The members of the NBRRC introduced each other and the ideas that led to the initial application were presented (please see attached presentation).
Prof. Campanini also outlined the ideas behind supporting such centers. NBRRC is the third center. The first was a Regional Centre between cooperating Schools of Social Work from the Pacific Islands and the second is the regional center in China which is sought to build partnerships between universities across China, including Hongkong.
The issues of membership were discussed, in particular whether the Centre is open to new members of not. The issue of inclusion of Greenland and Pacific islands was also raised. The Centre still seeks memberships from certain countries such as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. While it is important to be open, a balance has to be struck to ensure that the center maintains an identity and functional partnerships. Members were requested to please contact their networks and link to recruit new members/seek participation of members from these countries in the Network.
Members also introduced their research interests and presented some ideas for possible joint working (Please see outline of interests as Excel form attached).
Finally, issues of visibility of the center was discussed, Prof. Campanini suggested that there was possibilities to link the regional centers as well as make them more visible in the IASSW websites. Furthermore, there are possibilities for the members to further network through different upcoming conferences in the region, starting with the EASSW conference in Estonia and subsequently another conference in 2021 in Iceland.
The second day focused on ways in which the partners could network and wok with each other to enliven the network.
Present members agreed that key to this was getting to know each other, either by working/teaching together, reading each other’s works and meeting each other at different conferences. There was also a suggestion of creating short video inputs, which the NBRRC could fund to make available on the website.
A range of ideas as to how this could be achieved were discussed and the following measures were agreed upon:
-The network creates a list of members with contact details that is circulated among the members
-Create a catalogue of which topics are of interest/expertise to each member and on which they would be willing to provide inputs (presentations) or discuss with students form other universities. Members may then contact other members and invite them to their lectures/teachings/discussions
-Each member identifies and sends two articles that highlight their interests and orientations to their themes/topics. These may be shared with other members of the network (and uploaded if copyright issues permit)
-Each member also the network a high-quality Photo and their contact details for the website.
-Members explore the possibility of meeting at the following events:
a- During the International Week mid-May 2021 at Frankfurt (hosted by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences)
b- During the IASSW conference in Estonia mid June 2021
c-During the FORSA conference in Iceland in Nov 2021
It was also discussed that a date in March for another online meeting would be useful. The Network will organize a doodle poll to identify which dates suit best.