Sidney Ball Memorial Lectures
Sidney Ball Memorial Lectures
The department’s special annual lectures began in 1917, shortly after Barnett House was founded in 1914. The first lecture was published as the Barnett House Papers No.1 by Oxford University Press in the same year.
When Sidney Ball, chairman of the Barnett House Committee, died in March 1918, the annual talks were renamed as the Sidney Ball Memorial lectures.
The first lecture was delivered on 1 December 1920 by the Right Hon. Sir Horace Plunkett. He began this first lecture with these words:
“I have the honour to inaugurate [the memorial lectures] today. Their aim will be the promotion of an intimate and mutually helpful relationship between the thought of the University Sidney Ball adorned and the working life of the community he lived to serve.”
Barnett House retained copyright over the lectures, except for John Maynard Keynes’ lecture in 1924.
Where available, texts or recordings are linked below.
Barnett House Papers: 1917-1920
Sidney Ball Lectures: 1920 - present
- 2021: 'What we owe each other: A new social contract' - Baroness Minouche Shafik. View this lecture on YouTube.
- 2022: 'Who are we? Contesting and transforming racialised histories and futures in the Carolean era' - Professor Ann Phoenix. View this lecture on Youtube.
- 2023: 'Inclusion or Segmentation – The Politics of Welfare Reform in 21st Century Western Europe' - Professor Silja Häusermann. View this lecture on YouTube.
- 2024: 'No more violence by 2030? Where next with the UN global violence reduction goals?' - Professor Manual Eisner. View this lecture on YouTube.
- 2011: 'Evidence-based interventions in juvenile justice: Concept, research, practice, and frontiers' - Professor Mark Lipsey. Professor Mark Lipsey, 'Evidence-based interventions in juvenile justice: Concept, research, practice, and frontiers', 9 November 2011
- 2012: 'The Reform of the Welfare State and the Dynamics of People's Lives' - Professor John Hills. Professor John Hills, 'The Reform of the Welfare State and the Dynamics of People's Lives', 31 October 2012.
- 2013: 'Speaking truth to power: social policy in action' - Baroness Ruth Lister. Baroness Ruth Lister, 'Speaking truth to power: social policy in action', 4 December 2013.
- 2014: 'The Major Assumptions of Evidence-Based Policy: Bringing Empirical Evidence to Bear' - Professor Tom Cooke. Professor Tom Cooke, 'The Major Assumptions of Evidence-Based Policy: Bringing Empirical Evidence to Bear', 4 November 2014.
- 2015: 'Anti-Deinstitutionalization and Anti-Institutionalization for Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses: Finding Common Ground' - Dr Phyllis Solomon. Dr Phyllis Solomon, 'Anti-Deinstitutionalization and Anti-Institutionalization for Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses: Finding Common Ground', 18 December 2015.
- 2016: 'Britain, Europe and Social Policy' - Professor Colin Crouch. Professor Colin Crouch, 'Britain, Europe and Social Policy', 11 November 2016.
- 2017: 'Why should we have trust in numbers?' - Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter. Professor David Spiegelhalter, 'Why should we have trust in numbers?', 26 October 2017. Watch online.
- 2018: 'Where next for Social Policy?' - Professor Fiona Williams. Thursday 8 November 2018 at Lady Margaret Hall. Watch here.
- 2019: 'The great leap backwards: What is happening with social policy for child health and wellbeing?' - Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead. Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead presented on 15 November 2019. Video unavailable.
- 2020: Centenary Sidney Ball Lecture: 'COVID-19 and the UK Welfare State' - Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby. Peter Taylor-Gooby gives the centenary Sidney Ball Lecture on 12 November, 2020. Watch it here.
- 2000: 'Trans-Atlantic Influences in Social Policy’ - Professor Howard Glennerster. 30 November 2000. No paper available.
- 2007: ‘The Opt-Out Revolution: Motherhood and Social Policy’ - Professor Neil Gilbert. 23 April 2007. No paper available. In 2007 the Sidney Ball Memorial Lecture series was reinstated as an annual event.
- 2007: 'Winner-Take-All Politics: Policy and Inequality in the New American Political Economy’ - Professor Paul Pierson. 1 November 2007; no paper available.
- 2009: 'Early Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment' - Professor Greg Duncan. Professor Greg Duncan, 'Early Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment', 26 February 2009.
- 2010: ' - Professor Gosta Esping-Andersen. Professor Gosta Esping-Andersen, 'Life Chances and Early Childhood Investments', 13 October 2010.
- 1983: Lecture series. ‘Social Work and Recession’ - Dr. Jane Aldgate.
- ‘The Prospects for Social Reform’ - David Donnison.
- ‘Socialism and Freedom’ - Frank Field MP.
- ‘The Social Services in Adversity – a Review’ - Professor A. H. Halsey. ‘In Defence of Comprehensive Schools’ - Dr. A. F. Heath.
- ‘The Changing Political Contours of the Welfare State’ - Neville Johnson.
- ‘Innovation, Experiment and Research in Social Services’ - G. A. N. Smith.
- 1988: Lecture series. ‘European Demographic Trends and Their Implications for Social Policy’ - Jonathan Bradshaw.
- ‘Are ‘Rights’ an Essential Component of any Theory of Social Policy?’ - David Donnison.
- 'Does the Welfare State Make People Passive and Dependent? A Test Against the Swedish Experience' - Robert Erikson.
- 'Poverty in the European Community: Trends and Responses' - Graham Room.
- 1993: 'The Population Problem' - Professor Partha Dasgupta - No paper available.
- 1971/2: Professor S. Radzinowitz. No further details available.
- 1972/3: Professor James Meade. No further details available.
- 1973: The Role of the Volunteer in the Modern Social Service’ - The Right Honourable Richard Crossman. No paper available.
- 1974/5: Tony Lynes. No further details available.
- 1975/6: Professor Edward Lipinski. No further details available.
- The common market: From customs union to economic unity’ - Robert Marjolin. No paper available. 1962: ’Medical ethics and social change in developing countries’ - R. M. Titmuss. No paper available.
- 1964: ‘Social Welfare Past and Present’ - Asa Briggs. No paper available.
- 1965: ‘A Nation of Regions?’ - D. J. Robertson. No paper available.
- 1966: ‘Prices and Income Policy: reflections after the first six months’ - Aubrey Jones. No paper available.
- 1967: ‘The place for educational expansion’ - Sir Edward Boyle. No paper available.
- 1968: ‘The uses and abuses of economics’ - Sir Eric Roll. No paper available.
- 1968: 'Industrial Relations and the Law: retrospect and prospect’ - Professor Kahn-Freund. No paper available.
- 1951: ‘Problems of nationalised industries' - Lord Citrine. No paper available.
- 1953: ‘The full employment economy, with special reference to wages policy' - Sir Douglas Copland. No paper available.
- 1953: ‘The social sciences programme of UNESCO’ - Alva Myrdal. No paper available.
- 1954: ‘The place of the economist in government’ - Sir Robert Hall. No paper available.
- 1955: ‘The control of American foreign policy’ - Mr Francis Biddle. No paper available.
- 1956: ‘Taxation and economic development’ - Professor W. A. Lewis. No paper available.
- 1957: ‘The export of electoral systems’ - W. J. M. Mackenzie. No paper available.
- 1958: ‘The Arbitrator’s Task' - Barbara Wootton. No paper available.
- 1959: ‘Trained manpower for new states – the scope for international action' - Kenneth Younger. No paper available.
- 1941: ‘Administrative Problems of International Organisation’ - F. P. Walters. 28 February 1941, Barnett House Papers No. 24, OUP 1941.
- 1942: ‘The Historian Looks Forward’ - J. H. Clapham. 4 June 1942, Barnett House Papers No. 25, OUP 1942.
- 1943: ‘The Personnel and Problems of the Higher Civil Service’ - H.E. Dale. 26 February 1943. Barnett House Papers No. 26 OUP 1943.
- 1944: ‘The British Commonwealth and World Order’ - Sir Walter Layton. 3 March 1944, Barnett House Papers No. 27, OUP 1944.
- 1945: ‘War and Unemployment’ - Henry Clay. 8 March 1945, Barnett House Papers No. 28, OUP 1945.
- 1949: ‘Future Developments in Sociology in England' - Edward A. Shils. No paper available.
Barnett House Papers No. 20, OUP 1937
16 November 1937, Barnett House Papers No.21, OUP 1938
3 November 1938, Barnett House Papers No. 22, OUP 1938
26 February 1943. Barnett House Papers No. 26 OUP 1943
3 March 1944, Barnett House Papers No. 27, OUP 1944
8 March 1945, Barnett House Papers No. 28, OUP 1945
29 May 1947, Barnett House Papers No. 29, OUP 1947
Barnett House Paper No. 30 OUP 1949. (It is not clear whether this was a Sidney Ball lecture).
No paper available.
