How are European welfare futures remade in this critical moment?
'Prototyping Welfare in Europe: Experiments in State and Society’ examines how welfare is reimagined in the face of growing precarity and spiraling needs in four European cities. Who steps up when established welfare actors are unable to provide answers to human emergencies? And what welfare futures are made in programs that claim to do welfare differently?
News
Welfare future seminar by Martha Kapazoglou and Vénicia Sananès
To kick off this round of the Welfare Future Seminars, Martha Kapazoglou and Vénicia Sananès (both at the University of Amsterdam) will each give a talk on Tuesday 3 November about their work for the Prototyping Welfare in Europe project.
Read more'Working like a Dog' - Welfare Future Seminar and workshop by Prof. Carr
On Tuesday 23rd June, Prof. Carr (University of Chicago) will give a talk drawing on multi-sited research in a rapidly expanding domain of social service provision in the United States: the deployment of full-time facility dogs as human service workers. On Wednesday 24 June Prof. Carr will lead a workshop on linguistic engineering in welfare.
Read moreDecolonization and the European Welfare State by Dr. Emil Wolff
On May 12, Dr. Wolff’s Welfare Future Seminar explores decolonization within the European welfare state. Focusing on the postwar decades, the lecture examines the striking overlap between welfare expansion and large-scale migration from former colonies—challenging the common belief that immigration undermines welfare systems.
Read moreImagining Welfare State Futures - Seminar by Prof. John Clarke on 21 april
Prof. Clarke explores how welfare states are shaped by competing social imaginaries rather than fixed institutional designs. He argues that this perspective challenges the narrow empiricism that has long dominated welfare state research. The seminar takes place on the 21st of april and is part of the Welfare Futures Seminar Series.
Read moreWelfare Reform by Stealth? How Social Entrepreneurs in Germany and Greece Envision the Future of Welfare by Dimitri Soudias
In the next Welfare Future Seminar, Dr. Dimitri Soudias (Ghent University) will talk about Welfare Reform by Stealth? How Social Entrepreneurs in Germany and Greece Envision the Future of Welfare. This seminar takes place on the 10th of March in Amsterdam.
Read moreWelfare future seminar by Tessa Bonduelle: The values of volunteering: Race, class, and the politics of unwaged labour in London-based food aid
In the next Welfare Future Seminar, Tessa Bonduelle will talk about The values of volunteering: Race, class, and the politics of unwaged labour in London-based food aid. This seminar takes place on the 17th of February in Amsterdam.
Read more‘Being there for our neighbours’. Volunteering during the pandemic and the depoliticization of volunteer support networks in England.
On 11 December, Dr. Rosie Read (Bournemouth University) will give a talk entitled ‘Being there for our neighbours’: Volunteering during the pandemic and the depoliticization of volunteer support networks in England.
Read moreShifting States: EASA Anthropologies of the State Network Conference
From 22 to 24 October 2025, the EASA Network on Anthropologies of the State takes place at the UvA. The conference Shifting States will convene to examine shifting forms of state power and governance amid ongoing global crises. The conference explores how conflicts, migration restrictions, economic inequality, and technological developments such as artificial intelligence generate new tensions between citizens and state institutions. The keynote speaker is Alice von Bieberstein.
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