Co-operation among co-operators: The Irish-British Connection – 21st and 22nd February Conference

Upcoming conference, ‘Co-operation among co-operators: The Irish-British connection’, 21st-22nd of February 2025, Boundary Brewing Co-operative, Belfast.

This event is shaping up to be a diverse and engaging two days, with talks ranging across co-operative development, education, history, housing and agriculture. Draft programme below!

The Society of Co-operative Studies in Ireland and the UK Society of Co-operative Studies encourage you to register now to secure your place: Register Here.

Please also note that bursaries are available to cover the registration costs. Just send an email to tiziana@coopalternatives.coop .

Keynote speakers:

Linda Ervine, MBE – founder and manager of Turas, a cross-community language project based in East Belfast, designed to bring people together by raising awareness of the Irish language.

Cliff Mills is a consultant working with Anthony Collins, a specialist law firm based in England, and an active member of IUS Cooperativum an international network of lawyers interested in co-operative law.

Northern Ireland Economy Minister, Dr Caoihme Archibald

Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA was appointed Economy Minister on 3 February 2025. Previous to this, Caoimhe served as Finance Minister from February 2024. Caoimhe was elected as an MLA for East Derry in May 2016 and re-elected in March 2017 and again in May 2022. She is formerly Chair of the Assembly’s Economy and Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs committees.

Paul Gerrard is Campaigns, Public Affairs/Board Secretariat Director at the Co-op Group leading on campaigns such as modern slavery and shopworker violence and crime in the community. He is a board director at Co-ops UK and trustee of the Co-operative Heritage Trust.

For a provisional programme  and registration please visit UKSCS / SCSI Conference 2025 | UK Society for Co-operative Studies .

This event is sponsored by the Belfast City Council and the Department for the Economy.