Conferences
International Research Seminars on ‘Issues in Social Security’
Each year FISS holds an International Research Seminar on ‘Issues in Social Security’. Each seminar is normally held on a particular theme – such as child poverty, ageing, and participation in social and economic life, to take some recent examples.
The aim of these seminars is to bring together academics, researchers and policy-makers to discuss social security and related topics in an international or comparative context. The papers given at the seminars are based on research or scholarship and presented with an multi-discipllinary, international audience in mind. Preference is given to papers that are international in perspective or based on comparative research.
The seminars are usually held in mid-June.
Next conference
The 31st Annual FISS conference is set to be held June 4th-6th 2025 in Sigtuna, Sweden.
Call of paper and submission details soon to be announced!
Stay informed by pressing the button below.
Joint conference EASP & FISS in Kyoto, Japan
Best Practices of Social Policy in Turbulent Times
Keynotes by
- Shogo Takegawa – Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo
- Satoko Hotta, Professor, Keio University
- Yasushi Sukenari – Associate Professor, Tokyo University
- Bea Cantillon – Emeritus with assignment, University of Antwerp,
Dept. of Sociology, FISS Secretary-General - Emiko Ochiai – Professor of Sociology at Kyoto Sangyo University
and Emeritus Professor at Kyoto University - Kenneth Nelson – Barnett Professor of Social Policy, Department
of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford - Rense Nieuwenhuis – Researcher, Stockholm University
- Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak – Associate Professor, SGH Warsaw
School of Economics
29th Annual conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Social Security Systems: Challenges, Responses, Impacts and Sustainability
Keynotes by
Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak (Vice-Rector for Science and Director of the Institute of Statistics and Demography at SGH Warsaw School of Economics)
Arnaldur Sölvi Kristjánsson (University of Iceland)
28th Annual conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
The Role of Social Security and Social Welfare Responses in a Turbulent World
Keynotes by
Stephen Jenkins, London School of Economics
Caroline Delaporte, Copenhagen Business School
Julia Shu-Huah Wang, University of Hong Kong
Bea Cantillon, University of Antwerp
Joint conference EASP & FISS online and in Hong Kong (Hybrid)
Mitigating the Economic and Social Impact of Covid-19: The Role of Social Security and Social Welfare Responses in East and West
The 17th Annual Conference of the East Asian Social Policy Research Network & The 27th Annual Conference of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security.
The hybrid event was hosted at Lingnan Universty, Hong Kong.
26th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Keynotes:
- Ruth Lister (Member of the UK House of Lords and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University)
- Bjørn Hvinden (Professor in Sociology, NOVA Norwegian Social Research, Oslo Metropolitan University)
- Olli Kangas (Professor of Practice, University of Turku)
- Nathalie Morel (Assistant Professor, Sciences Po)
25th Annual conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Conference Theme: Social Security at the Crossroads? Learning from the Past, Imagining the Future
Keynotes:
- Tim Smeeding (University of Wisconsin) – Child Poverty and Public Policy in Anglo-Saxon Countries
- Tania Burchardt (London School of Economics) – Intra-Household Allocation of Resources: Implications for Deprivation and Poverty Across Europe
- Olli Kangas (Director of Government and Community Relations, Kela, The Finnish Social Insurance Institution) – What Can We Learn from Large-scale Experiments: Experimenting with Basic income in Finland?
- Qin Gao (Columbia University) – China’s War on Poverty: Will It Succeed?
24th Annual conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Responding to Many Challenges: The Future of Social Security
Keynotes:
- Philippe Van Parijs – Hoover Chair of Economic and Social Ethics, Catholic University of Louvain
- Elsa Fornero – Professor of Economics, University of Turin
- Qin Gao – Associate Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, Columbia University
- John Hudson – Professor of Social Policy, University of York
23rd International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Poverty, Inequality and its Impacts Following the Financial Crisis
Keynotes:
- Tim Smeeding – Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics,
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Mary Daly – Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Oxford
- Martin Evans – Senior Advisor Child Poverty, Social Inclusion, Budgeting and Policy, UNICEF
- Holly Sutherland – Research Professor and Director of EUROMOD, Institute for Social and
Economic Research, University of Essex
22nd International conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Social Security East and West: Common Challenges, Distinctive Solutions?
For the first time, the FISS conference was held outside Europe, signalling an attempt to involve more scholars from Asia in the conference and in FISS more generally.
21st International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Keynotes:
- John Hills (The London School of Economics and Political Science)
- Brian Nolan (University College Dublin)
- Lars Osberg (Dalhousie University)
- Lieve Fransen (EC DG Empl)
20th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Keynotes:
- Christina Behrendt (ILO) on the Social Protection Floor
- Lieve Fransen (EC DG Empl) on Europe 2020
- Chris de Neubourg (Chief of Social & Economic Policy at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre) on how social protection systems can improve the lives of children
- Michele Durant (OECD) on ‘Beyond GDP’
19th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Keynotes:
- Walter Korpi – Causes Of Rise Of The Full Employment Welfare State In Western Countries After 1945 And Of Its Demise After 1980
- Armando Barrientos – Social Protection In The South. A Quiet Revolution?
- Roy Sainsbury – Cross-National Research In Social Security – Is There A Case For Greater Use Of Qualitative Methods?
18th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Growth, Social Protection and Inequality
Keynotes:
- Frank Vandenbroucke – The EU needs a Social Investment Pact
- Martin Ravallion – Weakly Relative Poverty
- Wiemer Salverda – Societies’ (un)equal treatment of the low skilled
- Lane Kenworthy – Should we worry about inequality?
17th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
The Global Crises : Impact and Challenges for Social Security
Keynotes:
- Tony Atkinson (Oxford University)
- Anton Hemerijck (VU University Amsterdam)
- Herwig Immervoll (OECD)
- Joakim Palme (Institute For Future Studies – Stockholm)
16th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich and Poor Countries
Keynotes:
- Michael Förster on ‘Growing unequal? Income inequality and poverty in OECD countries’
- Märkus Jantti on Gender, poverty, and social policy regimes: a comparative analysis of twenty-four upper-income countries
- Bea Cantillon on Poverty and the ‘investment state’: old and new social risks
- Peter Saunders on Deprivation, social exclusion and social security in Australia
- Jonathan Bradshaw on How is child poverty related to child well-being? A comparison of
child income poverty and deprivation in the European Union
15th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Social Protection for a Post-industrial World
Keynotes:
- Jacob Hacker on The New Economic Insecurity: The American Experience in Cross-National Perspective
- Giuliano Bonoli on The politics of post-industrial social policies
- Jochen Clasen on Re-designing unemployment protection in post-industrial labour markets
- Neil Gilbert on A mother’s work: how feminism, the market and policy shape family life
14th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Social Security, Happiness and Well-being
13th International conference in Sigtuna, Sweden
Social Protection in an Ageing World
3rd International conference in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Curing the Dutch Disease: An International Perspective on Disability Policy Reform
2nd International conference in Zurich, Switzerland
Social Security and Health Care
1st International conference in Luxembourg
Age, Work and Social Security
Co-organised with the Centre for Population, Poverty and Policy Studies (CEPS) in Luxembourg. Selected papers published by Macmillan in volume edited by Tony Atkinson and Martin Rein in 1993