Session: Research (focused on) Inclusion, Sustainability, and Equity (RISE) Network (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

Each convener is a member of SSWR and has served on SSWR committees, the SSWR Board and/or presented at SSWR consistently over the past few years. We have had symposia, roundtable and/or other SSWR collaborations that make this team poised to promote the newly proposed SIG and engage SSWR members who are interested in having a safe, welcoming and inclusive space as SSWR to discuss strategies, share knowledge and garner support for sustaining research focused on equity and inclusion. At least 20 social work colleagues, from various accredited schools of social work have expressed interest in this SIG. If this abstract is accepted, the conveners will collectively and individually promote the SIG on social media outlets, including LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. The SIG will offer virtual meetings, quarterly, for sustainability between the SSWR annual meeting convenings. Following a roundtable session at SSWR 2026, the conveners met to discuss the need to create a space for in-depth discussions that we could only touch on briefly and superficially in the research roundtable session. Our roundtable session was well attended, and we promised attendees we would aim to convene a SIG next year, 2027, to sustain our focus on and commitment to equity, justice and inclusion research. In 2027, we will create a mailing of the SIG 2027 attendees. As conveners, we are each member of groups, organizations and research teams focused on research that is currently undertake by the current political administration and some of us have had our research defunded. Having a SIG at SSWR that would be ongoing can serve multiple purposes, including but not limited to supporting doctoral students and junior research scholars. For doctoral students, specifically, we will also offer networking opportunities to meet with social work faculty and potential mentor that share their interests and affinity group support to promote recruitment and retention of new SSWR members and scholars interested with shared research interests.