Program PhDact
Program of each session (in CET!)
Morning session (plenary)
09.30 - 09.45 - Welcome and introduction
09.45 - 10.30 - First lecture
10.30 – 11.00 - Break
11.00 - 11.45 - Second lecture
11.45 - 12.30 - Questions and debate
Participation on the morning sessions is free of charge and accessible to everyone interested!
Afternoon session (only for enrolled PhD students)
13.30 – 16.30: Interactive seminar with the students and lecturers (with 30 minutes break)
Day 1: Friday 29/01/2027
Social Work Research as a counter-hegemonic act
Lecturers: Prof. dr. Rudi Roose (Ghent University) – Prof. dr. Paul Michael Garrett (University of
Galway)
In this session, we explore social work research as a political practice. Drawing on Rancière, we understand its political significance as disruption: questioning divisions between those entitled to produce knowledge and those whose experiences remain unheard or become objects of investigation. Research can disturb dominant definitions of social problems by challenging what is visible, sayable,
and worthy of attention. This potential connects with Gramsci’s notion of counter-hegemony. Research can expose how taken for-granted explanations of poverty, care, and responsibility sustain unequal social relations. Engaging
with people’s struggles and recognising them as participants in knowledge production can open alternative understandings and responses. Its counter-hegemonic character depends on how research is conducted, whose knowledge counts, and whether it creates space to question and transform the social order.
Day 2: Friday 05/03/2027
Social Work Research and Anti-Authoritarianism
Lecturers: Prof. dr. Vasilios Ioakimidis (University of West Attica) – Eva Gregori (University of Applied sciences St. Pölten)
This session explores how social work research can resist the rise of right-wing and authoritarian
politics. It considers how these developments affect social rights, democratic participation, and the
lives of people facing exclusion. The speakers will discuss how research can challenge exclusionary
narratives, question policies that deepen inequalities, and create space for marginalised perspectives.
The session also reflects on researchers’ public responsibility and their contribution to democratic
alternatives grounded in equality, solidarity, and social justice.
Day 3: Friday 16/04/2027
Social Work Research and Human Rights: From Individualisation to Collective Action
Lecturers: Prof. dr. Jessica Toft (University of Minnesota) – Prof. dr. Didier Boost (Universiteit voor
Humanistiek)
This session explores how social work research can strengthen human rights in a context of neoliberal
individualisation. It examines how social problems are framed as individual responsibilities and
considers the importance of collective action in challenging inequalities. Particular attention is given
to how research can connect personal experiences with structural conditions and support solidarity,
collective organising, and shared struggles for social justice.
Day 4: Friday 28/05/2027
From social work values to resistance
Lecturers: Prof. dr. Christian Kjeldsen (Aarhus University) and Prof. Dr. Rich Moth (Manchester
Metropolitan University)
Social justice, solidarity and human rights are central to social work’s professional identity. This contribution examines whether and how social workers share these values, and how they put them into practice in response to neoliberal and authoritarian developments. It explores the conditions under which these commitments translate into everyday and collective resistance, as well as the
tensions between professed values and actual practice.
