn Hammersley (The Open University), explored the the nature of the qualitative-quantitative distinction, at the level of both practice and methodological philosophy. A divide that, in his opinion, has become institutionalised, and so it is resistant to change.

november 2023: Prof. meg maguire

Meg Maguire is Professor of Sociology of Education in the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London. She has a longstanding interest in education policy and practice, social justice, and with the challenges of inner-city schooling.

september 2023: Prof. kalwant bhopal

Professor Kalwant Bhopal is the Director at the Centre for Research in Race and Education (CRRE), in the School of Education, University of Birmingham. She delivered the opening speech for both the GEPS seminars and the Master in Education Policies for Global Development (GLOBED), on the 2023/2024 academic year.

calendar

21 SEPTEMBER 2023

Black and minority ethnic (BME) experiences in Higher Education, by Prof. Kalwant Bhopal (University of Birmingham)

17 NOVEMBER 2023

The best days of their lives? Young peoples’ in-school experiences and the part they play in shaping post-16 ‘horizons for action’, by Prof. Meg Maguire (King’s College London)

1 DECEMBER 2023

Beyond the great divide: Can quantitative and qualitative research be re-integrated?, by Prof. Martyn Hammersley (The Open University)

12 jANUARY 2024

School selectivity and excellence as a policy trajectory: The effect of assignment to academically selective schools in Chile, by Ngaire Honey (Universidad de O’Higgins).

19 jANUARY 2024

Authoritarian and democratic imprinting: The long-term impact of education on democratic support, by Anja Neundorf (University of Glasgow)

23 FEBRUARY 2024

Between resistance and belonging: class experiences in Higher Education, by Flora Petrik (Universität Tübingen)

15 MARCH 2024

Escuelas infantiles públicas y familias en el campo de la educabilidad 0-3 años en Barcelona: cambios, tensiones, interdependencias y diferencias, by Manuel Ángel Río Ruiz (Universidad de Sevilla)

26 APRIL 2024

Perduts pel camí. Desigualtats en les transicions educatives després de l’ESO, by Aina Tarabini (UAB) and Judith Jakovkis (UB).

31 may 2024

Navigating Educational and Urban Landscapes: Middle-Class School Choice Strategies in Local Education Markets, by Xavier Bonal (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).

19 June 2024

PhD Conference