Keynote Speakers

Emancipatory, decolonial Ubuntu-based social work praxis:  Towards eco-social justice
Professor Vishanthie Sewpaul (PhD), an awardee of three honorary doctoral degrees from Chile, Norway and Sweden, is a globally recognized social work and human rights scholar, international speaker and activist.  She held leadership positions at institutional, national, regional and global levels, and visiting professorship positions at numerous international universities. She was nominated as a Lead South African Hero for her contribution to student and community development, and was given institutional, national and international awards for outstanding service. She received a Distinguished Women in Science Award from the Ministry of Science and Technology for her “outstanding contribution to building South Africa’s scientific and research knowledge base.” She chaired the following committees on behalf of the IASSW - Global Standards for SW Education and Training (2004); Global SW Definition (2014) and the Global SW Statement of Ethical Principles (2018). She was Senior Professor at University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa where she remains Emeritus Professor.  She has over 100 academic publications and has recently published her memoir titled, The Arc of Our Paths: Growing into Wholeness. She is currently the World Coordinator for the joint IASSW/ICSW/IFSW Social Work and Social Development Conference to be hosted in Panama from 4-7 April 2024. 

Change Research in Contemporary Entanglements
Ilse Julkunen is a professor of social work at the University of Helsinki and co-leader of the Helsinki Practice Research Centre (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/networks/helsinki-practice-research-centre). Her research concerns vulnerability among young people, transitions, practice research methodology and comparative research. Together with Gillian Ruch she has co-edited Relationship-Based Research in Social Work: Understanding Practice Research and together with Vibeke Bak Nielsen, Petra Malin and Lars Uggerhøj Social Work, Social Welfare and Vulnerability among Youth. Recently, she has contributed with chapters on co-creation with young people and knowledge transition to the Routledge Handbook on Social Work Practice Research and an article titled "Connecting social work research with policy and practice: Issues of people, power and politics" in the inaugural issue of European Social Work Research.

Social Justice in the 21st Century World
Göran Therborn is Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, Affiliated Professor of Sociology at Linnaeus University, Sweden, and Dr hc mult. He has worked on all the five continents and published in 25 languages. His most recent books include: Between Sex and Power. Family in the World, 1900-2000 (2004), The Killing Fields of Inequality (2013), Cities of Power (2017), Kapitalet, överheten och alla vi andra (Capital, the establishment, and all the rest of us, 2018), Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy (2020).