Annual Conference 2012

The first FESSUD Conference was held on 29th to 31st Oct 2012 at the Best Western Premier Hotel Steglitz International, Berlin, Germany. The aims of the conference were to discuss the ways in which the growth and performance of economies in the last 30 years have been dependent on the characteristics of the processes of financialisation with academic and non-academics working in areas relevant to the themes of FESSUD as well as enabling FESSUD colleagues to meet and discuss plans for FESSUD research over the coming 12 months.

This was achieved through advertising via various academic groups, the conference consisted of presentation and discussion of research findings arising from FESSUD, and also keynote speeches.

The discussion of FESSUD research was split into the following sessions:

• Comparative analyses of the changing role of finance in economy and society
• Causes and consequences of the financial crisis.
• The challenge of interdisciplinary and pluralistic research in economics and related disciplines

Keynote speakers included:

• Albrecht Sommer (Deutsche Bundesbank) “Financial market reform in Europe – the position of the Deutsche Bundesbank”
• Dierk Hirschel (United Services Union, Verdi) “A new regulatory framework for the financial sector – a trade union perspective”
• Christian Kellermann (Social Democratic Party Germany) “Taming Financial Markets – The Reform Strategy of the German Social Democratic Party”.

There were 72 delegates in total, including representation from all 15 partner institutions; the E.C Project Officer; and 6 members of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC); plus 8 members of the Stakeholder Group (SG) members of the SAC and SG are from a wide range of academic and non-academic institutions including European Central Bank, European Investment Bank, International Labour Office, and British Parliament a full list can be found here