Our Grandest Challenge Yet: Mobilizing Social Work Researchers and Policy Practice for Science Advocacy and Strengthening Social Impact

Background and Purpose: In the past year, anti-DEI policies and administrative restructuring within state and federal governments have significantly constrained and confused the academic systems in which social work researchers conduct science. This has caused serious concerns regarding the discipline’s ability to continue advancing knowledge on topics that are of the most concern to social work, especially those related to the Grand Challenges. As existing and future funding for social work studies face increasing jeopardy, many investigators have found themselves disenfranchised, making collective efforts to advocate for social work science overall more challenging. Investigators at smaller and teaching institutions may particularly feel isolated and experience challenges at maintaining their research and scholarship due to limited resources these colleges and universities may have for research infrastructure.

As a profession, social work has a rich history of collective action and policy advocacy. However, many of these efforts have centered around the populations and communities that social workers serve, not necessarily on the scientific developments needed to advance our professional values and goals. This presentation will provide an overview of political efforts and actions that have negatively impacted social work research. It will then describe a series of community organizing and policy advocacy initiatives that research administrators and investigators have taken to align social work science with policy and practice to facilitate transformative change in a turbulent political and social context. This includes developing a statewide network of social work researchers in Alabama and advocating for social work research funding with state and federal legislators.

Methods: This presentation will review the community organizing activities that have taken place to form the Alabama Network of Social Work Researchers (The ANSWR), a collaborative effort of social work investigators who work at institutions of varying auspices and sizes, including: Research 1 and 2 research institutions (by Carnegie Classification), public and private institutions, and historical black colleges and universities (HBCUs). A Qualtrics survey of group members and qualitative field notes of the group’s activities were conducted to evaluate the capacity of the group and the needs of group members.

Results: Within the first two months, the network included 52 academic researchers across the state. About half of the network includes junior investigators (tenure track and non-tenure track assistant professors) and the remainder are associate and full professors. Some network members also hold administrative roles. Main reasons for joining the group included a need to identify collaborators and mentors, support writing and publishing, and sharing resources to advance the Grand Challenges. Findings from network surveys and qualitative data will be presented.

Conclusions and Implications: Social work researchers can fall back on their skills and knowledge of macro practice to support continuity and stability of our research agendas. Implications for practice, research, and policy are discussed.