The European Conference on Social Work Research (ECSWR) takes place annually at rotating venues and is the largest conference for Social Work research in Europe. This year, over 800 researchers and practitioners attended and spent three days exchanging ideas through numerous keynotes, panels, symposia, and presentations on various current topics in global Social Work research.
Building on our Blended Intensive Program (BIP) “Learning from the Future: Social Work Perspectives on a Digital Society” at MCI last year, we took the opportunity to continue our collaboration and further deepen our professional exchange on Social Work in digital society.
Thomas Dierker, lecturer at MCI, chaired a joint symposium titled "Navigating Digital Transformation in Social Work: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Practice, Ethics, and Evidence," during which Honglin Chen (University of Eastern Finland), Kristina Urbanc & Vanja Branica (University of Zagreb), and Elmien Claassens (University of Pretoria) shared various theoretical and practical approaches on how Social Work can actively shape digital futures grounded in inclusion and social justice.
Furthermore, Thomas Dierker participated with two short presentations in the Special Interest Group (SIG) on digitalization and technology, which is specifically dedicated to fostering exchange with researchers and universities conducting research on topics related to artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization in Social Work. This focus is also reflected in our department’s strategy.
In addition, Thomas Dierker gave a presentation titled “A Useful Servant or a Dangerous Master? A Study on the Ethical Evaluation of AI-Supported Social Work Practice by Final-Year Students,” a research project conducted last year in collaboration with Iris Altenberger (MCI) and Susanne Machin-Autenrieth (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen) as part of our degree program. The article is currently undergoing the review process for publication in the Journal on Social Work Education. The research focused on a study in which bachelor’s students in Social Work ethically assessed the use of AI in Social Work.
The topic of artificial intelligence was a prominent theme throughout the conference, underscoring that the MCI Department of Social Work not only closely follows current developments but also actively shapes them.
Highlights from ECSWR 2026 ©MCI
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