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Call for bids to host European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR) 2025 and 2026

The European Conference of Social Work Research (ECSWR) is the major annual event of the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA). The conference has taken place since 2011 and is highly regarded amongst social work researchers across Europe, as an important annual event for sharing research findings and debating ideas as well as networking. It has grown in size and reputation, and the ESWRA Board is keen that ECSWR continues to develop and strengthen its quality, reach and value for social work research in Europe.

12th ECSWR from 12th – 14th April 2023, hosted by the Università Cattolica, del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

13th ECSWR from 17 – 19th April 2024, hosted by the Vilnius University, Lithuania

The ESWRA Board is now calling for bids to host the 14th ECSWR in March-April 2025 and the 15th ECSWR in MarchApril 2026.

Prospective hosts should prepare and submit an application of no more than 2000 words in length (excluding budget) and should include contact details for the person with lead responsibility on behalf of the prospective host to discuss with ESWRA the bid details.

Applications should be submitted to the ESWRA Executive Administrator, Claire Prater, (info@eswra.org) by 3rd October 2022

The key criteria against which any bid will be assessed will be:

Planning, administration, leadershipand liability: 

  • The prospective conference host must demonstrate that they have the capacity and experience for the planning and administration of organising such a large and high-profile international event.
  • Joint bids between universities from a host country are welcome; however, a clear indication of the leading host university is expected in the bid. Bids will be assessed on the ability of the host university to provide academic leadership.
  • The conference host needs to establish a Conference Organising Committee, to be jointly Chaired on behalf of the host and by ESWRA’S Vice-Chair. The Conference Organising Committee will provide the academic/research leadership for the conference and will be responsible for the conference planning and organisation. 
  • The conference host will make all necessary arrangements for hosting the conference, including hiring of rooms, conference advertising, abstract submission and review process, programme development, book of abstracts, social programme, room hire for the programme of Special Interest Groups, and catering. The host will also put in place management arrangements to cover contingencies.
  • The ESWRA board will approve the conference budget as well as the conference theme and sub-themes, and keynote speakers.

Timing:

  • The conference should be held in March-April 2025 and 2026 on dates which avoid local, national and European festivities and holidays.

Accessibility: 

  • The host city should be reachable by no more than two relatively inexpensive flights from any European city.

Locality and Representation: 

  • The Board will particularly take into consideration the full likely cost of conference attendance for participants from low income countries in Europe.
  • ESWRA is committed to varying the geographical location of the conference.
  • The host city should preferably be an appealing place to visit, providing added attraction to the conference itself.

Venue:

  • The lecture halls and meeting rooms need to be of appropriate size and number. One main conference hall with capacity for 500+ people is essential, along with rooms to accommodate at least 10 parallel oral paper or symposium sessions for up to 50 people each.
  • There also need to be approximately 12-15 rooms available for the SIG Events sessions earlier in the day that the conference begins. Some of these could be the same rooms as for parallel sessions during the conference proper, but they could also be slightly smaller (for up to 40 people).

Outline budget:

  • The host should provide a comprehensive anticipated budget, covering all expected costs.
  • The budget should include a contribution of at least 20,000 Euros to ESWRA.

Over and above this, any budget surplus generated by the conference should also be returned to ESWRA. In return ESWRA will bear all risks and upfront costs associated with the conference when these relate to the agreed budget. 

  • Budget headings for the bid are expected to include: o Venue hire for main conference and the programme for Special Interest Groups o Estimates of catering costs o Keynote speakers’ expenses o Conference website and App development o Local administration 

o Contribution of at least 20,000 Euros to ESWRA, plus any surplus

Endorsement from host university 

  • Prospective hosts should demonstrate that the bid has the full backing and support of the host university (and partner universities in the case of a collaborative bid).

ESWRA will use the above criteria to inform the selection of ECSWR 2025 and 2026 conference hosts. The final decision will rest with the ESWRA Board. 

Full guidance for prospective ECSWR hosts can be found here Conference Guidelines

Applications to host the 14th ECSWR in March-April 2025 and the 15th ECSWR in March-April 2026 should be submitted to the ESWRA Executive Administrator, Claire Prater (info@eswra.org) Date to be decided.

The ESWRA Board expects to select and announce the hosts for ECSWR 2025 and 2026 in December 2022 after the November Board meeting 

Informal expressions of interest in advance of the application deadline are welcome. These should be made to the ESWRA Chair, Alessandro Sicora (alessandro.sicora@unitn.it) and/or Vice Chair, Ines Martinez inesmartinezh@outlook.com who will be pleased to discuss any questions from prospective hosts. 

ESWRA