About the Conference

Reimagining Social Work Education: Solidarity, Justice, and Care in a Changing World

Across Europe and globally, communities are confronting interconnected challenges, including climate change, displacement and migration, widening inequalities, democratic erosion, racism, conflict, and social fragmentation. These realities raise urgent questions about the future of social work and the education of future practitioners.

The conference seeks to explore questions such as:

What does it mean to educate social workers in times of intersecting crises?
How can social work education defend and advance human rights, democracy, and social justice?
Whose knowledge counts in social work education?
How can we strengthen collective action, solidarity, and community participation?
What role should social work play in creating more equitable and sustainable futures?

We welcome contributions that address these questions through research, practice innovation, lived experience, activism, policy development, and international collaboration.

Conference Sub-Themes

Explore how digital technologies are reshaping social work education and practice. We welcome contributions on:

Digital innovation in teaching and learning
Online and hybrid social work education
Digital inclusion and exclusion
Ethics, surveillance, and data justice
Artificial intelligence and social work
Maintaining relational practice in digital environments

This strand focuses on meaningful collaboration between educators, students, service users, carers, communities, and practitioners. Topics may include:

Co-produced curricula
Participatory and collaborative research
Student partnership approaches
Community-engaged learning
Democratic educational practices
Lived experience leadership

Social work plays a critical role in promoting dignity, participation, inclusion, and justice. Contributions may explore:

Human rights-based social work education
Democratic participation and citizenship
Anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice
Social policy and advocacy
Resistance to authoritarianism and exclusion
Building inclusive societies

Preparing future practitioners requires sustained attention to wellbeing and resilience. Submissions are invited on:

Student and practitioner wellbeing
Reflective and relational learning
Burnout prevention
Compassion fatigue and resilience
Supportive learning environments
Sustainable professional development

This theme examines how colonial histories and power structures continue to shape social work learning and practice. We welcome papers addressing:

Anti-racist social work education
Indigenous and Global South perspectives
Curriculum transformation
Epistemic justice
Decolonising pedagogy
Culturally responsive education and practice

This strand explores social work's role in collective action and social transformation. Topics may include:

Climate justice and environmental social work
Poverty and inequality
Migration, displacement, and asylum
Community organising
Social movements and activism
Building solidarity in contested times

Call for Contributions

Contributions are invited across all six sub-themes

Through research, practice innovation, lived experience, activism, policy development, and international collaboration.

Read the call for abstracts