The Organising Committee for the 24th ESPAnet Annual Conference invites expressions of interest from colleagues willing to act as stream convenors.
The streams should be devoted to major fields in Social Policy and key issues/debates on social policy and the welfare state. We also invite streams that focus on innovative topics and on relevant methodological approaches within Social Policy.
We welcome streams that encompass a variety of disciplines (sociology, political science, economics, law, etc..), perspectives and methodological approaches.
Examples of themes include (but not limited to):
- Ageing, Generations and Care;
- Digitalisation and Automation of the Welfare State;
- Eco-social Policies;
- Education;
- Employment and Labour Market Policy;
- European Social Policy;
- Family Policy;
- Gender and Gender Equality;
- Welfare Reform and the Role of Ideas;
- Healthcare;
- Housing Policy;
- Migration, Integration, and Social Citizenship;
- Pensions;
- Poverty and Social Exclusion;
- Politics of Welfare Reform;
- Welfare Attitudes and Preferences;
- Comparative Methodology;
- Causal Approaches in Social Policy.
The deadline for submitting streams is 16th January 2026.
The local organising committee will send out information about accepted proposals by 31st January 2026.
Instruction for Submissions:
- We welcome stream proposals convened by 2-3 researchers, preferably affiliated with different academic institutions across different countries;
- The submission is sent to the email of the Organising Committee espanetlisbon@iseg.ulisboa.pt, with the heading ‘Stream Submission: Title of the Stream’;
- Submissions should be sent in the form of a one-page document (in pdf format), which should include the following items
- Stream Theme – By reference to the list provided above, or an alternative theme;
- Stream Convenor/s, including;
- Name;
- Affiliation;
- Postal Address;
- E-mail.
- Abstract (max 400 words) – A short description of the stream’s theme, including a description of the topics and/or types of papers that would be expected. We encourage descriptions of proposed themes which make explicit links to the theme of the conference and to the overall objectives of ESPAnet.
- Please note that:
- All streams and sessions have to be organised as open streams and sessions. Streams proposed on closed research/interest networks will not be accepted;
- Stream convenors are not allowed to submit abstracts to their proposed stream;
- Depending on the decision of Stream conveners, streams can be organised as to allow for the discussion of individual papers, either by Stream conveners or by session participants.
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;
- Stream convenors participate in the selection of abstracts, ranking all abstracts submitted for their respective stream. The review of abstracts will be done in a timely way after the closure of the Call for Abstracts;
- Final decisions on the number of sessions per stream and the acceptance of abstracts will be made by the Organising Committee;
- In the run-up to the Conference, stream convenors together with the local organisers, supervise the deadlines for paper submission and take action in case deadlines are not met.
At the Conference, Stream convenors chair their respective session(s). To guarantee coherence across sessions, they should provide an introductory presentation on the theme of their stream and how the papers chosen for presentation fit the research in this area. Stream convenors can also consider providing comments to the papers or organising cross-over commenting of papers by participants of the respective stream or session.
If you need further information, feel free to contact us at: espanetlisbon@iseg.ulisboa.pt
We look forward to receiving your Stream proposals!