Call for papers

The theme of the 7th Transforming Care Conference is ‘Social and Human Rights in Care’. In recent decades, there has been increasing discussion about the importance of the human rights approach and the role of social rights in the contexts of disability, long-term care and childcare.

The 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was a breakthrough in this regard, laying the foundation for the development of human rights -based disability policies all over the world. Earlier charity, medical or individual models of disability have been largely replaced or at least complemented by a new approach that sees persons with disabilities as full and equal members of society with specific rights to have their needs met, rather than as objects of welfare and medical intervention.

Similar discussions have taken place in the field of care for older people. At the UN, efforts to create a specific human rights treaty for older people have intensified. In 2017, the EU launched the European Pillar of Social Rights, which states that everyone has the right to affordable long-term care services of good quality. This was followed in 2022 by the European Care Strategy, which aims to ensure quality, affordable and accessible care services across the European Union, not only in long-term care but also in early childhood education and care. It promotes not only the rights of people in need of care, but also those of family carers. In addition, staff shortages have led to a discussion on the employment rights of care workers in different sectors of care services.

Overall, social and human rights have become a key perspective in the global debate on the future of care. Research is now needed to analyse the opportunities and potential problems of this development, which is why the 7th Transforming Care Conference hopes to bring social and human rights discussions into our research debates and strengthen their role in our future research work.

As always, TCC will also offer an open stream for new thinking and research outside the selected conference theme, and be open to the presentation of new ideas, theories and methods that take forward international debate and scholarship on care in all its human forms. We encourage paper contributions that investigate these themes in regards to early childhood education and care for children, care for adults with disabilities and long-term care for frail older people. 

The conference is organised around Symposia with already identified paper presenters, as well as Thematic Panels, which are open for all.

To Thematic Panels, we specifically welcome papers that deal with the over-arching theme of social and human rights, but also papers that look into care from other theoretical and empirical perspectives. The Transforming Care Conference series is structured around four main dimensions, which also allows for papers that do not directly address the conference theme:

• The institutional setting of care systems and care policy (in terms of social rights to care, public regulation, public/private arrangements involving non-profit and/or for-profit organizations, marketization trends, inclusion/selection criteria, affordability, quality, etc.) 
• Care arrangements and practices, organized through formal and/or informal channels (caregiving and distribution of paid and unpaid care work, organization and adequacy of care services and cash for care programs, etc.) 
• Social and policy innovation on care services and care arrangements, and its impact and dilemmas 
• Formal and informal care work, including involvement of informal carers as well as working conditions of formal care providers.

Abstracts should be submitted through the Abstract Portal where you are asked to fill in the following: 

• Title of paper
• Thematic Panel you are submitting to
• Name(s), affiliation(s) and contact details of author(s)
• Abstract (maximum 250 words).

Terms and conditions
In submitting an abstract all presenters agree to the following terms and conditions: 

• I confirm that each author / presenter listed agree with the content of this abstract and has given permission to be listed as an author / presenter.
• I have checked the accuracy of the information and referencing within this abstract. 
• I understand that should my abstract be accepted for presentation, I am required to complete a conference registration. I understand that my abstract will not be published until my registration and full payment has been received.
• I hereby provide permission for the Organisers and Committee of the Conference to publish my abstract in the Conference.
• I understand that my abstract will be published, if accepted, as submitted and that no editing to grammar or spelling will be undertaken by the Organizing Committee.
• I understand that my contact information is viewed by the organising party and used in accordance to GDPR law.

Contact

If you have any questions about the technical issues of submission process, please contact tcc2025@confedent.fi 

With questions about substance matters, please contact the organising committee at tcc2025@helsinki.fi 

Please note that you are required to submit your full paper to the conference by 1 June 2025. The paper will be available for the conference delegates only. For further information: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/transforming-care-conference-2025 or contact the organisers tcc2025@helsinki.fi.