The 29th annual FISS conference

Call for papers 2023

Confirmed keynotes

Prof. dr. Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak

Prof. dr. Arnaldur Sölvi Kristjánsson

Conference Theme: Social Security Systems: Challenges, Responses, Impacts and Sustainability

Social security systems throughout the world currently face many challenges: responding to the on-going consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated fiscal imbalances; dealing with global supply-chain disruptions; ensuring the citizens receive adequate benefits and comprehensive coverage in the face of rising energy and other prices; responding to changes in labour market choices and opportunities; addressing new and long-standing inequalities; and playing a part in the return to economic prosperity and social harmony. The annual FISS Conference provides researchers and policy makers with an opportunity to reflect on these developments and share research findings and practical information about national and international responses and their effects. The social security system is defined here to include cash transfers, health care and other personal services whether funded or delivered by government or non-government agencies. Components of this system have played a key role in transferring purchasing power to those with fewest resources in order to boost economic activity but increases in poverty and inequality are placing pressure on the ability of systematic responses to offset existing and future shocks.

These challenges exist against a background in which the economic and social values that have shaped past policies are being questioned, as is the appropriate balance between, state and civil society institutions in protecting the rights and fulfilling the needs of citizens. There is an urgent need for robust research studies designed to tease out the nature of policy and other responses and to link these interventions to the outcomes produced. Improved national and international data sets has made this task more achievable in some dimensions (e.g. in relation to understanding the drivers of trends in poverty and inequality), but knowledge remains sparse in other areas (e.g. eligibility tightening and coverage restrictions; privatization of cash and service delivery) that also have important effects. Employment has taken on a new meaning for many workers seeking a better balance between work and family life, while inter-generational inequities remain profound and resistant to change. These trends have important consequences for how social security provisions might need to be re-thought in a life cycle context, but how they might need to be re-framed and/or adjusted remains under-developed.

Like its predecessors, the 2023 FISS Conference will provide an opportunity for researchers and policy makers to share country experiences, research findings and policy initiatives that relate to the nature and impact of social security reforms and the longer-term sustainability of the social security system. FISS does not adopt any specific position on these issues but is committed to promoting research that will inform understanding and provide a basis for improved policy and other responses.

The 2023 conference is expected to take place entirely in-person at the ‘home’ of FISS in the Sigtunahöjden conference centre, close to Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. Further details about accommodation and related matters will be provided later. If there is a need to include a remote online attendance, the organisers will contact all those who have submitted an Abstract at the appropriate time with relevant information.

Submissions for Individual Papers can be submitted online should include the paper title, and the name(s) and affiliation(s) of authors and not exceed 300 words.

Submissions for the Panel Sessions for the FISS 2023 Conference should be sent to the conference secretariat at: FISS-OC@uantwerpen.be. Panel Session proposals should include the Title of the Session, speaker names and affiliations, Abstracts and a proposed Chairperson, and should not exceed 1200 words.

Submissions from current postgraduate students and recent graduates are particularly encouraged.

Submissions until April 16th 2023 will be considered.

The FISS Best Paper Prize of 300 Euros will be awarded by a selection committee from the FISS Board of Governors and the winning paper will (subject to a review process) be published in The Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. The author(s) will also receive two years free subscription to the journal.

Important dates:
Submission of Paper Abstracts and Panel Session Proposals: 16 April 2023
Notification of applicants: 21 April 2023
Early booking & registration will begin from at the end of April 2023

Further details about the conference programme and venue will be announced shortly. For any queries, please contact  FISS-OC@uantwerpen.be.

The Foundation for International Studies on Social Security is an independent, non-profit association that aims to promote international, multidisciplinary research on social security, including its relationships with other aspects of society (such as the labour market, unemployment, poverty, income redistribution, savings, housing, the family, health and well-being).

Peter Saunders (FISS President) and Bea Cantillon (FISS Secretary-General)