By Kathy Quirk
The Helen Bader School of Social Welfare was well-represented at the Society for Social Work and Research Conference in January.
SSWR is the flagship research conference for national and international social work scholars and provides valuable experience for early career faculty and doctoral students.
The research organization was founded in 1994, and the first conference was held in 1997.
The Helen Bader School has had social work researchers participating in the conference since at least 1999, according to Lisa Berger, professor and associate dean.
While the conference is an important research dissemination and connection tool for all levels of researchers, it has particular value for doctoral students and junior faculty, said Colleen Janczewski, associate professor and one of the faculty members representing HBSSW at the conference.
“Not only is it an excellent showcase for a diverse range of topics and research methodologies,” she said, “the conference also offers a variety of opportunities for collaboration and mentorship for emerging and early career researchers.”
This year, for example, doctoral student Xiyao Liu, presented research on adverse childhood experiences. Liu also contributed to research projects presented in a symposium HBSSW Professor Joshua Mersky coordinated – New Frontiers in the Measurement and Modeling of Adverse Experiences. Mersky is a founding director of the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being.
Two pre-doctoral fellows from the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being presented findings from their research collaborations with UWM faculty. Anthony Gómez presented a paper and Darejan Dvalishvili was part of the symposium Mersky coordinated. Sarwat Sharif, PhD student in HBSSW, was also at the conference and attended a training and symposia. David J. Pate Jr., associate professor, also attended the conference. Chienti Plummer Lee, scientist with the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being, was a co-author on two papers presented at the symposium.