CRITICAL POLICY DISCOURSE ANALYSIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2026

Critical Policy Discourse Analysis – International Conference 2026 is a three‑day international gathering dedicated to the critical study of policy texts, talk, and wider discursive practices. Hosted at The Mowbray, Kelham Island (Sheffield, UK), the conference brings together scholars who work on policy text and discourse from a critical perspective, with a particular focus on Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA).

The conference offers a unique forum to explore how policy problems, actors, and solutions are discursively constructed; how power, ideology, and inequality are reproduced, normalised, or resisted in policy discourse; and how policy texts are embedded in wider socio‑economic and political dynamics. We particularly welcome contributions engaging with CPDA, but also with related approaches in critical policy analysis, interpretive policy analysis, and cultural political economy, across any policy sector or geographical context.

The main conference runs from 16–18 June 2026 (09:00–17:00 on days 1–2, and 09:00–16:00 on day 3). In addition, a dedicated PhD day on 15 June 2026 (09:00–17:00) will provide up to 12 doctoral researchers with an opportunity to present their work, receive focused feedback, and build international networks around critical approaches to policy discourse.

Tickets will be available for the main conference and for the PhD day (with limited places), and registration is required for all attendees. We warmly invite academics, doctoral researchers, and others working critically on policy discourse to join us in Sheffield for this landmark event.