Call for abstracts: 9th conference on Decisions, Assessment, Risk and Evidence in Social Work (DARE), Zurich
We are pleased to announce that the 9th biennial conference on Decisions, Assessment, Risk and Evidence in Social Work (DARE) will be held for the second time at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Zurich, Switzerland from Thursday 25 June to Friday 26 June 2026.
The call for abstracts is now open! We invite researchers, scholars, practitioners, and students to submit abstracts for DARE 2026. Abstract submission deadline is 6 February 2026.
Further information and the full call can be found at: https://www.zhaw.ch/dare
We are delighted to confirm the following keynote speakers (titles are provisional)
- Prof. Donald Forrester, Cardiff University, “On rights and wrongs for social work and AI”
- Prof. Karmen Toros, Tallinn University, “Beyond Voice: Participation, Dignity, and Decision-Making in Child Protection”
- Prof. Tonino Esposito, Université de Montréal, “Re-seeding child welfare: A spatial equity framework for building support before crisis”
This biennial DARE conference series brings together researchers, managers, educators, policy makers, regulators and experienced practitioners to share developments on the related topics of: professional judgement, assessment tools and processes, decision processes, risk, evidence in social work, including ethical, emotional, technological and contextual aspects of decision making, assessment, risk and evidence. The conference fosters lively discussion on these topics and aims to be a platform to strengthen networks and launch new research and development of initiatives in social work.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and hope to welcome you to Zurich in 2026! Please feel free to share this call within your networks.