What is new about the Network?
Thank you to our country representatives 2024-2025!
The Board of the Eco-welfare Network would like to warmly thank Sofia Adam, Milena Büchs, Vera Kauppinen, Jayeon Lee, Lia Levin, and Joana Marques for their involvement as country representatives of the network in 2024 und 2025!
These voluneers helped us link our international activities with existing national activities on sustainable welfare and eco-social policy. They disseminated information on eco-social policy from the national to the international level (and vice versa) and answered requests on national questions of sustainable welfare and eco-social policy. The country representatives programme was coordinated by Katharina Bohnenberger.
The Board members express their deep gratitude for the efforts of the country representatives in spreading and connecting research about ecological welfare systems internationally! Thank you!
Thank you to the participants of the 12th Colloquium titled “Local Sustainable Welfare” organized by the Network on 26 March! The slides of the speakers and the recording of the Colloquium are now available (here).
Early-Career Researchers’ Meeting
The date of the next meeting will be announced soon!
Further details on the meeting will be posted also in the Early-Researchers’ page and sent to the Early-Researchers’ mailing list.
The date of the 13th Colloquium of the Sustainable Welfare and Eco-Social Policy Network will be announced soon!
Further details on the event and the zoom link will be posted also in the Colloquium’s page.
Early-Career Researchers’ Book Club
Further details on the meeting will be posted also in the Early-Researchers’ page. Details are also sent to the Early-Researchers’ mailing list.
Sessions at upcoming conferences hosted by the Network
ISEE-Degrowth Conference, Oslo 2025
On behalf of the board, Tuuli Hirvilammi and Katharina Bohnenberger, are organizing a special session with mutiple slots at the upcoming 8th Conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics and 11th International Degrowth Conference in Oslo, 24 – 27 June 2025.
Our special session is called “Sustainable Welfare & Eco-Social Policy” but you will also find relevant presentations on welfare systems and sustainability in other sessions of the conference.
There is a very high level of interest in participating in the conference but quick registrations may still get accepted.
The registration is now OPEN at this link: https://isee-degrowth2025.no/practical-information/register
ESPAnet Europe Conference, Milan 2025
The Sustainable Welfare & Eco-social Policy Network will host Stream 8 titled “Political Economy of Eco-Welfare” at the next Espanet Europe Conference in Milan (27-29 August 2025).
Organizers:
Katharina Zimmermann (University of Hamburg); Benedetta Cotta (University of Padova); Katharina Bohnenberger (German Institute for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (DIFIS)); Robin Schulze Waltrup (University of Bielefeld); Mi Ah Schoyen (Oslo Metropolitan University)
Description
European welfare states have historically served as key agents of economic and social transformation, legitimizing and managing shifts in labor markets, societal structures, and economic growth. In the face of climate change, they find themselves in a paradoxical position: they are both contributors to environmental degradation, due to their reliance on growth-dependent models, and vital actors in managing the social risks intensified by the climate crisis and decarbonization efforts. This tension between historical foundations and contemporary imperatives opens new analytical questions about the political economy of eco-welfare.
This stream aims to investigate how welfare states are embedded in and shaped by broader processes of ecological and economic transformation. Rather than focusing on solutions, it seeks to understand the dynamics at play, including (but not limited to):
– The historical and institutional interplay between welfare systems and growth-oriented economic models
– How welfare states, ideologies, and interests mediate emerging social risks linked to climate change and the green transition
– The ways in which ecological imperatives interact with welfare regimes, potentially reshaping their distributive logics, structures, and political foundations
– The role of welfare states in managing or exacerbating new social cleavages (e.g., eco-social divides) that emerge in the context of climate change and decarbonization
– How shifting public attitudes and political cleavages around environmental and social justice issues influence welfare state policies and legitimacy.
By foregrounding these analytical dimensions, the stream invites contributions that examine how the institutional frameworks, political cleavages, and ideational foundations of welfare states intersect with the systemic imperatives of sustainability and ecological transition.
Submissions can include: cross-national comparative analyses, in-depth case studies, or theoretical explorations that contribute to a deeper understanding of the political economy of eco-welfare. This stream aligns with the conference theme by critically examining whether welfare states are on the verge of a transformative era or remain anchored in traditional paradigms. It situates welfare states at the nexus of long-term structural change and acute crises, providing an analytical lens to explore the forces shaping their evolution in the 21st century.
Abstracts should be between 350 (min) and 500 (max) words and be submitted only to one conference stream.
Abstracts are submitted online. Please do not send abstracts directly to stream convenors.
The call for abstracts is open until 24 April 2025, you can find the link to submit the abstract and other information below, please remember that you need to register on the portal the first time you access it: