On 5-6 April co-operators, academics and practitioners will meet in Manchester for the third Co-operative Education and research conference.

Hosted by the Co-operative College, the event will focus on how co-operative learning, whether formal or informal can challenge inequalities and contribute to building sustainability.

The conference is themed Learning for Co-operative Transformations and will be looking at three topics, societies, community and youth, featuring paper presentations, workshops and panel discussions.

Keynote speakers include Professor Keri Facer and Lemn Sissay MBE. Prof Facer teaches educational and social futures at the University of Bristol.

Her research looks at the implications for education and learning of technological, environmental, economic and social change. From 2012 she has been leadership fellow for the UK’s Connected Communities Programme a 300-project research programme facilitating collaborative research.

Lemn Sissay MBE is an author who has written plays for stage and BBC radio. He was the official poet of the London Olympics, is associate artist at the Southbank Centre and has been made an honorary doctor of letters.

Extracts from his poem Gilt of Cain have been carved on a monument to the 1807 abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, unveiled by Bishop Desmond Tutu in Fen Court, City of London, in 2008.

Delegates will also hear about the co-operative economy in Rojava and Bakur, social co-operatives and democratisation of higher education, co-operative women’s challenge, co-operatives and decent work or co-operative care.

The conference will take place at the Geoffrey Manton building at the Manchester Metropolitan University and it will be followed by the Co-operative College’s Annual General Meeting. Registration is now open on the College’s website.