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A Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence and Social Work
We are writing to invite members of your network submit an abstract for consideration for the upcoming edited volume, A Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence and Social Work, to be published by Edward Elgar as part of its prestigious Elgar Research Agendas series. The series aims to shape future research directions in emerging fields and is designed to be both visionary and provocative.
The book seeks to move beyond debates about whether AI is 'good' or 'bad' for social work and instead examine how AI is reshaping power, knowledge, care, decision-making, professional identity and practice across the profession. We are particularly interested in contributions that are critical, innovative, and forward-looking, and that help establish an agenda for future research.
The volume is organised around six broad themes:
- Frontline critical resistance
- Decolonising AI and Indigenous data sovereignty
- AI and the care versus control tension
- Power, politics and the construction of social work identity
- A relational ethics of care
- AI in social work education and practice
At this stage, we invite 250-word abstracts outlining proposed chapters. Abstracts are due by 30 October 2026, with full chapters (4,000-5,000 words) due 30 June 2027.
A copy of the full call for contributions is attached. We would be very pleased to discuss ideas with any potential contributors, including how their work might align with one of the proposed sections or help us expand the conversation in new directions. Alternatively, we would welcome contributors submitting an abstract by the due date.
Additionally, Elgar has asked us that each contributor blind peer review one other chapter that will be in the collection. We will provide more information about that in due course.
We hope you will be willing to circulate this invitation and that some of your network will consider being part of what we anticipate will be an important international contribution to scholarship on AI and social work.
Kind regards,
Dr Sophie Goldingay, Associate Professor, Deakin University
Dr Jennifer Boddy, Professor of Social Work, Griffith University
Editors, A Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence and Social Work
|2026-10-19|6|1|§470|Adult Protection and Safeguarding SIG and European Network on Gerontological Social Work SIG|Adult Protection and Safeguarding SIG and European Network on Gerontological Social Work SIG
We are pleased to announce that the first online event for the Adult Safeguarding and Protection Special Interest Group, hosted jointly with the Gerontological Special Interest Group, will take place on Friday 13th November at 10-11am London time. The title of the session is, 'Hidden harms in caring relationships: Policy, ethics and adult safeguarding'. Our speakers are Dr Sarah Donnelly (UCD, Dublin) and Dr Kathryn Mackay (Stirling University). You may have already received the notification of the seminar and attached poster, but please note that the link to join the seminar is below. PDF flyer
The session is open to all, so please do share with anyone who may be interested. Participants do not need to register
The following link may be helpful in working out when the event will take place in your country:
https://www.timeanddate.com/
The link to join is here:
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/
Meeting ID: 399 211 301 349 70
Passcode: pk9BL6Th
Best wishes, Jeremy Dixon and Lorna Montgomery
|2026-09-30|2|1|https://eswra1-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/eswra1_eswra1_onmicrosoft_com/IQCWqmBMtteRTKoLLPkt-fUfAfOIEJvANbzWG9MWicFTahg?e=CYaxGd§474|international seminar “Care Robotics: Exploring Robotics in Eldercare: Debates and Reflections”|Dear Colleagues,
We are delighted to invite you to attend the international seminar “Care Robotics: Exploring Robotics in Eldercare: Debates and Reflections” in the framework of MyRobot project (https://www.antropologia.urv.cat/en/research/projects/myrobot/ ), which will be held on 27 October 2026 in the Sala de Graus of the Campus Catalunya at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) and also on-line.
This workshop aims to create a space for reflection and discussion on the use of robotics in the care and support of older adults, addressing both the opportunities these technologies offer and the ethical, social, and professional challenges they raise.
The programme will feature distinguished international experts, including Professor Elizabeth Broadbent from the University of Auckland and Dr. Antonio Andriella from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The event will also include a roundtable discussion with researchers and professionals specializing in gerontechnology and robotics for care.
Date: 27 October 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (CET)
Venue: Sala de Graus, Campus Catalunya, Av. Catalunya 35, Tarragona
Language: English
This is the registration link:
https://forms.gle/qW1XuW2LfZxpUZeH7
We would appreciate it if you could circulate this among your networks.
I look forward to seeing you, either in Tarragona or online.
Best regards,
Blanca
Blanca Deusdad
https://blancadeusdad.eu/
Visiting scholar at CPEC. GOLTC
London School of Economics
Dep. Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work
|2026-10-19|5|0|§471|2027 IMISCOE PhD School - Call for applications|2027 IMISCOE PhD School - Call for applications
Regional Migration Studies: Dynamics of Human Mobility, Governance and Socioeconomic Transformations
Dates: 13–17 September 2027
Event organised by: GRITIM-UPF at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in collaboration with the EuroMedMig Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Project
Event location: The PhD school will take place at the Ciutadella Campus, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, Spain
Deadline for application submissions: 15 November 2026
Organising Committee: Prof. Ricard Zapata-Barrero, Director of GRITIM-UPF and Coordinator of EuroMedMig and Dr. Luisa Faustini Torres, EuroMedMig PhD Network Project Manager
Read the call here: https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/2739-2027-phd-school
||5|0|§469|ECR/PhD Network World Cafe|Save the date: our World Café runs bi-monthly on the first Wednesday of the month, from September through June, 18:00 BST / 19:00 CEST / 20:00 CEEST. Same joining details every time, so come and go as you please. Got something you'd like added to the agenda? Just let us know!
Microsoft teams: Meeting ID 335 329 068 665 65
Passcode: R5QL7XT7
Stay connected:
Find us on LinkedIn and Facebook. ESWRA Doctoral and Early Career Researchers
Want to join our mailing list? Email mirvine15@qub.ac.uk or S.Bahooshy@uos.ac.uk
The 2025 Journal Impact Factors were released recently and ESWR has been awarded its first Impact Factor of 1.1. This is a very healthy opening Impact Factor and places the journal in the third quartile for Social Work.
ESWR has also been awarded a Journal Citation Indicator of 0.88. This is a field-normalized metric that places ESWR in the second quartile of the JCI rankings in Social Work.
These are great first results that show the high quality and relevance of the articles ESWR publishes, and the commitment of our editors, contributors and reviewers!
|2026-06-25|6|0|§460|ESWR journal ECSWR 2025|ESWR 4.2 is due to publish in June 2026, which presents selected articles from ECSWR 2025 (Munich) on the theme of ‘Embracing Democracy in Social Work’. Sign up here to receive an email alert of the Table of Contents when this issue is released.
The European Social Work Research Editors’ Choice Collection is currently available, giving readers free access to our journal editors’ top articles from recent issues. These are free to read until 31 August 2026, please do share this work with any colleagues who might find it of interest.
|2026-05-13|6|0|§452|ESWRA Board statement on policy in relation to Israel and Palestine|ESWRA Board statement on policy in relation to Israel and Palestine
The Board of the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA) has received an appeal from a group of members calling for Israeli scholars to be excluded from participation in the Association’s conference activities. This raises important principal issues regarding ESWRA’s approach to world affairs and conflict where there might be a diversity of views among our members. This statement sets out ESWRA’s position in relation to Israel–Palestine, building on our 2023 statement and restating the Association’s core principles.
The Board unequivocally condemns the horrific violence inflicted upon civilians in both Israel and Palestine. We recognize the profound suffering, fear, and loss experienced by individuals and families on all sides of this conflict. We are deeply concerned by the scale and intensity of harm, particularly the significant impact on Palestinian civilians resulting from ongoing military actions. This situation constitutes a serious threat to universal human rights and is of grave concern to social workers committed to the protection of all oppressed and marginalised populations.
ESWRA’s vision is to promote just and equitable societies through social work research, pursued through its conferences, special interest groups, publications, and online activities. To fulfil this mission, the Association depends on the contributions of members across national, political, and cultural contexts. The Board therefore does not support banning individuals from ESWRA activities on the basis of nationality or institutional location. Especially in times of heightened polarisation, upholding individual academic freedom is essential. ESWRA maintains that academic exchange grounded in rigorous research can foster critical understanding and shared knowledge.
At the same time, the Board recognises that academic dialogue is shaped by structural inequalities. ESWRA therefore has a responsibility to actively support the participation of scholars from oppressed and marginalised communities and will use its structures and activities to facilitate this.
The Board affirms that sustained dialogue, critical scholarship, and a firm commitment to human rights are essential to addressing injustice and advancing the values that underpin social work research.
|2026-04-08|1|0|§449|Special Issue Call for Papers - European Social Work Research|Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 May 2026
This special issue will showcase stimulating, quality papers presented at the European Conference on Social Work Research held from 15-17 April 2026 in Aberdeen, Scotland
Proposals are invited from all who presented at the conference. The European Social Work Research journal provides an international forum for the
publication of high-quality contributions relating to all aspects of social work research and drawing on diverse research methodologies, ideas and knowledge. This peer-reviewed journal is published through a partnership between the European Social Work Research Association and Policy Press.
This special issue will focus on one or more of the eight conference subthemes with a connection to the main conference theme: ‘Social Work and Interdisciplinary Research: researching and facilitating evidence informed practice and policy'
The eight subthemes are:
- Challenges and opportunities for social work research, practice, policy or education in contemporary contexts
- Social work research, policy, practice or education across national, social, cultural, disciplinary and professional boundaries
- Exploring the impact and effectiveness of social work practice
- Social work history and identity as a profession and discipline
- Linking the industry 4.0 and digital welfare state
- Theorizing social work and/or social work research
- Linking social work research and practice, including the co-creation of knowledge
- Methodological development, innovation, technologies and capacity building in social work research
Please see the conference website for further description of the conference themes https://www.ecswr2026.org/call-for-abstracts . We welcome in particular research that uses innovative methods or applies theory in new ways.
The special issue, like all issues of the journal, includes a ‘Reflection, Exchange and Dialogue’ section, which provides a dedicated space for shorter contributions that focus on issues that are important and topical for social work research. These contributions will be critical and discursive and are intended to stimulate further inclusive discussion and debate. Further details are available here
Abstracts should be submitted by email to eswr-journal@bristol.ac.uk no later than 15 May 2026 with a maximum length of 500 words. Please note that papers must not be submitted to, or under consideration with, another journal. All research articles will undergo the journal’s standard double-anonymous peer review process, and accepted papers will be published in the journal, either in the special issue or in subsequent issues.
Authors will be notified of acceptance of their abstract 19 June 2026, and the deadline for submission of the full paper online via Editorial Manager is 1 September 2026. Publication date of the special issue is scheduled for June 2027. For further information please contact one of the special issue editors:
Lars Uggerhøj, Professor, Dr., Aalborg University, Denmark
Richard Ingram, Professor, Dr., Dundee University, Scotland, UK
Gary Spolander, Professor, Dr., Robert Gordon University, Scotland, UK
|2026-03-23|1|0|§448|European Social Work Research journal|
Dear ESWRA members
European Social Work Research journal is now in its fourth year. It is the only Europe-wide journal to focus uniquely on social work research, advancing scholarship and debate by connecting empirical research with theoretical understandings that may inform, and be informed by, social work. It publishes many excellent papers from the annual ESWRA conference, was read in over 125 countries last year, and is expecting its first Impact Factor this summer.
As it is the flagship journal of the European Social Work Research Association, we are asking members to support the journal by expanding its readership through university subscriptions. We would like to urge you to contact your librarians and request that they subscribe to the journal. Subscriptions are essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the journal, especially in the current academic climate. They enable more people to access the journal, which increases the usage, citations and the reach of the important work that ESWR publishes.
ESWR is published by Bristol University Press (of which Policy Press is an imprint), an independent, non-profit university press with a social mission. If you are happy to help, they have supplied some suggested wording which you can pass to your librarian. Recommendations are usually more successful if they are supported by information about any projects or courses (especially teaching) that would benefit from a subscription. Download a template for contacting your librarian here https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/asset/13160/recommend-eswr-to-library.docx.
Thank you for taking the time to support the journal and our research community.
Karen Winter, Chair, ESWRA
|2026-03-03|6|0|§447|ESWR journal February articles|ESWR have published five new research articles in February 2026, including two open access articles, all available at European Social Work Research | Bristol University Press.
Challenges and opportunities for social work practice research in addressing epistemic injustice
Authors: Catrine Torbjørnsen Halås , Bas van Lanen , Sui Ting Kong , Elke Plovie , Silvia Fargion, and Martine Ganzevles
Authors: Leigh Ann Loebs and Katarina Grim
Authors: Jan Wienforth and Ursula Unterkofler
Authors: Lesley Deacon , Dean Stamp, Mel Cawkwell, Carrie Phillips, Alex Cuthbertson, Paige Thomason, Zeta Bikova, and Suzie Keyes
What do the public think about artificial intelligence note-taking tools in social care?
Authors: Jed Meers , Eppie Leishman, Izzie Salter, Simon Halliday, and Joe Tomlinson
|2026-02-26|6|0|{{ news[1] }}
