Building Resilience in Social Work in a Divided Society
8–10 October 2025, Ostrava, Czech Republic
From 8 to 10 October 2025, the Faculty of Social Studies at the University of Ostrava hosted the annual international ERIS Annual Conference 2025. This year's conference, themed “Building Resilience in Social Work in a Divided Society,” brought together more than 80 participants from 15 European and non-European countries to discuss resilience and the societal role of social work in times of growing polarization.
The conference was opened by Assoc. Prof. Petr Kopecký, Rector of the University of Ostrava, and Prof. Soňa Kalenda Vávrová, Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies. The opening plenary session featured inspiring contributions from Prof. Oldřich Chytil and Prof. Jan Keller (University of Ostrava), Prof. Emmanuel Jovelin (Catholic University of Lille, CNAM Paris), and Prof. Detlef Baum (Hochschule Koblenz), who addressed issues of social change, inequality, and value dilemmas in social work.
In the following thematic sessions, participants expanded the discussion on deinstitutionalization and community care, alternative approaches to resilience, artificial intelligence and digitalization in social services, as well as the impacts of disinformation on professional practice. Other significant topics included youth, population ageing, and health-related social work.
Experts from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Thailand, Sweden, and other countries took part in the conference. The interdisciplinary approach and open discussions confirmed that social work plays a vital role in building resilient communities and strengthening solidarity across society in the global context.
The programme also included a social evening and a guided tour of Ostrava's city centre, offering opportunities for informal exchange and networking.
The final day was dedicated to discussions on digitalization in social services and the structural aspects of resilience. The conference reaffirmed that sharing knowledge across cultures is key to developing innovative approaches in social work, and that international cooperation within the ERIS network continues to deliver lasting results in both research and practice.
Updated: 13. 11. 2025
