About this Research Topic

Background

The European Social Services Conference (ESSC; https://essc-eu.org) is the annual flagship event of the European Social Network (ESN; https://www.esn-eu.org), the leading network for public social services in Europe. The ESSC is Europe’s largest public social welfare policy and practice forum. The previous edition was attended by almost 700 delegates in Malmö, Sweden, in 2023.

At the 32nd European Social Services Conference (Antwerp, Belgium, 26-28 June 2024), we will discuss how we can co-create community-based social services, with a specific focus on three thematic strands: (1) Co-creating Cities Social Inclusion, (2) Co-creating Responses to Manage the Future Workforce, and (3) Co-creating Digital Solutions for Social Inclusion.

This Research Topic welcomes papers that will provide both theoretical insights and explorations as well as empirical evidence. Alongside learning from practice and responding to research findings, we also want to understand, challenge and refine the theoretical lenses which underpin our assumptions about social inclusion and diversity in relation to social policy and social services.

Potential issues include three thematic strands, but are not limited to:

(1) Co-creating Cities Social Inclusion

• community Care models in cities
• fighting residential exclusion
• neighborhood approaches
• managing childhood and youth transitions in areas such as early childcare or child protection
• support planning for people with disabilities in aspects related to work and social participation
• support programs for ageing populations in fighting loneliness, promoting community support
• managing diversity in the community
• co-production in local social services planning, delivery, and evaluation
• theories of community development and how these relate to different forms of social capital
• recent theories and concepts in urban sociology, sociological practice, social policy, and social work
• theoretical approaches to social problems, issues, and challenges, including those underlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

(2) Co-creating Responses to Manage the Future Workforce

• workforce planning and management strategies
• training for co-production with people using services and their families
• registration and accreditation programs
• programs to break down gender stereotypes
• innovation and digital programs supporting social care and support, such as digital tools or forecasting scenarios
• theories of professional motivations and how these can incentivize or deter person-centered and community care.

(3) Co-creating Digital Solutions for Social Inclusion

• prioritization of person-centered care and relationship-based practice
• improvement of services interaction
• addressing digital readiness for practice
• enhancing people’s autonomy
• increasing the data security
• addressing ethical concerns and data protection needs
• theoretical approaches to the digital divide and social inclusion
• theories of leadership and how these translate to virtual contexts.

We are looking forward to selecting manuscripts demonstrating a wide range of approaches and forward-thinking ideas to enhance personalization in social services. We want to provide an opportunity for presenters involved in the ESSC 2024 program, covering both scholars and practitioners from various sectors, to publish their papers.

We also look forward to including articles from scholars and practitioners who did not present their work during our event. This Research Topic is fully open to practical and theoretical submissions that have not been included for presentation during the ESSC 2024.

This Research Topic welcomes submissions of the following article types: Brief Research Report, Community Case Study, Conceptual Analysis, General Commentary, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Policy and Practice Reviews, Review, and Study Protocol.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Specialty Grand Challenge
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: co-production, digitalisation, inequalities, integrated care and support, poverty, social care, social inclusion, social innovation, social policy, social security, social services, social work, welfare state

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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