We are living in turbulent times, times cha­rac­te­ri­zed by dynamic, deepening ine­qua­li­ties both between and within societies, as well as increased levels of inse­cu­ri­ty and vul­nerabi­li­ty. The Covid 19 pandemic, climate change, eco­lo­gi­cal disasters, famine war in Ukraine and many other conflicts around the world, have  deepened these trends. The con­se­quen­ces are evident in human and non-human life posing mul­ti­laye­red obstacles to human deve­lo­p­ment.  Between 2020 and 2021, the human deve­lo­p­ment index con­trac­ted for all countries. There are no ready, easily applied and trans­fera­ble answers about how indi­vi­du­als and societies can cope with vul­nerabi­li­ty amidst many emerging chal­lenges across the world. Recent mani­fe­sta­ti­ons of human vul­nerabi­li­ty raise questions about how the capa­bi­li­ty approach and the human deve­lo­p­ment paradigm can help, in the con­tem­po­ra­ry context, in thinking through some of the questions of changing capa­bi­li­ty sets across social divisions of race, class, gender, age, disa­bi­li­ty and natio­na­li­ty. Registration deadline 4 August 2023. (Conference programme to come) Registration