The Sustainable Welfare and Eco-Social Policy Network will hold its first-ever in-person conference in Brussels from 9-11 September 2026.
The event is hosted by the Université libre de Bruxelles and jointly organized by the Network, ULB, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the MERGE project, and the WELRISCC project.
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Since its foundation, the Network has grown into a vibrant voluntary community of researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders exploring the intersections between welfare and sustainability. It has consistently fostered constructive and critical exchanges across disciplines, sectors and countries.
With this conference, we aim to take the next step by bringing the Network together in person for the first time.
The event is designed to provide a space for presenting and discussing research; fostering connections across research fields, disciplines, and regions; facilitating dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners; and launching what we envision as a regular series of in-person gatherings for the community.
Following an open call for applications, we selected contributions that address eco-welfare issues in their broadest sense, spanning their political, social, economic, and epistemic dimensions. The programme combines different types of sessions and formats: scientific panels featuring selected research papers; closed academic sessions proposed by participants; intensive academic sessions based on Korpi’s rule (where each paper is presented by another participant); and policy-oriented panels designed to foster dialogue among academics, practitioners, and policymakers.
The conference will also feature a high-level policy roundtable with EU policymakers, a reception, and ample opportunities to get to know each other and exchange informally through coffee and lunch breaks.
THEMES
- (Un)just Transitions: Justice, redistribution, and intersectionality
- Eco-Social Risks and Vulnerabilities
- The European and Global Governance of Transformation
- The Eco-Social Role of the State: Steering, blocking, or bypassed?
- Eco-Social Conflict and Societal Frictions
- Postgrowth and the Ecologicalization of Welfare
- Policy Integration and Institutional Change: Governing welfare and sustainability together
- From Needs to Institutions: Operationalizing just and sustainable societies
- Revisiting the Positivism Debate Today
- Activism & Academia: Crossing, blurring, or guarding the line
Programme (extended version will soon follow)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Tom Bauler, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, SONYA)
Amandine Crespy, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, IEE)
Bianca Luna Fabris, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)
Aurore Fransolet, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, SONYA)
Tuuli Hirvilammi, Tampere University
Matteo Mandelli, Sciences Po Paris
Tiago Moreira Ramalho, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Sotiria Theodoropoulou, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)
Katharina Zimmermann, University of Hamburg