Title: Power, Gender and Participation in the Global History of the Social Work Profession
Start/end of the project: 01. October 2025 – 30. September 2028
Background for the project:
My doctoral project is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions network Co-Construction in Social Welfare (COCOSO), funded by the European Union’s Horizon program (https://cocoso.parisnanterre.fr/). The COCOSO-Network make co-construction a meaningful reality for all stakeholders in the field of social welfare. To archive this, COSOSO brings together 6 universities and 15 partners from the non-governmental and public sectors in Europe. In line with the concept of an industrial doctorate, all 15 PhD students in the COCOSO network spend 50% of their time at university and 50% at a non-governmental or public sector partner. In my case, this means that I will spend 18 months at the University of Innsbruck and 18 months at CFCECAS in Bucharest.
Aim/research question and data collection
My dissertation project examines the co-construction in the development of social work in the field of domestic violence. In doing so, I focus on how various actors, such as service users, professionals, activists, professional associations and policymakers have co-constructed this field together at different levels: the service level, the policy level, the legislative level as well as struggles for recognition and resources. I want to explore this through three case studies, to provide insights into various national and international arenas in which domestic violence was discussed, problematized and addressed: Germany, Romania and within the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW).
The case studies focus on different perspectives and time periods of social work within the field of domestic violence. The German case study focuses at the establishment and professionalization of autonomous women’s shelters in Germany since the late 1970s and explores, how activists, professionals and residents co-constructed these institutions. The Romanian case study looks at the period from 2003-2023 and the introduction of the first laws against domestic violence. It examines, how domestic violence was constructed as a social problem, how it affected social work and which actors were involved. The IFSW case study addresses the international dimension, focusing on the IFSW’s role in policy making, lobbying, networking and influencing legislation within this field.
The data material will be collected through archival work and interviews with different actors. The aim is to capture the different perspectives and incorporate them into the analysis.