Keynote Speaker

Chris Gifford, Ph.D.

Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, School of Human and Health Sciences Centre for Citizenship, Conflict, Identity and Diversity (University of Huddersfield)

Dr Chris Gifford joined the University of Huddersfield in 2006 and became Head of Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences in 2011. He is a political sociologist and his research and writing explores the impact of global and trans national conditions on states, citizenship and politics. He completed his doctorate at the London School of Economics on the subject of Britain and European Integration and has gone on to publish widely in this area. He is interested in what makes the UK stand out in its relations to, and with, the European Union and its history as a Eurosceptic state.

Chris’s interest in how global and European developments are mediated by policies and processes at the national level informs his work on citizenship. He has completed comparative work on citizenship education with colleagues from Europe and Japan. He is an Executive Committee Member of the European Thematic Network CiCe (Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe) and, its sister association, CiCea. He is a member of the British Sociological Association and the Political Studies Association. At Huddersfield, Chris works alongside colleagues as part of the Centre for Research in the Social Sciences and the Academy for the Study of Britishness.