Shaping Our Future: Promoting Innovation, Inclusivity and the Social Work Voice for Change.

  • Two day conference 

  • 10th and 11th June 2025 

  • University of Manchester. 

Includes lunch, refreshments and evening pass to the free drinks reception and journalism awards on the evening of 10th June.

We are delighted to share our programme - more content and details will be announced along with the complete running order soon.    

Our conference theme is Shaping the Future and throughout two days, in a spirit of collaboration and creativity, we will explore important contemporary and emerging directions for the profession, relevant to practice, leadership, workforce development, research and education. 

Headline Speaker: Janet Daby MP, Minister for Children and Families 

Day One

Plenary and Keynote

  • Plenary: Making Safeguarding Meaningful for Adolescents and Young Adults: connecting social work with children and adults 
  • Keynote: Professor Carlene Firmin, Durham University and Co-Editor of the British Journal of Social Work with Dr Adi Cooper, LGA on transitional safeguarding and contributors from practice and research across the UK

Workshops and talks

  1. Breaking Barriers: Advancing Innovation and Inclusion Social Work to Tackle Racism and Oppression
  2. Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers and decision making in age assessment
  3. Shifts in social workers' engagement with digital technology and its impacts on practice
  4. Community-Orientated Practice Makes a Difference!
  5. Introducing the NIHR School for Social Care Research
  6. Leader of change: how can social work drive practice improvements & influence wider society Leadership
  7. Embedding Team-based Critical Reflection through Peer Learning: Introducing the Social Work Online Team Training (SWOTT) Toolkit
  8. Neurodiversity and Social Work
  9. Supporting neurodiversity within social work: A qualitative study investigating social work managers roles.
  10. Elevating the Social Worker in Children and Young People's Mental Health Services
  11. Use of self in creating safe spaces
  12. Tackling ageism Together
  13. Coproduction isn't just for Christmas- Collaborative Approaches in Social Work Research
  14. Mental Health Social Work Matters
  15. Becoming a Social Work Manager : Towards a Smoother Transition
  16. Developing and Supporting Community Assets
  17. Co-editors of BJSW and Practice: a workshop on writing for the journals
  18. Interpreter-mediation in social work: findings and resources from a research project to enhance practice
  19. The current and future role of social work in mental health services across the UK Mental Health Panel Discussion  - with Robert Lewis from DHSC and colleagues from across UK

The Independents Symposium

These exclusive sessions for independent social workers will be hosted by the newly formed Independent Social Work Committee (ISWC) who will share their work to enhance services within BASW for ISWs.  They will launch their Charter for Independent Social Workers, offer an insight to the exciting new ISW Toolkit, and introduce you to Tracy Lui, SWU Advisor for ISW practitioners

  • Welcome and Introduction to Independent Social Work Committee 
  • Introduction to the BASW Independents Toolkit 
  • Independent Social Work workshop
  • Professional Supervision workshop 

Social work journalism awards 2025

We will also be hosting our third BASW UK Social Work Journalism Awards on the evening of the 10th June.  Come and join us for drinks and buffet and hear about the work of national journalists and their coverage of social work.

  • Awards ceremony
  • Hear from national journalists about their coverage of social work
  • Free drinks reception 
  • Buffet
  • Networking 
Day Two

Plenary and keynote

Plenary: Welcome and opening address - Julia Ross. What does AI really mean for social work? Speakers: Prof, Amanda Taylor-Beswick, Queens University, Belfast and  Panel of Experts and Commentators from across the UK

Workshops and talks

  1. The Role of Social Workers in Disasters.
  2. Social Work in War-torn contexts: The relevance of this issue to UK social work education and practice.
  3. Social Worker Wellbeing: a study evaluating the impact of coaching in the UK.
  4. Supporting young people through the Arts.
  5. Child safeguarding and Deaf British Sign language (BSL) parents: What next at the crossroads?
  6. The Digital Social Worker: Enablement, Ethics and Elon.
  7. Social Work, Dignity and the learning from the experience of communities.
  8. Developing a research career in social care: Personal experiences from five national research capacity building partnerships.
  9. Supporting women in the Criminal Justice System: A social work approach.
  10. Innovative Approaches to widen access to Social Work Apprenticeships in health based social work.
  11. Navigating the future: AI at NICE.
  12. Co-producing social work practice research in Neurodiversity – reflections from Social Care research Ambassadors.
  13. An Introduction to Social Work with Adults who have Huntington's Disease. A Practice Guide.
  14. Education Panel - Experts from academia and workforce development present and discuss on key issues in social work education now.
  15. Approach - A Paradigm Shift in Responding to Domestic Abuse.
  16. "It's just the way it is, if you want to be a social worker." Exploring burnout and trauma in the social work profession.
  17. From Personal Awareness to Professional Excellence: How to be a SAVI Social Worker.
  18. BJSW Kay McDougall Prize winner 

Closing Plenary 

'So what now? Experts by Experience and practitioners reflect on learning from the conference for better social work and better citizen experience in the future

We do hope you will join us for these wonderful key notes presentations, panel discussions, workshops and presentations from practitioners, innovators, leaders, researchers and change makers in social work. 

This will be an interactive and inspiring event where participants can get involved, get informed and meet new colleagues in the community of UK social work. 

We have key content for students and practitioners at all stages of their careers and a special symposium for social workers in Independent Practice. 

Book now!
BASW UK Social Work Conference 2025, University of Manchester, Manchester - Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th June 2025. Discounts for members!