The 2018 Annual ESPAnet Conference
„Transformation of European welfare systems: challenges, problems and future prospects“ 30 August – 1 September 2018, Vilnius
CALL FOR STREAM CONVENORS
The organising committee for the 16th ESPAnet Annual Conference invites expressions of interest from colleagues willing to act as stream convenors.
The 16th annual conference of the ESPAnet will be held in Vilnius, hosted by the Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Sociology and Social Work. It will be an exciting opportunity to discuss the challenges, problems and future prospects of European welfare systems at a time of great political, economic and environmental uncertainties in the globalized world.
The deadline for stream proposals is 15 of December 2017.
Responsibilities of Stream Convenors
- Stream convenors are responsible for one or more sessions organised within a particular stream. The total number of sessions per stream will depend on the number of abstracts accepted. In total, we anticipate about 20 streams.
- Stream convenors participate in the selection of abstracts, ranking all abstracts submitted for their respective stream. The review of abstracts will be organised after the closure of the call for abstracts, i.e. March 2018.
- Final decisions on the number of sessions per stream and the acceptance of abstracts will be made by the local organising committee after full information concerning streams is available.
- The stream convenors are intermediaries between the local organisers and the authors. They inform authors if their abstract has been accepted, contributing or rejected.
- In the run-up to the Conference, stream convenors together with local organisers supervise the deadlines for paper submission and review the situation concerning contributed papers in case deadlines are not met.
- In the Conference, Stream convenors chair their respective session(s). To guarantee coherence across sessions, they are also asked to a) give either an introductory presentation on the theme of their stream and how the papers chosen for presentation fit the research in this area, or b) synthesise the stream’s output after paper presentations.
Stream Themes
- As organisers, we invite and give priority to suggestions for streams that fit the overall theme of the conference.
- Over the years, ESPAnet Conferences have had many different streams, some with established continuity. A list for suggested themes for the 16th Espanet Conference is listed below.
- Proposals for stream titles may differ from the stream themes listed below, but suggestions should bear in mind that topics should appeal to a large number of researchers, allow submissions from different disciplinary backgrounds and countries and that all streams and sessions have to be organised as open streams and sessions (no closed research/interest networks).
- Stream convenors themselves shall not submit abstracts to their respective stream.
Suggestions for Stream Themes:
1. Migration and social protection
2. Ageing and health care
3. Reforming pensions
4. Globalization and social policy
5. History, religion and social policy
6. Employment and labour market policy
7. Family policy and gender equality
8. Poverty, inequality and social exclusion
9. Welfare state in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States
10. New perspectives on social investment
11. Social policy and social work
12. Neoliberalism, austerity and social policy
13. Populism, democracy and social policy
14. Housing policy
15. European social policy
16. Comparative methodology
17. Welfare state in transition (in Europe and abroad)
18. Education, training, and social protection
19. Climate change and social policy
20. Open stream(s)
Expression of interest
Individual expressions of interest should fit on one page. They should
include:
1. A stream title with an indication which stream theme it is directed at (see above) or whether the suggestion arises outside of the list.
2. A short description of the stream’s theme, including a description of the topics and/or types of papers that would be expected (max 300 words). We encourage descriptions of proposed themes which make explicit links to the topic of the conference and to the overall objectives of ESPAnet (see www.espanet.org).
3. Full contact details of the stream convenor/s (with a maximum of two convenors per stream): Name/s, affiliation, postal address, phone number, e-mail.
Please send your expression of interest by 15 of December 2017 to the following e-mail address:
Acceptance of proposals
The local organising committee will send out information about accepted proposals by 7 of January 2018.
We look forward to seeing you in Vilnius in 2018!
Jolanta Aidukaite
On behalf of Conference Organizing Committee
Institute of Sociology and Social Work
Faculty of Philosophy
Vilnius University
Conference website: http://www.espanetvilnius2018.fsf.vu.lt/