Board Minutes

ICPR Advisory Board meeting rolling minutes

Minutes ICPR Board meeting 12 June 8am-9.30am CET

Participants: Lars (Chair), Christa, Mike, Ilse, Laura, Maija, Tim, Sidsel, Sara, Martin, Sui-Ting, Bonnie and Ke Cui
Apologies: Bowen, Lynette, Sui-Ting for leaving the meeting early
Absences: Kate
Minutes: Christa

1. Presentation and discussion of Vision Component #2 (Ilse, Sui Ting, Sara, Lars)
Ilse introduced the Vision component #2 paper (circulated prior to the meeting), with a discussion of the process the group followed in the development of the paper. She highlighted challenges in shaping the vision statement, including selection of references and deciding on the style. Sui Ting provided a summary outline of the paper, followed by an open discussion.

The paper was well received as both creative and thought-provoking. We noted the following comments for consideration:

the place of the researcher as part of the creation: on reflexivity and 2nd order cybernetics (Laura)
mention of power relations in collaboration, with a focus on power asymmetry (Maija)
what some statements may mean in practice (Maija - to forward detailed comments)
the uncertainty approach and related to complexity and socially robustness as well as relating relationality to the 'communicative space' (Sidsel)
including citations of core authors on ‘social robustness’
different audiences and to position the document in a way that will draw in practitioners and students interested in practitioner research (Martin, Sara, Bonnie)
how we may make the document readable; use of examples (not necessarily from us, but from practitioner researchers) (Lars)
articulation of the kind of theories we draw from for the benefit of practitioners; operationalization of theories and how the different levels and tenets of theories can be considered in relation to benefit to practice (Tim)
distinction between theory and philosophy and more on the different levels of theory ('explanatory' substantive theories) (Mike)
clarification of theory in the diagram (paradigms, levels of theory, and theoretical tenets) and other relevant theoretical paradigms, but also how that becomes more accessible for practitioners (Mike)
the original notion of theory-informed practice research and practice-informed theory development appears to need more attention given the absence of an updated definition of what we mean by practice research (Mike)
feedback from practitioners on the readability of the document (Ilse)
whether social workers are necessarily better trained to communicate and negotiate differences (Sidsel - to forward more detailed comments).

It was strongly supported to include practitioners in the discussion of a Vision Statement once we have a coherent document (potentially January 2026). Mike and Bowen volunteered to provide a synthesis and brief paper once all three elements have been discussed.

2. New definition of practice research
Mike raised the importance of updating the 2016 practice research definition. After discussion about the best timing for this, it was decided to start a ‘Definition Revision’ group. Mike, Lars and Sidsel indicated interest to join the group. Christa will facilitate a first meeting of the group. Contact Christa asap if you want to join this group. There were also suggestions about translating the definition (Bonnie and Tim).

3. PRC update (Lynette)
Lynette was unable to attend the meeting and it was agreed to postpone this item to the next Board meeting.

4. ICPR connections to other organizations, networks
Lars asked for feedback from board members on whether we want to pursue this item as proposed by Vishantie Sewpaul when she was a member of the board. Mike questioned why and how we want to involve others, as that would guide actions.

Tim reported that he already developed extensive collaboration with international journals for the conference, connections with international social work bodies, and local government bodies. He views the purpose as advancing dialogue with stakeholders for practice research and to increase the impact of what we do beyond publications. It was agreed to add this to the agenda for the September Board meeting to further clarify the purpose for international connections.

5. Singapore conference (Tim)
Tim reported on progress with the conference planning and provided an update on next steps. HE will forward a copy of his presentation.

It was noted that we need to consider the hosts for the next ICPR conference (also the 20-year anniversary of the ICPR), as it must be announced at the conference in July 2026. It was agreed to add this to the agenda for the next Board meeting. Mike suggested for Martin and Sara to get insight into Tim’s budget in advance of the September meeting to inform decisions about the next conference. Lars will also share the budget from the Aalborg conference.

Tim proposed inviting a new Board member from Singapore and it was agreed to add a discussion about Board membership to the next Board meeting, as we need to limit the growth of the Board, but add members as deemed appropriate.

The keynote speaker for 7 July about the ICPR vision and mission will be discussed by Lars, Mike, and Ilse.

6. AOB

Mike presented an update on the revised website and invited feedback. One of the new features is that all the webinars are YouTube linked on the website. Mike highlighted the importance of ongoing funding to pay for the maintenance of the website ($1500-$200 per year). The Board thanked Mike for his ongoing efforts to ensure a much-improved website.

Lars proposed a change to the September Board meeting. It was agreed to move it to 18 September 8-9.30 CET. Lars will update the calendar invitation. Tim offered apologies.

Topics for next meeting:

Component #3
PRC update
ICPR connections with other networks
Next ICPR conference
Board membership

Actions:

Sidsel, Maija and anyone with additional feedback on the Vision document to email Sui Ting
Christa to facilitate a meeting for a revision of the definition of Practice Research. Members to contact Christa if they want to join this group
Lars and Tim to share conference budgets with Martin and Sara
Lars, Mike and Ilse to decide on the keynote speaker for 7 July

Minutes ICPR Board meeting 10 April 2025 8am-9.30am CET
Participants: Bonnie, Mike, Ilse, Laura, Maija, Lynette, Tim, Martin, Ke Cui, Sidsel, Sui-Ting, Bowen, Kate, Sara and Lars
Excused: Christa
Some participants had to leave during the meeting.
Minutes: Lars – with help from Mike

PRCs – structural issues connected to the PRC activities. Differences in the way PRCs are active. PRC descriptions on the website/Lynette (15 minutes)
A new sub-committee has been established focusing on PRC. Members are: Lynette, Maija, Kate, Ke Cui, Bonnie. Christa is contact person from the conveners of the Board.
Please see the attached file from the committee.
All were welcoming this initiative to support the PRCs further.
Lars suggested one instead of two reports from each PRC per year.
The Human Rights and Social Justice PRC was established just after the 2023 conference and has been active since.
A Health Social Work PRC will be proposed.
Six PRCs are expected to participate in Singapore. Tim explained that there will be 90 minutes each morning and 120 minutes each afternoon for three days allocated to PRC meetings/conferences during the conference.

Presentation and discussion of Vision Component #1 Transforming Practice Research. Members of the group are: Christa, Mike, Laura, Tim, Bonnie and Bowen of the vision (30 minutes). Report attached
Mike introduced the Component #1 paper attached to the agenda.
The paper was well received and all praised the group for the hard work and the interesting issues and topic raised in the paper. Together with Mike we noted the following comments/suggestions:

More attention is needed early in the draft to definitions that include transformational, reciprocal, impact, outcome, evidence, and nature of audience (practitioners, researchers, service users)
More attention to referencing the literature
More attention to diversity and inclusion skills needed to promote democratic communications and the important role of negotiated understandings missing in Figure 2
Recognition that practice research can be perceived as either too slow to be timely/relevant (practitioners perception) or too fast (service user perspective complicated by multiple challenges)
While there was interest in our illustrations, some thought that they needed special treatment (appendix or more direct link to Figure 2 and possible digital overlays used in final publication)
Discussion section needed more attention to the connection between practice research and social policy
To what extent could Element #1 include discussion questions about what "has yet to be accomplished when it comes to transforming practice"?
To what extent can the interaction between practice research and social work practice generate both reciprocal and mutual impact?
Is it possible to make the vision shorter – or to have both a short and a more detailed version? This includes all three components and must be discussed after the three components have been discussed.

Board members were asked to send more detailed written feedback no later than end of April. Please send the feedback to Christa: c.fouche@auckland.ac.nz.

During the discussion Mike raised the issue of renewing the practice research definition which was composed in 2016.
Lars suggested to establish a committee in December this year – when the third component of the vision process has been discussed. This could constitute a basis for a new definition. Mike urged that this should be done sooner. The topic will be discussed at the next Board meeting

Proposal for ICPR Advisory Board leadership/Lars and Christa (10 minutes). Two files attached
The Board was satisfied with the plan for the new leadership of the ICPR Board.
Tim informed that the Board meeting at the Singapore conference will take place 10 July at 4 to 5.30pm – just after the keynote.

Special issue from Aalborg conference update/Sui Ting, Bowen, Lars (5 minutes)
All together 13 full articles have been submitted. The co-editors have given small feedback to authors and the articles have been revised and are now ready for the formal review process. According to the agreement with the journal the co-editors have invited two reviewers for each article. Right now, we only miss 2-3 reviewers. We expect this part of the process to be finalized within the next week.
A template with all articles/authors and two reviewers per article will be sent to Bruce who will start the review process. Authors will at the same time be asked to submit the articles to the journal.

The ICPR website /Mike (10 minutes)
Mike has been working hard to revise the website.
He is asking all Board members to check the library to see if publications are included and placed correctly – please do this rather sooner than later.
Here is the link to the website: https://www.icprsw.com/

Singapore conference /Tim (15 minutes)
Please see slides from Tim – will be send to everybody.
Tim asked about the 1st keynote – should this be done by Lars as the chair or by a panel. All comments supported it to be done by a panel.
Tim underlined that plenary speakers should provide a bio and an abstract no later than 15 May.
Sui-Ting suggested a focus on journals. This can be done both as a plenary speech, a session or a ‘Meet the editors’. Tim will consider these possibilities.

AOB
Ralph has been excused from Board work and meetings for quite a while and his email address is now closed. Lars Will talk to Lynette how to handle this.

Next meeting will be 12 June 8-9.30 CET
Topics for next meeting:
• Component #2
• New definition of practice research
• ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
• Singapore conference

Notes from December 5th 2024 ICPR Advisory Board meeting
Notes: Lars

Vision & Mission
Feedback from and discussion of the work in the three ‘component groups’ – each group will send a 1-2 pages summary. Advisory Board members read and prepare one issue/question they find challenging in the reading of the summaries (preferable one question for each of the three summaries). One representative from the three component groups (Maija, Christa and Ilse) will chair the discussions of each component.

Deadline for summaries from component groups: 27 November. (Ilse 30 minutes)
Each component group will present their discussions and writings in detail at the next three AB meetings in:
March 2025 Component 2: Practice Research Promotes Theory-informed Research & Findings-based Theorizing (Theory-informed and theory-generating practice research)
June 2025 Component 3: The Future of PR Methodology in Relationship to Other Research Methodologies (Participatory Action Research) (Methodology- updating definition of practice research with attention to service users and democratization)
September 2025 Component 1: A Future Outcome of PR is Transformed SW Practice
(Transforming the diversity of practice at all levels - micro, mezzo, & macro)

The three component groups presented their work based on the drafts sent to the Board attached to the agenda. Board members praised the work in the different groups and emphasized how important this process is.
Comments were given to all groups mainly suggesting definition of notions, including further theories, underlining the connection between practice knowledge/roles, service user knowledge/roles and researcher knowledge/roles, describing the relation between practice and research, including examples whenever possible and reasonable.
These are just examples of comments. Each group took notes and will include the comments in the future discussions and the next draft.
Ilse raised the issues of ‘What is the product’? What is the aim? What should be included on the website?
Lars suggested the following responses to the questions: The aim and the product is a joint draft paper describing the vision of the community. The paper is divided into three parts (components) and presented in detail for the Board at the following three meeting. Component #1 in March 2025, Component #2 in June 2024 and Component #3 in September. From September to December 2025 the three parts will be combined in one vision paper and uploaded to the website. The joint paper will be presented and discussed during the Singapore conference.
The presentations took much longer than planned, but this was necessary for the process to continue. It did, however, affect the time for the rest of the items on the agenda.

PRC updates and reports (2021-2024)
Reports sent in advance for possible discussion about potential inter-relationships. Short PRC guidelines update /Mike (20 minutes). Deadline for PRC reports: 27 November

Out of seven PRCs five reports were received. One report was excused, and one report wasn’t possible to get as the PRC never really got started.
The existing reports are accessible in the files attached to the agenda. The reports are seen as an update about the PRC work and will in due time appear on the website.
Based on the reports the Board will discuss structural issues connected to the PRC activities and the fact that there are big differences in the way PRCs are active. This discussion will take place at the next Board meeting in March.

Leadership Enhancement Proposal
Final version of ICPR leadership proposal will be sent together with reports from component groups and from PRCs

The Board was informed about the proposal attached to the agenda and that Christa has accepted to co-chair with Lars. Big thanks to Christa. Christa and Lars still need to discuss the division of tasks between them. They will do that before the next meeting.
At the next meeting we will go through the leadership proposal.

Aalborg conference Special Issue update (Bowen 5 minutes)

Bowen informed that 23 abstracts were received and that 16 were invited for a full article. The invited articles will include:
Empirical pieces
Methodology pieces
Theoretical pieces
Discussion pieces
Thought pieces
Commentary pieces
The frame for each article is 5000 words (including reference list).
Deadline for full articles is January 6th 2025.

Website update (Mike 5 minutes)
Unfortunately, Ralph has been through medical crises and resigned from University of Melbourne.
As Ralph was the one responsible for the website it hasn’t been maintained for quite a long time. Mike has been investigating the contracts connected to the website and the possibilities for making a new contract with another webmaster. The website is up and running now, but it needs update.
One big question about the content of the website was raised by Mike: What is going to appear on the website? This will be discussed at the next Board meeting. Mike will present thoughts about this at the meeting.
Christa and Lars will discus if and how notes from Board meetings can appear on the website.

Singapore Conference Update
Preconference Webinars, first announcements, programme etc. (Tim 15 minutes)

Tim presented yet another wonderful slideshow about developments and suggestions connected to the conference – please see the attached slides.
Just to mention a few ideas from Tim: Establishing a conference website that can be passed on to the following conferences. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram platforms will be established and can be used in the future.
The programme and pre/post conference activities are still open for comments and for Board members to join.
If you are interested or have comments, please get in touch with Tim TIMOTHYSIMBW@SUSS.EDU.SG

Any other business
Board meetings in 2025 will be: March, June, September, December. Christa and Lars will invite for the specific dates.

Issue for next ICPR meeting:

Presentation and discussion of Component #1 of the vision
PRCs – structural issues connected to the PRC activities. Differences in the way PRCs are active. PRC descriptions on the website
Proposal for ICPR Advisory Board leadership
The ICPR website – what should appear on the website? ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
Singapore conference

Advisory Board meeting International Community of Practice Research in Social Work
12 September 8am – 9.30am CET 2024
Participants: Christa, Maija, Laura, Sara, Lynette, Ilse, Sidsel, Bonnie, Mike, Tim, Martin, Bowen, Lars
Excused: Sui Ting, Kate, Ke Cui, Ralph
Notes: Lars

Agenda:
• Welcome to Sibonsile Z. Zibane or Bonnie
We all welcomed Bonnie who also presented herself.

• Advisory Board chairing procedures ICPRSW/Lars
The prepared ‘Advisory Board chairing procedures’ document was presented.
Discussion showed that the document is relevant to manage the chairing of the community. Also, good that the connection between hosting a conference and chairing the community has been removed. Instead, the conference planning is taking place in a sub-group where the chair/host of the conference is chairing the sub-group.
It was suggested that the ongoing connection between the Board and the PRCs also is a task for the chair and co-chair – this has been added to the document which is attached.
The new management will start at the December meeting 2024.

• Aalborg statement – second version /Lars
Since last meeting the Statement has been revised including as many of the comments and suggestions from Board members as possible.
The Board found that the Statement is an important document for the community that can also be included in the discussions of the Mission & Vision document. It’s good that we are developing the statements and at the same time still connect them directly to conferences.
Authors will be the three Danish authors, but there will be a clear reference to the Board and our discussions.
The Aalborg Statement is now finalized and ready to be published in the special issue.
The Board is however, still interested in discussing the Statement. Time for a discussion will be included in the December meeting – Lars’ co-author colleagues will be invited to the discussion.

• Update on next conference and Vision & Mission /Tim and Ilse
Singapore conference
Tim started by giving an up-date on the 2026 Singapore conference. The conference is developing well and there is a big support and interest from organizations/social work practice. Tim will reach out to international or regional organizations to become part of the conference – not only as names but to help promoting and developing the conference. Besides informing and promoting the conference on our own website it is necessary to also use LinkedIn and Facebook. Tim will find out if it’s possible for his university or other local partners to develop this and to maintain the website – Ralph is on leave right now and we need someone to do maintenance on the website.
Tim will send out an email requesting Board members to suggest which parts of the conference they are interested in participating in.
Lastly Tim suggested that the Board should be expanded with more members from Asia. This will be discussed at the next Board meeting.
Everybody was impressed by the work already done by Tim.
Mission & Vision
Ilse explained that the Mission &Vision preparing group has discussed the first versions of the paper – with a special focus on the vision. Three component areas have been developed and the document is now ready to be discussed including all members of the Board.
The plan is to establish three or four sub-groups to discuss the vision part. Three groups will discuss the described three components and (probably) a fourth group discussing the definition of practice research. The latter will be included in the vision part later on.
The three components and the definition will be discussed in upcoming Board meetings.
The plan for the discussions could be:

12 September – 1. October: Board members choose which ‘component group’/definition group to join
Between 1 October and 31 October – meeting in component/definition groups
31 October joint meeting where discussions in the groups are presented and discussed
Between 31 October and 5 December – revising the work in component groups
5 December – up-date and discussion on Board meeting
Component 1 will be discussed at the 2025 March meeting
Component 2 will be discussed at 2025 June meeting
Component 3 will be discussed at 2025 September meeting
Definition of Practice research will be discussed at 2025 December meeting

Ilse will send out an email about the continuing work.
Big thanks to Mike for formulating the basic papers for these discussions.

• PRC updates and reports (2021-2024) (Next meeting)
This will be discussed at the next meeting as only two groups had prepared a report.
PLEASE ALL PRCs: PREPARE A REPORT FOR THE NEXT MEETING. DEADLINE 1 NOVEMBER
See below for a suggested content of the report (only 1-2 pages)

• Website updates
Ralph is on leave and won’t be able to work on the website. Tim and Mike will investigate possibilities to take over the work.

• Any other business (5 minutes) – next Board meeting 5 December 2024
The Melbourne special issue was launched 1. September. Congratulation to Lynette – and all of us.

Suggested content of PRC report (max two pages):

Name and aim of PRC
Countries represented
Meeting frequency and processes
Collaboration – e.g. with other PRCs
Outcomes or products
Challenges
Plans and next steps

Deadline for the report 1 November

Items for December meeting:

Practice Research Collaborative (PRC) guidelines update /Mike
I PRC updates and reports (2021-2024)
CPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
New (Asian) members/Tim
Aalborg Statement
Component/definition groups up-date their ongoing work

Notes from 6 June 2024 ICPR Advisory Board meeting
Notes: Lars
Participants: Bowen, Mike, Ilse, Tim, Keke, Maija, Sidsel, Sui Ting, Ilse, Christa, Vishanthie, Laura, Lars
Excused: Lynette, Ralph, Martin, Kate

Agenda

New Board member – Unfortunately Vishanthie is leaving the Board. She is suggesting DR. Sibonsile Z. Zibane University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa as a new member of the Board - please see attached CV for Sibonsile (5 minutes)
The Aalborg statement – Finally, the Aalborg team has a first draft of the Aalborg statement. The draft is attached. We will discuss the draft and the process of the statement /Lars (45 minutes)
ICPR Mission & Vision – The ‘Mission and Vison’ paper is an ongoing process. We will discuss the paper so far – please see attached – and also how this is planned to be discussed at webinars and to be included in the Singapore conference in 2026 /Ilse and Tim (10 minutes)
Special issue from the Aalborg conference – we will present where the call is now – please see the attached call /Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph, Lars (10 minutes)
2026 Singapore Conference update – The planning of the 2026 Singapore conference is in very good hands, and everything is progressing. We will discuss some issues highlighted by Tim – please see the attached version of plans /Tim (10 minutes)
Any other business (10 minutes) – next Board meeting 12 September.
- Items for the September meeting:
  - Advisory Board chairing procedures ICPRSW/Lars
  - ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
  - Practice Research Collaborative (PRC) guidelines update /Mike
  - PRC updates (2021-2024)
  - Website updates /Ralph
  - Any other business (5 minutes) – next Board meeting 5 December

Notes

New Board member – Unfortunately Vishanthie is leaving the Board. She is suggesting DR. Sibonsile Z. Zibane University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa as a new member of the Board - please see attached CV for Sibonsile (5 minutes)
We are all sorry that Vishanthie is leaving the Board, but fully understand and respect the decision. The Board agreed to welcome Sibonsile Z. Zibane as a new member of the Advisory Board. Lars will write a welcoming letter to Sibonsile – or Bonnie – and invite her to participate from the next Board meeting in September. You will all get Bonnies email when I sent these notes.
The Aalborg statement – Finally, the Aalborg team has a first draft of the Aalborg statement. The draft is attached. We will discuss the draft and the process of the statement /Lars (45 minutes)
Based on the first draft of the Aalborg statement – which was attached to the invitation to meeting – there was a round of feedback from the Board.
Lars started the feedback by apologizing that the names of the authors weren’t included in the draft. The authors are: Maja Lundemark Andersen, Kirsten Mejlvig and Lars Uggerhøj. All three members of the research network: ‘Practice Research and Service User Perspectives’ based at Aalborg university and part of the group planning the Aalborg conference. Secondly, he requested Board members to send comments, feedback and suggestions to him to make it easier for the authors to include as much as possible in the statement. The deadline for sending comments and suggestions is Frida 14th of June. The deadline for the statement will be 12 September – the date for the next Board meeting.
It is impossible to report all the interesting comments from Board members in the notes. Below some are mentioned in bullets (I hope you don’t mind, Mike) just to give a picture of the feedback.
The overall feedback was that Board members were very satisfied with the statement. It was described as very clear and including important and relevant presentations/discussions of the human view, ethics, empowerment, power perspectives, narratives and communication.
- Some comments and suggestions to be considered:
- The concept of participation (is there any kind of practice research that isn’t participatory) and impact could be elaborated a little more
- Include the right not to participate
- How have we as researchers positioned ourselves over the years
- Include the description of PRC activities – first time this was an active part of a conference
- Human right perspectives could be included
- The definition and terminology of service users
- Is it necessary to use the notion ‘service user’ – could be elaborated more?
- Do service users always have to participate?
- Who is the audience of the statement – do we need to have a presentation of earlier statements?
- Bullets can be supported by evidence from presentations (especially the themes in the beginning) and categorized – both the conference themes and the future topics at the end. The latter could also be changed into questions
- Emphasize the theory informed practice research
- Combine human view and human land perspectives
- Other perspectives of power (more active) than Foucault
- Could social policy – often left out when discussing practice research – be included

As seen from the suggestions some might connect more to the ‘Vision’ paper than to the statement. This will be taken into consideration when elaborating the draft.

Please send in the written comments to Lars no later than Friday 14th of June.

ICPR Mission & Vision – The ‘Mission and Vison’ paper is an ongoing process. We will discuss the paper so far – please see attached – and also how this is planned to be discussed at webinars and to be included in the Singapore conference in 2026 /Ilse and Tim (10 minutes)
Although heavy influenced by jetlag Tim was able to update the Board on the work with the ‘Vision’ paper. The last version was included as an attached file for this meeting and the group led by Ilse and Tim were very thankful for the work Mike has done on this version. The ‘Vision’ has no deadline yet as it will be based on a process both including webinars and the Singapore conference. Six webinars – two in 2024 and four in 2025 – will be launched soon. Tim will send the dates to everybody. As seen in the plans for the Singapore conference the ‘Vision’ will also be part of the conference in different ways to make it possible for all interested people to be included in the process and the discussions.
Special issue from the Aalborg conference – we will present where the call is now – please see the attached call /Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph, Lars (10 minutes)
There has been some challenges getting the email addresses from the conference because of the European GDPR rules. Lars has however, solved the issue together with the legal department at Aalborg University and it is now possible to send the call to all participants. The deadlines in the call have however, been passed and the special issue group will change the dates and Lars will send the call to the conference participants and the Board. The dates were changed immediately after the meeting and the new call is attached to this email.
2026 Singapore Conference update – The planning of the 2026 Singapore conference is in very good hands, and everything is progressing. We will discuss some issues highlighted by Tim – please see the attached version of plans /Tim (10 minutes)
Please see the update of the 2026 Singapore conference from Tim that was attached to the invitation for the meeting. Tim (still awake) informed that there is a lot of engagement in Singapore concerning the conference both from top politicians, from social work practice and from universities. Tim will reach out to colleagues in the Board who have already been involved in discussions about the 2026 conference or have experienced hosting a conference. As a part of the conference several initiatives are in the pipeline – from establishing groups including service users, practitioners and researchers (maybe including professions outside social work) to establishing sub-groups planning for example the special issue after the conference. We all find the work on the 2026 conference very impressive and promising.

Martin was excused from the meeting because he was commuting to work, but he has written to Lars that due to changes in the higher education funding and a historic underfunding there are no resources to fund an international conference right now. Hopefully the situation will change if – or hopefully rather when – there is a change in government soon. As the 2028/2029 conference is still far away we will wait to discuss the possibility of a conference in York until Martin has changed the government.

Any other business (10 minutes) – next Board meeting 12 September.
Possible items for the September meeting:
Advisory Board chairing procedures ICPRSW/Lars
ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
Practice Research Collaborative (PRC) guidelines update /Mike
PRC updates (2021-2024)
Website updates /Ralph
Any other business (5 minutes) – next Board meeting 5 December

Lynette who unfortunately had to participate in a meeting today has informed that the special edition from the Melbourne conference is finished and will be online from the middle of June. Lynette will inform the authors once she gets the final notification.

Minutes from ICPR Board meeting March 7th 2024
Participants: Sidsel, Sara, Maija, Ilse, Vishanthie, Lynette, Christa, Sui Ting, Mike, Tim, Lars
Apologies: keke, Kate, Martin, Ralph, Bowen, Laura
Notes: Lars

Future conference plans (2026 and 2028) – Feedback from conference committee /Tim, Mike, Sara, Bowen, Martin and Lars (20 minutes)
Tim presented the plans for the 2026 Singapore ICPR conference and it was immediately characterized as super impressive.
Tim posed the following questions to be discussed at the meeting
- a. Which of the proposed conference theme seems most promising to you?
- b. Can you recommend possible keynote speakers?
- c. What is your concern about the five conference formats?
Responses were: Nice to use the knowledge and experience of veterans, but new members of the Board, representatives from different regions of the world and early career researchers should also be included as key-notes.
First and second suggested conference themes seem very nice:

Promoting (inclusion and) change through sustainable social work practice research across sectors and contexts
Practice Research without Frontiers: Collaboration among Service Users, Practitioners and Academics

The second theme could also be: Practice Research Cross Boarders: Collaboration among Service Users, Practitioners and Academics
It is very good to start the discussion about the statement during the conference and as a part of the conference. Likewise, it is very good to start the discussion about special issue already during the conference and even inviting editors for the conference.
It would be nice to have the CPR workshops/seminars as a pre – instead of post – conference.
Tim will use the feedback and continue the work – and report at the June Advisory Board meeting.
Martin has emailed Lars the discussions are in progress about hosting the conference after next at York (2028). He cannot confirm anything yet, but he will let us know as soon as he has some news.

Special issues – feedback from special issue committee /Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph, Lars (15 minutes)
Several possibilities have been discussed and especially ‘International Journal of Social Work’ (IJSW) and Research on Social Work Practice’ (RSWP). The negotiation with IJSW have not been successful although several attempts have been tried. Bruce and RSWP is still interested in producing a special issue from the conference and he is opening up to also include some none-date based articles – could be from PRC’s.
The ’Special Issues group’ will meet and discuss the possibilities – probably using the already made call to invite authors to send an abstract (instead of having an open call). Authors could be found by looking through the presentations at the Aalborg conference. Also PRC’s can be approached and invited.

The Aalborg statement /Lars (10 minutes)
The work on the Aalborg Statement has started and is expected to have a first draft within the next month. The first draft – and mainly focusing on the Aalborg conference topic and hence, service user involvement I practice research – will be done by the Aalborg team. The draft will be send to Advisory Board members for comments. As the plan is to include a small summary of earlier statements it is relevant to include the paper focusing on statement highlights written by Mike. The Aalborg team will write with Mike about this.
It was suggested that the statement should have a specific view on what service user involvement in practice research mean, what are the methodologies, what kind of skills are needed to include or be included, what are the challenges and what does negotiation mean when talking about negotiations between service user and researchers/practitioners.

Visions and Goals in ICPR – feedback from committee /Ilse and Tim (30 minutes)
Two meetings have been hosted by Ilse and Tim in between Board meetings and the following statement was produced as a first step towards a vision:
‘ICPR promotes inclusion, social justice and change through sustaining social work practice research across sectors and contexts to promote excellent human and social services via collaboration among stakeholders’.
Besides the minutes from the meetings, the statement and some explanations from Tim and Ilse another paper characterized as super impressive was included: Mikes paper ‘Selected Themes from Previous ICPR Conference Statements: A Foundation for Future ICPR Vision Statements’. Especially two notions were presented by Mike during the meeting: Mission and vision. The two notions were defined as: Mission – the presence ‘what we are doing right now’, Vision – the future ‘what we aim for. The latter can be more provocative, creative and maybe even unreachable. Mike is suggestion the vision to have a perspective of ten years – going from 2024 to 2034.
This paper is very helpful and Ilse and Tim will include it in upcoming meetings in the group. Will also be on the agenda for the June meeting.
Tim has sent Mike paper to Advisory Board members after the meeting.
Service user focus at the Aalborg conference – how many presentations focused on service user participation/involvement /Lars (5 minutes) – Please see the very simple statistic from the Aalborg conference. Out of 127 presentations (key-notes, oral presentations, workshops, symposiums and posters) 46 included ‘service user participation’ in the title.
This could be the ones the special issue group look into when discussing who to invite for an abstract.
Any other business (10 minutes) – next Board meeting will be 6 June same time. You should have got the invitation earlier. Invitations for 6 June, 12 September and 5 December have already been send to all.
Mike wanted to raise the issue of what is expected from Advisory Board members. The discussion will probably continue, but besides expecting members to participate in meetings and sub-groups it is also expected that members can be asked to comment papers in between meetings. That would also leave more room for items on the agenda for meetings. In the future it will be noted in emails or agendas if members are expected to give feedback/comment papers in between the Board meetings.
The good thing to know is that members who didn’t participate at the meeting all had to work on others tasks and hence, not ‘just staying away’.

We ended the meeting by celebrating the last three published chapters/articles including members from the Board. Some wanted to celebrate with wine, others with coffee – hopefully depending on local time. Congratulation to all authors.

New publications:
Sim, T. and Fook, J. (2024). ‘Practice Research and Transformative Social Work – Evolving Concepts and Social Impact’ in Fook, J. and Jatlow, D. Transformative Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press

Julkunen, I., Joubert, L., Fouché, C., Webber, M., Short, M., Whitaker, L., & Metteri, A. (2024). Practice Research Partnerships in Social Work: Addressing Impact and Credible Evidence. Research on Social Work Practice

Austin, M. J., McBeath, B., Xu, B., Muurinen, H., Natland, S., & Roose, R. (2024). Organizational Supports for Practice Research: Illustrations from an International Practice Research Collaborative. Research on Social Work Practice

Items for the June meeting – some might be handled before the meeting

Advisory Board chairing procedures ICPRSW/Lars
ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc. /Vishanthie
Practice Research Collaborative (PRC) guidelines update /Mike
PRC updates
Website updates /Ralph – website in other languages (Chinese, Spanish etc.)?
Future conference plans (2026 and 2028)/ Tim, Martin
Mission and Vision /Tim and Ilse
Special issue /Sui Ting, Ralph, Bowen, Lars
Aalborg Statement /Lars

Agenda ICPR Advisory Board meeting 7 December 2023

Excused were Kate, Ralph, Martin and Sui Ting.

Notes: Lars

Conference 2025/2026 location and gap between conferences /Lars 8.00-8.10

Should we form a committee to work on this?

Tim informed that the Singapore team had a successful conference re-presenting sessions from the Aalborg conference and with more than 100 participants. Also participating was the CEO from the ‘Singapore Association of Social Workers’. There is a possibility for the organization – together with ‘Singapore University of Social Sciences’ and National University of Singapore’ – to host the Practice research conference in the future. 2025 is probably too close, but 2026 could be possible. Also, mainland China was mentioned as venue for the conference in the future. From earlier discussions we also know that UK, Italy and US are possible venues.

A committee to discuss the possibilities was established. Members are: Tim, Sara, Martin, Mike/Bowen and Lars. Lars will invite for an online meeting.

Special issue(s) from Aalborg conference /Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph, Lars 8.10-8.15

The special issue committee – Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph, Lars – have had meetings with ‘Research on Social Work Practice’ and ‘International Journal of Social Work’. Calls for both have been drafted.

The plan is to have the statement + a number of more data based articles connected closely to the conference in ‘Research on Social Work Practice’ and a number of articles connected to the conference themes – but not only – for the ‘International Journal of Social Work’. The agreements with the journals are expected to be made very early in the new year.

There are some worries about the slow process and the possibility of receiving enough abstracts. It was decided that the calls should be out no later than at the end of January.

Tim informed that there will also be a special issue of the ‘Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and development’ based on presentations from the Aalborg conference.

The Aalborg Statement /Lars 8.15-8.20

The Aalborg team will meet soon to work on the statement. A first draft is expected early in 2024.

Goals for ICPR – Introduction from working group /Ilse and Tim 8.20-8.35

A meeting focusing on visions and goals for the community was held December 5th. Several relevant issues concerning the community were discussed. Some issues will be delt with in other groups and it was decided to keep the focus in this group/committee on goals and visions. Some interesting thoughts have already been discussed during the meeting. Tim and Ilse – heading the group – suggested to write a ‘vision paper’ as an important beginning of discussing future goals.

It was decided that Tim and Ilse will present 1-2 pages vision paper at the next Board meeting.

Advisory Board structure /Lars 8.35-8.50

How can all Board members be active in ICPR issues? Do we need a vice-chair? Do we need to change the time for chairing the Board?

The use of sub-groups and/or committees to discuss specific issues or to prepare issues for discussions at Board meeting has already started. This was made possible when the number of Board members were more than doubled. This format will continue. Groups could send out papers about their work before Board meetings as a preparation for all Board members.

It was decided that Lars presents a plan for chairing the Board – including possible co-chair, the connection to the conferences concerning the chair, the time for chairing etc.. The plan will be presented at the next Board meeting.

Service users and practitioners and ICPR – Introduction /Sidsel 8.50-9.05

Sidsel shortly introduced the issues of including service users/experts by experience and practitioners more in the community and the Board.

Both groups are already involved in some activities: Kate is a practitioner and on the Board and several service users/experts by experience are included in the ‘Collaboration & Co-creation with Service Users’ collaborative. But naturally the community is open for more people to join. The important things isn’t if people are service users, practitioners or researchers, but that they are interested in developing practice research. And hence, the most important thing might not be Board membership, but participation in the work in collaboratives or other activities.

Lars Will check how many presentations – at the Aalborg conference – focused on service user participation/involvement. The statistic will be presented at the next Board meeting.

ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc. – Introduction /Vishanthie and Sui Ting 9.05-9.15

Please all think about interesting network, organizations we could connect including how and why

Several relevant and interesting organizations were mentioned:

Power us (Cecilia Heule)

Housing first (Marcus Knutagård)

Global Social Service Workforce Alliance

IFSW

IASSW

It is important to connect to relevant organizations – meaning that the connection should be able to strengthen both our work and their work and that they are interested in practice research. But we also need to know how we will use the connection/collaboration.

Vishanthie will do a one page presentation on this issue for the next Board meeting. If anybody would like to help Vishanthie it would be wonderful.

Feedback from Website Working Group /Ralph 9.15-9.20

As Ralph wasn’t able to participate the feedback will be postponed to the next meeting

Practice Research Collaborative (PRC) applications reviews, guidelines update and contact persons /Mike 9.20-9.30

How do we assess applications from colleagues who want to establish a new PRC

We have had the first application to establish a new collaborative focusing on human rights and social justice perspectives. Mike has assessed, responded to and advised the applicants.

Mike will go through the collaborative guidelines and procedures and present at the next meeting.

Any other Business

2024 meetings: 7 March, 6 June, 10 September, 5 December. Lars will invite for the meeting. There were different opinions on the length of meeting. We will keep the 1½ hour meetings.

Issues to be discussed at next meetings – besides the ones already mentioned in the notes above:

Oxford Bibliography ‘Practice Research’ update

The life of ‘Practice Research Collaboratives’

Notes from Advisory Board meeting 21 September 2023 in ‘International Community of Practice Research’
Participants: Kate, Ilse, Sui Ting, Mike, Ralph, Tim, Sidsel, Christa, Martin, Vishanthie, Sara, Maija (shortly)
Excused: Lynette, Keke, Laura, Bowen
Notes: Lars

Agenda

1. Conference 2026 location
Vishanthie has confirmed that it is not safe to organize the next conference in South Africa.
Mike and Bowen have explored the possibility of a US West coast location
Sara is interested to explore the possibility of the next Conference in Italy
Vishanthie explained that it isn’t safe and possible to host the conference in South Africa at the moment.
Mike told that a shift in management in both Berkeley and Portland made it impossible to plan for any conference at the moment.
Sara confirmed that Italy could be interested in hosting a conference – probably in a collaboration between universities in Padova and Trento. They would however prefer if it wouldn’t be the next conference, but a future conference.
It was suggested to have the conference outside Europe as this years conference was in Europe.
Tim suggested to explore possibilities in Israel – both Hebrew and Haifa Universities could be possible hosting venues.
It was decided that Tim should explore the possibilities through his contacts together with Ralph – and also get in touch with Ricky who was part of the practice Research community earlier. As part of the exploration two issue should be discussed with colleagues at the universities: If they are interested in and have some basic knowledge/experience in/about practice research? How about the political issues and tensions inside and around Israel?
If not before Tim and Ralph will inform at the next Advisory Board meeting.
The question of the gaps between conference (two or three years) was also raised. This will be discussed at the next Board meeting.

8. Special issue(s)
Sui Ting, Bowen, Ralph and Lars will present discussions from a meeting last week
Sui Ting referred to the meeting between Her, Ralph, Bowen and Lars last week where the special issue was discussed. It has been decided to explore ‘International Social Work’ journal as it has the possibility to include several articles – both the statement, articles from collaboratives and articles from presenters at the Aalborg conference. And it is connected to International Federation of Social Workers. This is still in process. There is still the invitation from Bruce Thyer and ‘Research on Social Work Practice’ journal. As the journal is focusing on outcome and less on methodological issues it is necessary to also look for other journals. Mike suggested more than one special issue could be a solution. The group will ‘keep all doors open’ until they have reached a solution. The group will inform the Board when a solution has been reached. It was suggested to focus the special issue specifically towards collaboration with and inclusion of service users in research. Lars will scan the conference presentations to see how many presenters focused on this issue.
Tim informed that the National University of Singapore group of participants from the Aalborg conference will meet 1 December and present papers from the conference. They are also discussing with Bruce Thyer to have a ‘special Singapore issue’.
Martin informed that the Melbourne conference special issue was in the last part of reviews and getting much closer to launch.

8. Goals for the ICPR - short, mid and long term?
Tim will introduce.
During the meeting with new Board members Tim raised the question of ICPR goals and vision. It was agreed that this is an interesting issue to be discussed at the Advisory Board meetings – and can help to strengthen the possibility to see what the community is all about at the website. Including in the discussion will be a new definition of practice research.
To qualify the discussion a smaller (although growing bigger) group – Tim, Ilse, Kate, Sara, Sidsel, Lynette and Sui Ting – will prepare a frame and maybe presentation for the next Board meeting.

4. Service users and practitioners and ICPR
Sidsel will introduce
We didn’t have time to discuss this. It will be discussed at the next Board meeting – and also introduced by Sidsel.

5. Collaboratives
A new collaborative is suggested – please see attached
We found it interesting and inspiring that new collaboratives were suggested. The tittle of the collaborative ‘International Social Work’ could some how be misleading or could make the other collaboratives look misleading. All collaboratives are international and connected to social work.
It was decided that Mike and Ralph connect with the two colleagues who suggested the collaborative and discuss how to focus the collaborative even more.
Lars Will email the proposers that Mike and Ralph will get in touch. And also send their email addresses to Mike and Ralph.

6. ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc.
Ideas/suggestions from Sui Ting and Vishanthie
Just like item 4 we didn’t have time to discuss this. It will also be discussed at the next Board meeting – and introduced by Vishanthie and Sui Ting.

7. Website
Ralph will present ideas for a Working group. Feedback and new ideas for the website.
Ralphs suggestion of starting a Working Group was supported and emphasized as this could lead to a more active website and become more interesting for students. The group will include promotion of the website part of their work.
Working Group members are Ralph, Kate, Maija, Lynette and Sui Ting

8. Any other business
Next meeting: Thursday 7 December 8am-9.30am CET. Lars has invited for a Teams meeting

Items for next meeting:
Conference 2025/2026 location
Gap between conferences
Special issue from Aalborg conference
Goals for ICPR – introduction from working group
Service users and practitioners and ICPR – Introduction from Sidsel
ICPR connections to other organizations, network etc. – introduction by Vishanthie and Sui Ting
Feedback from Website Working Group
Any other business

Advisory Board meeting June 9th 1pm to 3pm CET

Participating in person: Sidsel Natland, Maija Jäppinen, Vishanthie Sewpaul, Kate Thompson, Sui-Ting Kong, Laura Yliruka, Ilse Julkunen, Lynette Joubert, Christa Fouche, Bowen McBeath, Martin Webber, Ralph Hampson, Timothy Sim, Lars Uggerhøj

Participation online: Sara Serbati, Ke Cui, Mike Austin

Excused: Martine Ganzevles

Unfortunately the online connection didn’t work very well making it difficult or impossible for Sara, Ke Cui and Mike to participate.

Chair and minutes: Lars Uggerhøj

Minutes:

Welcome to and presentation of Board members

Lars made a warm welcome to all new members. Unfortunately Sui-Ting wasn’t included correctly in the list of new Advisory Board members and Christa wasn’t correctly nominated. The Board confirmed both as members of the Advisory Board.

The Board is now consisting of: (New members) Sidsel Natland, Maija Jäppinen, Martine Ganzevles, Vishanthie Sewpaul, Sara Serbati, Ke Cui, Kate Thompson, Sui-Ting Kong, Christa Fouche, Bowen McBeath, Ralph Hampson and (Original members) Laura Yliruka, Ilse Julkunen, Lynette Joubert, Mike Austin, Timothy Sim, Martin Webber, Lars Uggerhøj

Martine Ganzevles is on sick leave and will enter the Board when she is back.

Ralph will ask all Board members to send a picture and a short bio to be published on the website.

The Board will meet 4 times per year in June, Sept, Dec and March for 1.5 hours (via Teams). There may be working parties formed to undertake work between these formal meetings.

A meeting for new Board members will be arranged by Ilse and Tim to explain more about the work and possible tasks for Board members.

The website which has been developed will be the communication channel that will be used to communicate with our community between conferences.

Feedback on the conference and preliminary ideas and thoughts for future conferences

There was agreement among Board members that the conference had been very successful and the venue, food and atmosphere had been excellent.

The PRC conferences worked well. And ½ day was very good. Good to be in the same building. Very smooth and well organized. Very friendly. Students were very helpful.

The theme was clear and made it a very interesting conference. The theme could be continued in the PRCs and included in webinars.

It was discussed why participants had to pay separately for joining the PRC conferences. If not charging more people might participate in the PRC. The details of how to include PRCs and the registration in future conferences will be discussed with the local conference committee.

Practice research collaboratives – existing and new. Feedback from seminars

As described the Practice Research Collaboratives (PRC) were well received at the conference – more than half of the participants participated in the seminars. The focus on the PRC activities between the conferences will continue – also the possibility of establishing new collaboratives. All participants will receive a mail from Lars inviting to join PRCs and/or to suggest new PRCs.

The Board agreed that the PRCs should be an integral part of the Conference Programs moving forward. The inclusion of PRCs in future conferences will be negotiated with the local Conference Organising Committee.

Aalborg Statement – plans and process

The Aalborg team will make a first draft and discuss with the Board

Special issue including Aalborg Statement and articles (could be from PRCs and/or based on conference presentations)

It has been arranged with Bruce Thyer that ‘Research on Social Work Practice’ journal will produce a special issue from the conference.

As the Board expects several participants to be interested in publishing articles based on presentations from the conference and as some probably won’t fulfill the requirements of the journal it was decided to investigate more possibilities.

Bowen, Sui Ting and Ralph is the editorial group – both to suggest possible journals and to do the editorial work.

Lars will send the agreement with Bruce, the call Lars has produced (but not send out) and other invitations for special issues received before the conference.

Update on and possible improvements of the ICPRSW website /Ralph

The website is being developed ongoing. The history section has just been launched and CV and bios of all Advisory Board members will be added soon

Further thinking/planning about the 2026 conference site

Lars opened the discussion of which country will sponsor the Conference in 2023. Both South Africa (Vishanthie Sewpaul) and the USA (Bowen McBeath) were discussed as possible options.

After discussion about the pros and cons of each possible venue the Advisory Board invited Vishanthie and Bowen to investigate issues for hosting the next conference and outline the possibilities for each option.

Decision to me made at the September Advisory Board Meeting.

Allocation of tasks between Advisory Board members

This will be discussed at the next meeting – after the introduction meeting with Ilse and Tim.

Items for the September Advisory Board meeting

ICPR Conference 2026

Tasks for Advisory Board members

PRC activities

Special issue(s) based on conference presentations, PRC work etc.

Website

Any other business

Next meeting will take place: September 21st from 8am to 9.30 CET

A nice picture of in person Board members was taken.

Notes from Advisory Board meeting March 16th 2023:

Participants: Ilse, Laura, Lynette, Mike, Martin and Lars

Excused: Tim

Notes: Lars

Aalborg conference update
Lars gave a small update on the conference.
Approximately 170 people registered for the conference with approximately 150 presentations. 200 people are expected to register.
There will be a panel discussion instead of a session on Thursday afternoon. The focus will be different ways that practice research is supported/funded.
There will be no Friday afternoon session. Instead the closing ceremony will be Friday before lunch.
This makes room for a Advisory Board meeting after lunch at 1pm.
Review of Advisory Board Nominations – please see attached file made by Mike
Date for start of new members – before or at the June conference?
Onboarding and informing new Board Members (meetings, website components, organizational goals, evolution of practice research conference statements, components of new library, practice research collaboratives, etc.) co-chaired by previous international conference chairs (Tim & Ilse?) together with Lars
Thank you, Mike for all the work. We have in all 10 nominations. As we already have decided that the Advisory Board could be around 15 people, as we think that the nominated colleagues cover both experienced and young career colleagues we decided to accept all the nominated colleagues. We will still be open to include members from missing regions – Latin America and India were mentioned.
Advisory Board members will be appointed for four years – with the possibility to continue.
Lars, Ilse and Tim will have an online meeting with the new members before the Aalborg conference. At the conference we will have an Advisory Board meeting Friday afternoon to meet in person.
Lars Will write and invite people for the Advisory Board. They will all start their membership of the Board on June 9th
Review of Honorary Board Nominations – please see attached file made by Mike
Again thank you Mike for the suggestions.
We accepted all nominated colleagues and added Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski suggested by Finish colleagues and Ceci (Cecilia L.W.) Chan. Lars will check with Tim.
Lars will write all Honorary members a letter about the decision.
Online Board Meetings for 2023-2024 – September, December, March, June?
Confirmed by the Board.
Identifying volunteering preferences for advisory board (conference planning, library updating, practice research collaboratives, etc)
This will be discussed with new Board members during the in person meeting on Friday June 9th at the conference.
Post-Aalborg discussions and publications
Crafting the Aalborg Statement on Practice Research including lessons learned from the Aalborg Conference
Identifying Special Issue editors (2-3) for selected/invited conference papers
We will make an open call for a special issue. The special issue will include the Aalborg Statement and articles from both collaboratives and participants presenting at the conference.
The Aalborg team will work together with Mike, Lynette and Martin on both the statement and the special issue.
The Aalborg team will draft a call for the special issue.
The first draft of the statement will be produced by the Aalborg team and discussed with Mike, Lynette and Martin. When a first version has been made it will be discussed with the Advisory Board.
Identification of multiple relevant journals related to practice and research (European, Asian/Pacific and USA)
Lars has made an appointment with Bruce Thyer to produce a special issue for the ‘Research on Social Work Practice’.
The size of the special issue will be 220 pages of typeset article pages. If have too many accepted they can published in a later issue.
As far as we know the number of typeset pages can cover 7-8 full articles.
Update on editorial intro and collaborative articles for the Melbourne special issue
Lynette informed about the progress of the special issue – please see attached overview made by Lynette.
Round of experiences from PRC’s – including information about collaborative seminars at the conference
We had a short round of feedback from the collaboratives and especially the plans for the conference seminars.
Any other business
We confirmed the next Advisory Board meeting to take place during the Aalborg conference from 1pm to 4pm on Friday June 9th
Martin informed that UK is still interested in hosting a future conference, but not the one in 2026.
Lars has been talking to Vishanthie Sewpaul about the possibility of South Africa hosting the conference in 2026 and she has given a positive response to this. This is supported by the Advisory Board, but it is important to make sure that the conference will take place in safe environments – Pretoria and Cape Town were mentioned as possibilities. Lars will talk to Vishanthie about this.

Minutes Advisory Board meeting November 15th 2022:

Participants: Laura, Lynette, Mike, Tim, Martin and Lars. Excused: Ilse. Minutes: Lars

Update on and discussion of content of Melbourne statement
The Statement article has now been fully proofed. There will be a pre-release online and officially launched by March 2023.
There was high praise to the statement/article – both the focus on local projects and to keeping the history of the community as an ongoing part of the statement.

We also discussed the up-coming Aalborg statement and it was underlined how important it is to keep the history and development within each statement. The topic of service user involvement in practice research at the Aalborg conference is very timely and fits well with the ongoing development of practice research and with the continuity that is clear when looking at the different statements.
Besides being the main topic at the Aalborg conference and hence, an overarching topic in many presentations it was suggested that Lars in the opening of the conference underlines why the topic of service users in research is relevant and that we are not looking for specific answers on how to do this, but rather to open inspiring discussions on both possibilities and challenges when researchers, service users and practitioners are collaborating in research.
Update on editorial intro and collaborative articles for the special issue
Deadline for the special issue articles is January 31st. Besides the article authors need to suggest two reviewers for each article. We have in all 120 pages making room for six articles of 20 pages each (one page = 250 words. One article approximately 5000 words). Articles are to be submitted to Lynette and Martin.
Mikes, Lynette’s and Lars’ PRC are expected to submit an article. We hope Grams and Laura’s will too – but Laura isn’t sure.
We hope that each collaborative will be able to submit an article, but also that there could be room for articles from Asia – especially Singapore – about their special approach to practice research. Tim and Lars will get in touch with colleagues in Singapore about this. Lars will write Ros at NUS and connect to Tim. Tim has an already finish paper that could go into the special issue, if NUS isn’t ready yet and/or if there is room for one more article.
Aalborg conference
188 abstracts were received – including between 250 and 300 authors. All abstracts are being reviewed now. Deadline for review is November 23rd. Authors will be noticed by December 1st which will also be the date the registration opens.
At December 1st the PRC programmes for PRC seminars at the conference will be launched. The conference committee needs programmes from each collaborative no later than November 29th. Programmes will be put on the website making it possible for people registering for the conference to also register for the PRC seminars.
Round of experiences from PRC’s – including information about collaborative seminars at the conference
We had too many things on the agenda – and also 2-3 people needed to leave a little earlier – and we need time to have this feedback from PRC’s. This will be part of the agenda for next meeting – both a description of experiences from PRC’s and a presentation/discussion of plans for the conference seminars.

Tim suggested establishing a new collaborative with a focus on work with couples and families/children also including multiple cultural, race, gender, sexuality, minority, cultural competence and diversity issues. Everybody found the topic relevant and suggested the group to be presented by Tim at the Aalborg conference.
Lars will make sure that there is room for announcing and presenting the PRC at the conference.
Cheers to the new website
There was also high praise to Lynette and Ralph for finalizing and launching the website. It is really helpful for both already involved colleagues and for people who would like to know more about the community, PRC’s and conferences.
Post Aalborg activities
Martin informed that there is limited capacity at York to host the conference in 26. Also, Martin mentioned that it would be good not to have two conferences in Europe in line – and that it is probably good to have more options and maybe always the next two conferences decided.
Two new suggestions for the 26 conference came up: South Africa – could be University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, or University of Pretoria – and Hebrew University in Israel.

It was decided that Lars asks Vishanthie Sewpaul, who will be keynote at the Aalborg conference, if she and/or colleagues could be hosting the 26 conference. If not, Hebrew University could be asked. Martin would prefer York to host the conference after South Africa or Israel.
Next meeting and issues we would like to discuss at future ICPR meetingsThe next meeting will take place in March 2023 and the main issue of the agenda will be PRC experiences and their plans for the Alborg conference seminars.
Any other business
No other business

Agenda ICPR meeting Thursday September 8th 2022

Participating: Lynette, Laura, Martin, Mike and Lars

Excused: Ilse and Tim

Notes: Lars

ICPR Conference 2023 update (Abstracts, Reviewers, PRC deadline etc.)

Few abstracts so far – 15 by now. But several are on the way. 30 reviewers are registered. About 15-20 more are needed. If you haven’t accepted the invitation as reviewer please use this link to register or maybe ask some colleagues: https://forms.office.com/r/C5j70CpwPM

Please also spread the reminder about the ‘Call for Paper’ deadline you received the other day. Deadline is next week on Thursday 15h. If you need the link to the website, this is it: https://www.en.soc.aau.dk/research/conferences/practice-research-2023/

Deadline for PRC’s to send in abstract/plans for the PRC seminars Tuesday 7th of June at the conference is November 1st 2022. Seminars will start at 9am and end at 12noon. Lunch will be from 12noon to 1pm.

Mike reminded us that the International Community of Practice Research can celebrate it’s 15th anniversary during the conference – we will do that. Somebody mentioned bubbles.

Website – expected to go live September 1st

The website will not go live as expected by September 1st . Lauren is traveling round Europe and is not able to finalize the website now. She won’t be back until end of October which will probably extend the launch of the deadline until middle of November. As the website is important for the ICPR and very important for the Aalborg conference Lynette will check out if there are other possibilities to speed up the process and to finalize the website sooner.

Melbourne Statement update

Statement

The statement still needs some amendments – especially from Singapore colleagues. Lars will talk to Singapore colleagues while still being in Singapore. When this has been done a draft will be send to the advisory board.

Special issue

The statement and articles about the collaboratives will be published in a special issue of ‘Research on Social Work Practice’. The special issue will be 130 pages and include: Editorial, Statement and one article from each of the collaboratives. Deadline for contributions is November.

Each collaborative will write an article – especially explaining the aims of the PCR, and include examples of central discussions within the PCR during the last year. Each article must include suggestion for two reviewers.

It is important to underline in the editorial that all PRC’s are work in progress which also will be distinct in the articles.

As Bruce Thyer not only editor of ‘Research on Social Work Practice’, but also co-editor of ‘Child and Adolescent Social Work’ Journal and the Journal of ‘Evidence-based Social Work’ and one should be without maximum size of articles it was suggested by Mike to investigate if we could change to the journal with no maximum as 130 pages all in all could be to little to include all articles.

Organizational issues – is there anything we need to decide on?

Right now nothing needs to be decided. Decisions and descriptions of what has already been decided about the organization/structure, PRC guide etc. will be placed at the website as soon as it is ready which also underlines the necessity of launching the website as soon as possible.

PRC activities – a round of sharing experiences from the five PRC’s

We talked a little about this, but decided to have a round focusing on PRC plans for the conference next year at the next meeting in the advisory board.

Next meeting

Lars will make a doodle

Provincial agenda for next meeting:

Conference 2023

Post Aalborg activities

Website

Discussion of Melbourne Statement – not to draft but to discuss the content of the statement

Round of experiences from PRC – specific focus on plans for the Aalborg conference.

Any other business

No other businesses – except that we missed Ilse and Tim

International Conference on Practice Research 7 July 2022 via ZOOM

Present

Lars Uggerhøj lug@socsci.aau.dk (Chair)

Michael J Austin mjaustin@berkeley.edu

Ralph Hampson ralph.hampson@unimelb.edu.au (Note Taker)

Lynette Joubert ljoubert@unimelb.edu.au

Ilse Julkunen ilse.julkunen@helsinki.fi

Alys Manguy Alys.Manguy@rch.org.au

Grahame Simpson (South Western Sydney LHD) grahame.simpson@health.nsw.gov.au

Martin Webber martin.webber@york.ac.uk

Apologies

Timothy Sim Boon Wee (SUSS) timothysimbw@suss.edu.sg

Laura Yliruka (THL) laura.yliruka@thl.fi

CC: Lauren Powell (WebMaster)

Lars opened the meeting and thanked Lynette for her work in chairing and providing leadership to the Advisory Board.

Agenda Items and Actions

Proposed structure of the Advisory Board (AB)

Lars sought feedback on the proposed structure of the Advisory Board. These were discussed and some suggestions were made: talk about creating working parties at the request of the Board to focus on issues as they require attention. That the processes need to be made clearer, Terms of Reference that are transparent
Mike volunteered to edit the Structure Document for final sign off by the Advisory Board.
Grahame raised the need for an Expression of Interest (EOI) form for the webpage where people could express an interest in joining the AB. Mike also suggested that the Conference 2023 will also allow discussion about the work of the AB and participants can be advised and/or approached to join the Board.

Agreed this was a good idea, should be easy for people to apply.

Agreed the AB should have a maximum of 18 members.

Proposed website for discussion: contract with the University of Melbourne

Lynette spoke to the webpage and the contract that the UniMelb has set up with Lauren to be the webmaster until June 2022 – engaged one day per month to maintain and update the webpage.

Issues discussed:

Understanding the web ’back of house’ and what can be created. Equipping members of the Advisory Group to be able to edit and create content over the next year.
Need to develop a workplan and timeline for the launch of the webpage.

Approval provided by the AB to proceed with the webpage and the contract with Lauren – but some matters still to be resolved as this unfolds.

Lauren to create a video explaining and showing how content can be created for AC members.
ralph/Lynette to work with Lauren to develop work plan – dates – key dates agreed to: Content finalisation by 15 Aug – work with Lauren to achieve this. Sign off by AB on Sept8. Launch of Webpage 31 October 2022.

Workplan and regular communication.

Update on the PRCs and the need for self-management of the PRCs going forward. Proposed structure of the PRCs. Conference PRCs input in Aalborg.

Lars provided guidelines for PRCs and how to set them up.

These were accepted by the AB and should be available on the webpage ().

Lars and the conference committee have created a window in the program for PRC to present their work, run workshops - 7 June 2023 between 9am-1pm.
Lars to write to PRCs about this opportunity and invite them to participate.

5th Statement of Practice Research and the Special Edition

Lynette spoke to this – in discussions with Bruce Thyer Editor of Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work about a Special Edition focused on practice based research. It would include:

5th Statement on Practice Research
Work of the PRCs
Possible Editorial Piece provided by the Advisory Board.

The papers will need to go through the normal peer review process for this journal (link above will provide this information)

to provide further information on the Special Edition and next steps – working towards a deadline of Oct/Nov 2022 for submission.

Lynette/Martin would like feedback on the 5th Statement that was circulated by August 15 so it can be discussed at our next meeting in Sept for final approval by the AB.

Date of next meeting

Invitation sent out by Ralph.

Zoom meeting

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ICPR meeting minutes – meeting Monday 09/05/2022 4pm Melbourne time

Attending: Lynette, Lars, Martin, Ilse, Laura, Mike, Grahame, Alys, Ralph

Apologies: Tim

Minutes: Alys

5th statement from Melbourne conference
-Lynette hoping to get this out before next meeting
Aalborg conference - update from Lars
-Collaboratives, pre-conference symposia, opportunity for all the PRCs to connect in person
-Abstracts
-Conference website, contacts for PRCs from Lauren
-Discussion re processes with other SIGs etc
-Perhaps room at conference to discuss how we are establishing this group, this organised non-, and how interested people can connect
ICPR website – Lynette
-Lauren funded by University of Melbourne until Aalborg conference
-Website almost ready. Lauren preparing instructional video for how to upload material
-Estimate USD$1000 p/annum to keep website running
-Need someone who is the key contact: for Lauren, suggestions re PRCs, etc
-Hoping to launch by the end of the month (May 2022)
Discussion re:
-Ilse – how will we decide literature to include, and how will we organise it? Articles, text books, media, time limit? Mike agreeing, need structure – clustering by PRC, or by traditional SW fields of practice, methodology, etc? Suggestion to use Webber/Joubert textbook table of contents?
-Open approach to submitting literature – needs to have collective ownership, not just for people who go to the conferences
-Library/publications chair? What quality limits? Ralph suggesting leaving discretion, unlikely to be overwhelmed by submissions
-Podcasts, videos, webinars?
ICPR proposed structure document – Mike
Mike presented doc
Discussion
-Re language/name – international advisory board or group? Concerned steering committee too strong/controlling. Perhaps development committee as were trying to promote the growth of PR. Need to be clear about what the
-Concern about being too organised/ structured, fees/membership – wanting to be porous, inclusive, open access to the community, innovative. Lars’ comment re ‘organised non-organisation’. People sign up/opt in for emails/ updates
-2 committees – one for conference, one for website/ongoing, connection and representation of conference on these
-Agreement having a plan on how the international conferences are chaired (last point on document), feels natural
-Agreement structure of doc put together by Mike is good
-Discussion re timing of membership – how big would the advisory group be? how would membership be? How would people be invited/nominated? Recruitment platforms through conferences? Early career researchers, practitioners, service users?
-Agreement in next meeting discuss this doc further
Request that Lars and Lynette co-chair next meeting

Next meeting TBD