Conferences
2026 Conference
June 25-27, 2026
University of Leeds
Leeds, UK
Maeve O’Rourke, PhD (Birmingham), LLM (Harvard), BCL (University College Dublin), is Lecturer in Human Rights at the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR), School of Law, University of Galway. Maeve is Programme Director of the Law (BCL) and Human Rights undergraduate degree programme at the School of Law, and she is the founding and current Director of the postgraduate Human Rights Law Clinic at the ICHR. Maeve has been awarded the University of Galway President’s Award for Teaching Excellence; the University of Galway College of Business, Public Policy and Law Award for Teaching Excellence; and the University of Galway College of Business, Public Policy and Law Award for Inclusive Teaching. She has also received a Teaching Hero Award from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in collaboration with the Union of Students in Ireland. She holds a National Forum Digital Badge in Community Engaged Learning.deas, Real Impact.
Every event we host is designed with intention, from the atmosphere we create to the way each session flows.
Maeve O’Rourke
Keynotes
Michael Lambert
Michael Lambert is a Lecturer in Medical Humanities at Lancaster Medical School. His research focuses on the social history of social policy in twentieth century Britain and its Empire using archival sources including case files and patient records. He was an expert witness for the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into the historic forced adoption of children of unmarried mothers in 2021. Michael has supported campaigns, led by adult adoptees and birth mothers, for a public apology and redress for the state’s role in historic forced adoption policies and practices.
“[T]he Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture Conference, which, a little commercial I always say, that that’s my favorite conference to go to, because it’s so rich with these conversations around Critical Adoption Studies. And for me, personally, the most interesting—almost all the most interesting discussions are framed by and being given by adult adoptee scholars. Not all, but many of them. And I’ve just made some amazing friends and colleagues that have really helped me develop my thinking, and helped me ask different sets of questions through those conferences. I’ve felt for a while that there’s a critical mass of us who have come of age now who are professors, who are published writers, who maybe even ten years ago were not. And that’s powerful. That’s a powerful way to change the discourse.”
— Shannon Gibney (June 20, 2021)
