Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 29th Annual Conference

Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 29th Annual Conference is organized by Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and will be held from Jan 15 - 19, 2025 at Sheraton Grand Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.

Conference Overview:
The SSWR Annual Conference offers a scientific program that reflects a broad range of research interests. From workshops on the latest quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to symposia featuring studies in child welfare, aging, mental health, welfare reform, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Over 500 symposia, workshop, roundtable, paper and poster presentations. Research methods workshops are designed to enhance methods expertise and grant-writing skills and special sessions on research priorities and capacity building that target cutting-edge topics vital to contemporary social work research. Pre-conference programs and a networking reception, especially for doctoral students.

The theme for the 2025 conference is “Strengthening Social Impact through Collaborative Research.” Today’s complex social problems require genuine and collaborative partnerships among academics, community organizations, residents, government agencies, and policy makers. Too often social work researchers work in silos. Yet by its very nature, social work is a collaborative and interdisciplinary field. Social work scholars are working to better understand and address issues like environmental justice, health equity, violence, economic inequality as well as many other complex social problems. We could have a much greater social impact by grounding our research in the lived experiences of people impacted by problems and those working tirelessly to address these problems. Social work researchers can play important roles in co-creating knowledge and solutions to address today’s social injustices. We challenge social work scholars to develop and strengthen genuine and long-lasting collaborative partnerships to create, implement and disseminate research for social impact.

The objectives of the conference are to:

• Recognize policy and program impacts of social work research at the local, state, national, and international levels by social work scholars;
• Advance social work as a discipline by reviewing the collective impact and potential for social work science; and
• Center racial equity and social justice in social work research, policy, and practice.

We encourage submissions that describe how research has contributed to changes in individuals, organizations, communities, and policies. The challenge is to describe what has changed as a result of the research not just the research per se. Community partners, research participants, policymakers, and other research partners are welcome as co-presenters.

We also invite critical reflections on how research can better achieve social change. How might we better define issues and engage research participants? What designs, methods, analysis, and means of dissemination maximize public impact? How can social work researchers lead the academy in engaging community and influencing social policy?

We also continue our focus at this conference on racial and social justice. Of particular interest are submissions that address implicit and explicit bias in social work research, and describe research and research findings that advance racial and social justice for all marginalized populations.

Research abstracts are encouraged in all substantive areas, using scientifically sound qualitative and/or quantitative methodology. The research may take place in any country and at the micro, macro, or policy level. This year’s conference theme is cross-cutting by population, problem and substantive areas, as well as methodological expertise. As a result, we encourage submissions across all Clusters as they pertain explicitly to the impact of social work research in the form of proposals for individual papers and poster presentations, symposia, roundtable discussions, and workshops.

Cluster areas are:

• Adolescent and Youth Development
• Aging Services and Gerontology
• American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Global Indigenous Populations (Indigenous Cluster)
• Asian and Asian-Pacific Islander Focused-Research
• Black and African Diaspora Focused-Research
• Child Welfare
• Communities and Neighborhoods
• Crime and Criminal Justice
• Disability
• Gender
• Health
• Inequality, Poverty, and Social Welfare Policy
• International Social Work and Global Issues
• Immigrants and Refugees
• LatinX Focused-Research
• Mental Health
• Military Service Members, Veterans and Their Families
• Organizations and Management
• Race and Ethnicity
• Research Design and Measurement
• Research on Social Work Education
• School Social Work
• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Social Work Practice
• Substance Misuse and Addictive Behaviors
• Sustainable Development, Environmental and Climate Justice
• Violence against Women and Children
• Work and Work-Life Policies and Programs