ECSWR 2026 Aberdeen - Call for Abstracts

The main theme of the 14th European Conference for Social Work Research is “Social Work and Interdisciplinary Research: researching and facilitating evidence informed practice and policy”. Researchers, scholars, practitioners, and students are invited to submit abstracts for the below proposal types. Abstract submission deadline is 19 September 2025.

Proposal Types

Oral Paper Presentation

The oral paper presentation may be authored by an individual or by a group. The abstract should be in line with the main theme of the conference and linked to the conference’s sub-themes. The oral presentations will be grouped in parallel sessions based on the sub-themes. The abstract submitted should be 500 words or less. More information about the abstract is provided below.

Poster Presentation

The poster presentation may be created by an individual or by a group and is to be displayed on a portable wall. At times, the author(s) of the poster will accompany it, to answer questions that people have. To apply for a poster presentation, the author(s) must submit an abstract of a maximum of 500 words. More information about the abstract is provided below.

Symposium

The symposium presentation is a self-organised seminar of three to four papers on a common topic which are presented within the same session and are in line with the conference’s main theme, as well as one or more of the sub-themes. The symposium session lasts 90 minutes.

When applying for a symposium, one person is responsible for submitting the following:

a general abstract (maximum 500 words) that describes the theme of the symposium and which argues for the importance of it within the framework of the conference.
an abstract (maximum 250 words) for each of the papers included in the proposed symposium.

You will also have to indicate which person will be the symposium convener. We will only communicate with this person.

Preference will be given to symposia that demonstrate cohesiveness across presentations and to presentations strongly linked to the central theme/sub-themes of the conference. Symposia will be accepted or rejected as a whole, not in parts.

Workshop

A self-organized seminar of one or more presentations relevant to the conference theme/sub-themes. The workshops last 90 minutes. Workshops are intended to be thoroughly interactive with considerable participation and discussion from those attending. Workshops may have an explicit agenda of training participants on a given topic or of generating an interest group or a network for future collaboration. If applying for a workshop, please submit an abstract of 500 words or less including a description of the content and how it will be delivered (pedagogical methods, etc.).

Guidelines

The following guidelines for all kinds of presentation are advisory.

If your abstract is for a presentation based on one or more empirical research projects, it could include the following:

Background and purpose: description of the problem, study objectives, research question(s) and/or hypotheses;
Methods: study design, including a description of participants and selection strategies, data collection procedures, measures, and approaches to analysis;
Findings: specific results in summary form;
Conclusions and implications: description of the main outcome(s) of the study and implications for practice, policy, or further research.

If your abstract is for a presentation which is not based on primary empirical research, it could include the following:

Background and purpose of the presentation;
A summary of the main points of the presentation;
How the presentation will address one or more of the conference’s aims and themes;
Conclusions from and implications of your presentation for practice, policy, or further research.

Submission Instructions

All abstracts must be relevant to the central conference theme and subthemes. Preference will be given to abstracts that are strongly linked to the conference theme and subthemes, so we encourage authors to show this explicitly. Authors are also asked to mention one or two theoretical or empirical references that inform or inspire the abstract. In addition, we actively welcome proposals for symposia and/or workshops by the Special Interest Groups.

Please note that authors may submit a maximum of three abstracts as follows: one abstract of which they are the main author and two abstracts of which they are a co-author. Submitted abstracts will be reviewed by an international panel. Decisions will be notified by week of 17 November 2025 to the e-mail address provided by the authors when registering.

Subthemes

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 knowledge8. Methodological development, innovation, technologies and capacity building in social work research

For more information about the conference and the submission process please visit the ECSWR 2026 website https://www.ecswr2026.org/ please share with your friends and colleagues.