Minutes of the initiating meeting of the National Center for Welfare Studies (VELNET)

Agenda

1. Introduction and member presentation
2. VELNET background and aims
3. Planned activities
4. VELNET program for 2021
5. Webpage
6. Chairmanship and steering committee
7. Miscellaneous

Purpose and activities of VELNET

Jon Kvist (RUC) introduced to the purpose and aims of VELNET and gave an overview of intended activities. VELNET aims to bring together welfare state researchers working at different institutions in Denmark by organizing regular events and meeting places, facilitating dissemination of research and development of teaching. In particular, we hope the network will be a breeding ground for early career scholars.

Annual VELNET meeting

At the meeting it was agreed that one core activity is the annual VELNET meeting where we can meet in real life (aren’t we all looking forward!). The idea is that our different institutions take turns hosting the annual meeting. RUC will host the first in the autumn (kindly indicate your availability in the Doodle) where we will also celebrate the creation of VELNET.

Research seminar series

Also, we discussed to have a research seminar series and it was agreed that the form for the seminars can vary:
We will have short 1hour on-line seminars where members can present work in progress. These seminars are planned to be on-line to ensure participation across the regions. There will be room for presentation of max. two papers each time and we will apply the Korpi-rules (see further description at the end). There will be two seminar events per semester. All members are invited to propose papers for discussion in the seminar series by sending an email to the co-chairs, Christian Albrekt Larsen (AAU) and Tine Rostgaard (RUC). The two first online seminars will be on May 12^th and June 8^th, from 10-11:00. We have sent out Zoom invitations soon (please actively accept/reject the meeting in your calendar so we can organize discussants also).

Also, members can propose thematic seminars of a longer duration, for instance 2 h or half-a-day. For instance, book launches or inviting VELNET members to participate in seminar activities organized at the local institution where you would like to have external participation. Again, send proposals to chairs.

Organization of a Nordic ESPAnet conference 2023

A Nordic ESPAnet has recently been established and one of the aims is to have Nordic social policy conferences every second year with hosts shifting between the Nordic countries. VELNET will organize the Nordic ESPAnet inaugural conference in 2023 and Jon Kvist will head this work. The aim is to involve all relevant national research environments in the organization and we especially encourage early years scholars to join. Please contact Jon if you would like to sit in the planning group.

At the meeting, members discussed the possibility of organizing the annual meeting as part of the annual conference of the Danish Political Science Association (DaPSA). Yet, members also pointed out that not all members identify as political scientists, and some of our members are coming from sociology, economics, and history, in particular.

It was suggested that a bi-annual national VELNET conference could take turns with the biannual Nordic ESPAnet conference, with the national VELNET conference taking place in the year when there is no Nordic ESPAnet conference. This would mean that there would be one significant social policy conference each year, either in Denmark or in another Nordic country.

Group mail list

We have set up a group mail list and members will have the opportunity to circulate news to each other.

Webpage

Thomas Paster (RUC) presented the preliminary version of VELNET’s webpage (ruc.dk/velnet). The webpage is at present hosted at Roskilde University and is based on a template provided by the university. We suggest presenting the members of VELNET on the webpage, including linking to your personal institutional webpage.

Once fully operational, the webpage will also provide the opportunity to announce news by members, such as new books or major grants, for instance. Announcements can be either in Danish or in English. Please use the Word template for submitting requests for announcements. (including a title, max. three lines of description plus a link to a full description). Send this to Thomas.

Chairs and steering committee

At the meeting Tine Rostgaard (RUC) and Christian Albrekt Larsen (AAU) was appointed as cochairs of VELNET and will sit until April 2023. The aim is that the chairmanship is rotating between institutions every two years, preferably with representatives from more than one institution at a time. RUC will host VELNET until April 2023 and will provide administrative support as well as host the webpage. After this, the institutional hosting of VELNET will be the responsibility of either of the new co-chairs.

The work of the co-chairs will be supported by a steering committee, which will meet twice per year, next time June 3rd. We aim for members from all institutions to be represented in the steering committee and suggest that the steering committee also sits for a period of 2 years. Presently, the steering committee consists of:

• Tine Rostgaard (RUC, Dep of Social Sciences and Business) (chair)
• Christian Albrekt Larsen (AAU, Dep of Politics and Society and CWS) (chair)
• Bent Greve (RUC, Dep of Social Sciences and Business)
• Jon Kvist (RUC, Dep of Social Sciences and Business) (Nordic ESPAnet 2023 conference coordinator)
• Thomas Paster (RUC, Dep of Social Sciences and Business) (web master)
• Janine Leschke (CBS, Dep of International Economics, Government and Business)
• Peter Starke (SDU, Dept of Political Science and DaWS)
• Carsten Jensen (AU, Dep of Pol Science)

The steering committee is open for additional members that come from institutions currently not represented. We encourage researchers from KU to join VELNET as well as the steering committee.

All best from the co-chairs,
Christian Albrekt Larsen (albrekt@dps.aau.dk) and Tine Rostgaard (tiro@ruc.dk)

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