About the 2025 European social services Conference
Transforming Social Services - Where Care Meets Tech
The 33rd edition of the European Social Services Conference (ESSC) will be organised in Aarhus (Denmark) on 22-25 June 2025.
The ESSC is the annual flagship event of the European Social Network (ESN), the Network for Public Social Services in Europe. The ESSC is the largest public social welfare policy and practice forum in Europe, attended by almost 700 delegates in Antwerp in 2024.
The ESSC 2025 will be the opportunity for decision-makers in public authorities, third sector organisations, social services professionals, providers of technology solutions, and researchers to share and exchange their knowledge and experiences with peers from across Europe and other regions of the world.
Conference Theme
Personalisation and the development of new technologies and digital transformation are key drivers reshaping the landscape of social services including long term care, aiming to provide more tailored and effective support to people in need.
Personalised care and support represent a new relationship between people, professionals, social services and care organisations. It shifts power and decision making to give people a voice, to be heard, to be connected to each other and their communities. Personalisation converges in a quest for active citizenship through the participation of people who use social services, as well as embracing partnerships within public administration and communities.
However, this process still needs significant development across Europe; hence, fostering human relationships needs to be placed at the core of social services transformation. This should be done through the development of a relational welfare approach, which highlights that future social services cannot just focus on delivery but also on fostering meaningful relationships and building supportive communities.
At the 33rd edition of the European Social Services Conference we will learn how relational welfare approaches on the one hand, and welfare technology on the other are major drivers of social services transformation to make them fit for the 21st century. The Conference will provide the platform to address how the combination of relational approaches and technology in social services creates a powerful synergy that enhances efficiency, accessibility, customisation, trust, and empathy.
