Applying Sustainability Transition Research in Social Work tackling Major Societal Challenge of Social Inclusion

ASTRA research project applies approaches of Transdisciplinary Sustainability Transition Research to support policies and practices to tackle the major societal challenges faced in Social Work. It aims at developing new sustainability-oriented methods of Social Work with a focus on the social inclusion of young people facing precariousness, people with a migration background and vulnerable local communities in Europe. The ASTRA consortium is a unique European-wide research network bridging the research of Social Work and Sustainability, consisting of seven university-based forerunners in sustainability research in Social Work, two leading non-university organisations of transdisciplinary sustainability research, and eight excellent partner organisations in the field of NGOs and social economy enterprises. The main objective of the training in ASTRA is to educate a new generation of creative and open-minded young researchers of social work, who will be able to tackle the relevant major social challenges of societies by using the perspective of sustainability transition and who will contribute to transformative knowledge, cross-sectoral policies and multi-agency practices of sustainability transition.

ASTRA project will educate 15 new creative and open-minded young researchers of social work, who will be able to tackle the relevant major social challenges of societies by using the perspective of sustainability transition and who will contribute to transformative knowledge, cross-sectoral policies and multi-agency practices of sustainability transition. Project opens fundamentally new career perspectives within the “triple” impacts (international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary) framework. Substantial career-relevant new competences and career opportunities emerge from the transformative and transdisciplinary approaches triggering new services and working models in Social Work and beyond. The Transdisciplinary Sustainability Transition Research perspective enables enlarged understanding of the profile and tasks of Social Work as a profession and research area in society while providing knowledge to understand the interconnectivity between social problems and ecological and economic unsustainability. The new skills learned in ASTRA encourage them to use this knowledge and act on local community, political and international levels for a sustainable society.