4:05 p.m.
Hi everybody!
If someone is interested to travel to northern Finland in May, I am organizing a workshop
there about queerness and social work together with doctoral researcher Emilia Brusila.
Welcome to submit abstracts before 15.3.2025! The language of the workshop is both Finnish
and English. It is organized as part of the Social work research days in Rovaniemi
15.-16.5.2025, which gathers together social work researchers, students, and teachers in
Finland. The general conference program will be mainly in Finnish, but also some keynotes
and workshops in English and some workshops in Swedish.
Info about the conference:
https://www.ulapland.fi/FI/Tapahtumia/Sosiaalityon-tutkimuksen-paivat-2025
And our workshop:
Queerness and vulnerability: Norms, rights, and social work possibilities
Workshop leaders:
Emilia Brusila, social work university teacher & PhD researcher, University of Lapland
(emilia.brusila(a)ulapland.fi)
Inka Söderström, social work university teacher, University of Helsinki
(inka.soderstrom(a)helsinki.fi)
Working group language: Finnish, English
The diversity of sexuality, gender, and relationships affects all people, but societal
norms often limit how these identities and relationships are recognized and valued. Norms
around sexuality, gender and relationships can place individuals, families and communities
who differ from these norms in a vulnerable position, with multiple social consequences.
This diversity is often referred to as LGBTQIA+ identities, queerness, or sexual, gender
and relationship minorities. International social work research has identified that
strengthening knowledge and skills to improve the situation of LGBTQIA+ people is a key
issue. Studies have addressed issues such as the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people in social
services, the everyday lives of queer families, the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ youth in
child protection, and the wounding effects of normative mindsets such as hetero-, cis and
mono-normativity. In Finland, research, education and professional debate on these topics
are still limited, which undermines the capacity of social workers to respond to the needs
of queer people and to promote human rights-based work. Without comprehensive research,
the specific service needs of LGBTQIA+ service users and the processes that place them in
vulnerable positions cannot be adequately identified.
In recent years, Finnish LGBTQIA+ social work research has begun to grow, but the need for
knowledge sharing and networking remains significant. This workshop provides a platform
for increasing the visibility of research and practice in the field of LGBTQIA+ social
work. The workshop invites researchers, students, practitioners, NGO actors and
experts-by-experience to share knowledge and discuss the links between queerness and
social work.
The workshop welcomes submissions on topics such as:
* The experiences of LGBTQIA+ service users and professionals in social services
* Norm-critical social work
* Specific issues related to queer families and youth
* The diversity of gender and sexuality in social work education
* Creative approaches to LGBTQIA+ social work
The workshop encourages a variety of forms of participation: presentations of research
results, descriptions of research in progress, contributions from experts-by-experience or
creative presentations such as performances. The presentations can be in Finnish or
English and the discussion will take place in the language of the presentation.
Best regards, Inka Söderström
Inka Söderström
Sosiaalityön yliopisto-opettaja
Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta
Helsingin yliopisto
Inka Söderström
Social work university teacher
Faculty of social sciences
University of Helsinki
inka.soderstrom(a)helsinki.fi