Although the initiative for the European Conference of Social Work Research (ECSWR) came from conversations within the university community from 2005 onwards, the conference is open to all stakeholder groups including practitioners, the policy community, managers, service users engaged with research, university and agency researchers, lecturers, and graduate research students. It will represent a wide range of substantive, methodological and value-based interests. It is open also to those in broader social care, human services, and social pedagogy fields, and to interested members of other academic disciplines. The conference series, of which this is the first, aspires to a high standard of research presentations and a significant role in shaping the development of social work. While there are several existing excellent conferences that include a research dimension, there has been nothing within Europe that provides a general forum for the social work research community. By drawing on a wide constituency the intention is to open up the potential for cross-cultural learning within and beyond Europe, and for developing the quality of social work research internationally. The planning network has appreciated growing expressions of interest in Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as at the pan-European level. In addition there have been expressions of interest from Israel and the Arab world. We appreciate support by sponsorship from the English Department of Health, the Social Care Institute of Excellence, and the JUC Social Work Education Committee. The conference planning group has a primary membership of UK members, chaired by Ian Shaw, Professor of Social Work, University of York. The panel works in liaison with a network of consulting members from across Europe. The Conference Manager's contact details are on the Contact Us page of the site. The language of the Conference is English.

 

Planning group

Kathy Boxall - The University of Sheffield

Colette McAuley - University College Dublin

Jane Reeves - University of Greenwich

Jonathan Scourfield - Cardiff University

Elaine Sharland - University of Sussex

Steven Shardlow - The University of Salford

Ian Shaw (chair) - The University of York

Brian Taylor - University of Ulster

 

The conference provides a forum that is open to all who are engaged and interested in social work and social care research. It aims to:
1. Foster the development of high levels of innovatory and interdisciplinary social work and social care research across the European community of nations.
2. Develop a range of ways in which social work research may have beneficial consequences for practice, service users, service development, and service delivery.
3. Enhance research capacity within the European social work community.
4. Provide an environment for the application of research methods and approaches by those from a wide range of disciplines within and beyond the social sciences, in forms which have relevance for social work practice and research.
The conference is open to anyone who shares a commitment to these aims.

The youngest Oxford undergraduate College, St Catherine's is regarded as a distinguished example of the very best of architecture in the tradition of European Modernism. The College, designed by the Danish architect, Arne Jacobsen, is one of only a very few pieces of post-1945 architecture to be Grade 1 listed. Jacobsen’s buildings are complemented by three new residential blocks, built in the early 1990s and, more recently, in 2004. St Catherine’s offers conference delegates the benefits of modern accommodation, excellent catering and up-to-date meeting and technical facilities, whilst being a only short walk from the cloisters and quads of traditional Oxford. It lies in extensive gardens and wooded areas just to the north of Magdalen Bridge in the Holywell Great Meadow, between two branches of the River Cherwell. See for yourself by going to St Catz

The NIHR School for Social Care Research was officially launched in May 2009 with the mission of improving social care practice for adults in England through commissioning and conducting research. Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the school is a partnership between six leading academic centres in England, each with a strong track record in social care research: the Personal Social Services Research Units at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Kent and the University of Manchester; the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College London; the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York; and the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent. For further information about the NIHR School for Social Care Research and its activities go to www.sscr.nihr.ac.uk.