2nd Annual Social Work Day

International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry

"All are Welcome"

Social Work Day at the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry is an opportunity for social work researchers to share their research and thinking as well as to learn what other researchers from throughout the world are thinking and doing. An international event, Social Work Day last year attracted scholars from 11 different countries. There were nine concurrent sessions and 33 papers with time for conversations within the sessions and also during the generous breaks and receptions.

Graduate students, new professors, practitioners, and seasoned professors mingled at the great Social Work Day get-together. The networking possibilities are endless. We even had door prizes. All you had to do to win was to throw your name into a hat, literally.

After a day devoted to social work qualitative research, we attended the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry. This conference is another opportunity to share and to learn from scholars from many different disciplines and who live and work in countries throughout the world.

All methods and topics are welcome. Last year, sessions included the intellectual history of qualitative social work research, intervention research, reflexivity, phenomenology, advocacy, the place of theory in qualitative research, grounded theory, deductive qualitative analysis, narrative analysis, photovoice, arts-based research, ethnography, performance studies, and critical discourse analysis and issues of race, gender, sexual identity, and abuse. The only requirement for papers is that they be related to social work and that the authors are clear about the methods they use and the thinking behind their work.

To get a sense of what Social Work Day is like, take at look at the video of Social Work Day 2011. You can link to it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GtiRqLw-8U Michal Krumer-Nevo, as associate professor at Ben Gurion University, was a keynote speaker. Her lecture is on youtube as well. Link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiJpyeWJAC8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKnW7klE5g

If you want to discuss ideas and topics, feel free to contact Jane Gilgun at jgilgun@gmail.com. Jane is the convener of the conference and is a professor, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA. If you have ideas about sessions, initiatives, publicity, fund-raising, or any other relevant topic, please contact Jane. She will let you know if others have similar interests and will hook you up.

Of special note is the cheap rates of staying in University housing—$40 or less. The restaurant food is international and also delicious and cheap, with lots of free food at least four times at receptions and barbeques.

We are looking for sponsors for Social Work Day to help fund graduate students and international scholars to attend. Open up your wallets and show how important qualitative approaches are to social work, social welfare, and social development.