Regional Team

Since April 2024 Ruth has been President of the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) – Europe Region. She has been Chief Executive of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) since April 2016. She also represents IFSW and is an elected leader within the Council of Europe’s International NGO section (CINGO).

Previously, Ruth was Director of Social Work in the UK – at South West London & St Georges’ Mental Health NHS Trust, a researcher with St George’s University of London, and at Hertfordshire Mental Health NHS Trust. She started her social work career in 1994 as a practitioner and latterly a manager in integrated health, social care and homelessness services. She has held a range of practice, development, leadership and policy roles. Her professional social work career, including writing and national policy work, has focused particularly on rights, social justice and self-determination in mental health and on workforce wellbeing.

Dr Allen holds a BA Hons in Geography from Oxford. She holds Master’s degree in Social Work and a Professional Doctorate in Professional Education from the University of Sussex, and post-graduate diploma in applied systemic practice. She is currently undertaking a qualification in leadership coaching.

Andreas Pedersen Kikvik is a Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (FO), working with health, social, and professional policy. He is involved in policy development, public advocacy, academic outreach, and international collaboration. Andreas contributes to national consultations, writes for political and professional audiences, and organizes conferences and events. He holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Oslo Metropolitan University.

Biography will be added soon.

Social worker and work accident case worker 3F Frederiksborg (trade union)
Bachelor Intercultural and International Social Work

Kristine Evertz studied social work and sociology and has 25+ years of experience as trainer and (project-)manager of womenshelter services. Currently she holds the position of senior policy advisor combatting domestic violence and child abuse for regional government and is an expert on genderbased violence for the European Womens Lobby-Observatory. She is a honorary member for the Dutch Association (BPSW) for her years of board membership and work for the international network linked to IFSW.

Enric Torras is a Catalan social worker from Barcelona, currently based in Austria. He works in open and outreach youth work and is a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten. Active in IFSW Europe since 2022, initially as a delegate of OBDS – the Austrian Professional Association of Social Workers – he places strong emphasis on human rights and their fundamental position at the core of the social work profession. Since 2023, he has represented the region at the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and is currently involved in the development of the Human Rights Network within IFSW Europe.

As a member of the Executive Committee, he is committed to strengthening the region’s autonomy, promoting and defending social work as a human rights profession, and working toward the decolonization of social work.

Jill Childs Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy is the Principal Investigator for the Ubuntu partnership, a partnership of academics and practitioners that aims to create meaningful collaborations to decolonise social work by documenting indigenous social work and supporting evidence informed approaches between Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the United Kingdom. Jill’s work on anti-racism has won a number of national awards including, the silver Social Worker of the Year Award for University of the year, the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence by Advance HE and the University Alliance Innovation Award, an HE Innovate award. She is currently the IFSW Europe Honorary Secretary, and her upcoming book Social Work and Mental Health: A Decolonised Approach to Theory and Practice will be published in Oct 2025.

Biography will be added soon.

PhD in Social Sciences; Master’s Degree in Dependency; Master’s degree in Accessibility and Master’s degree in Innovation. She has participated in the collegiate structure for more than fifteen years; having different responsibilities and roles. She is currently Vice President of the General Council of Social Work of Spain. She has work experience especially in Management and Research; from the academic environment, the private sphere and currently in the field of Public Social Services.