WelfSoc members presented a number of papers at the Annual ESPAnet Conference in Lisbon on 14-16 September. Katharina Zimmerman spoke on her work with Jan-Ocko Heuer on conditionality, using data from the focus groups. Heejung Chung discussed findings from her ESRC work along the WelfSoc Democratic Forums on labour market flexibility. Masa Hrast and Tatjana Rakar included a paper on the Democratic Forums in Slovenia. Bjorn Hvinden, Peter Taylor-Gooby and Steffen Mau presented a paper on the implications of the findings for confidence in the capacity of the welfare state to provide services in the future.

The launch of the first WelfSoc book “After Austerity​” at an evening reception was a great success with many people expressing interest in the new ideas about what governments can and cannot be expected to do for their citizens in the future.

Photo from the left: Peter Taylor-Gooby, Ana M. Guillén, Heejung Chung and Wim van Oorschot