The Social Welfare History Group (USA) and the Social Work History Network (UK) will jointly host an international webinar titled Histories of Compliance and Resistance: Social Workers and Immigration across Europe and USA on 20 April 2026.
The online event will bring together leading scholars to examine the historical relationship between social work and immigration policy, and to reflect on the ethical tensions social workers face as governments around the world tighten immigration controls. While migration has played a central role in shaping the profession, from early settlement movements such as Hull House in Chicago and Toynbee Hall in London, the historical interplay between social work practice and immigration governance has often remained underexplored.
Presentations will be delivered by Mimi Abramovitz (Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, USA), Cybelle Fox (University of California, Berkeley, USA), Emilio J Gómez Ciriano (Universidad de Castilla–La Mancha, Spain), and Patrick Vernon (University of Wolverhampton, UK). The speakers will be joined in the panel discussion by Dr Rebecca Tipton, Senior Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation Studies at the University of Manchester.
The webinar will be jointly chaired by David N Jones, Chair of the Social Work History Network, and Stephen Monroe Tomczak (Zak) from the Social Welfare History Group.
The event will take place online on Monday, 20 April 2026, from 19:30 to 21:00 (London BST) and 14:30 to 16:00 (New York EDT). Participation is open to all, and registration is available via Eventbrite. A Zoom link will be shared with registered participants prior to the event.