Ph.D-course: Making social work research relevant: Stakeholder engagement, research realities and policy influence

Tromsø – 1st – 3rd of April 2025

Course content:

Good research depends on solid project design, including precise research questions and carefully planned strategies for data gathering. But how can we enhance the impact of our research?

In this course, students will be presented with strategies to collaborate with and actively involve different stakeholders in social work research, how challenges in collaborating with service users, practitioners and leadership in social and child welfare services can be anticipated and quickly responded, and how to use research results to influence welfare policy and social work practice. Lectures and groupwork will focus on how

• a collaborative relationship with relevant stakeholders can be established and maintained when building a net of respondents, and when identifying gate keepers to welfare services
• service users can be attracted to participate in social work research
• organizational cultures can affect data collection strategies
• the value of independent research can be balanced with maintaining a good relationship with different stakeholders in the field where the research takes place
• research results can be used to influence welfare policy and practice in social and child welfare services.

Students are encouraged to evaluate critically the contribution of their own research project for the practice field and to reflect on making the results of their research relevant for policy makers.

Link to the entire course description including a link to the timetable and eventually also the syllabus:

https://uit.no/utdanning/emner/emne/859998/svf-8067

Read more about th PhD-course and how to apply at our PhD-courses website