Why use Arts Based Research in Social Work?
Theoretical and methodological advantages and challenges:
Date: Wednesday 14th January 2026
Start time: 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET
Registration link will be posted in December
Contact: info@eswra.org
ESWRA Arts based SIG (lead by Ephrat Huss: Nesrien Abu-Ghazaleh, and Susan Levy)
At the last ESRWA conference, we witnessed a significant number of arts-based research presentations, highlighting how the arts have become canonized as a “third pillar” of social work, alongside science and the social sciences. This shift is evident in both practice and research.
The aim of this webinar is to articulate the theoretical rationale for employing arts-based research methods in social work—both as a distinct approach and in relation to central methodological streams such as participatory, qualitative, and quantitative methods. We will demonstrate how the arts can serve as method, subject, and product of social work research, and we will also address the challenges and limitations of arts-based methods. Using examples from our SIG members research that they will present, we hope to demonstrate a set of arts baed methodologies currently being used, and to highlight their advantages and challenges.
Our overall aim in this webinar is to demystify arts-based methods, that often feel unfamiliar to social workers- and to provide participants with a clear theoretical framework for understanding arts-based methods, as well as to provide a toolbox of methodologies that they will be able to apply in their own research.
Arts based research Webinar: For ESWRA
Dr Nasrien Abu-Ghazala: Professor Ephrat Huss: Dr Susan Levy
In the last ESRWA conference we saw a large among of arts-based research presentations: showing how the arts have become canonized as a “third pillar” of social work, next to science and social sciences. This is apparent in both practice and research:
The aim of this webinar is to explain the theoretical rational for using arts-based research methods in social work specifically, and in relation to central methodological streams such as participatory, qualitative, and quantitative methods. We will exemplify how the arts can be utilized as method, subject and end- product of research. We will address the challenges and limitations of using arts-based methods, and we will exemplify structured arts-based methodologies in each of these areas, using our Sig’s participants current research projects. Participants will emerge with a theoretical understanding of arts-based methods, and also with a toolbox of methodologies that can be applied to their own research.
