STRIDE partner OSLOMET attended the 2025 Luhmann Conference at the University of Cambridge. Entitled “Exploring New Theoretical Avenues for Understanding Inclusion”, the conference brought together scholars engaged with systems theory and sociological theory more broadly. It provided an inspiring opportunity to explore conceptual and theoretical challenges relevant to contemporary societies in depth.
The paper “Conceptual Obstacles and their Methodological and ‘Ethical’ Implications in Child Protection Research: A Systems Theoretical Perspective”, which focused on the need for theory-building in child protection research. It specifically proposed a reconstruction of systems theory to better inform research on inclusion and inequality. This paper aims to clarify the relationship between families and states in welfare, love and social work, and, ambitiously, to make systems theory statistically operational for empirical research on inequality.
Several other papers relevant to STRIDE’s objectives were also presented at the conference, including Tania Lindacher’s contribution on the semantics of inclusive education and the systemic problems and possibilities in the relationship between politics, education and research in this regard.
This participation demonstrates the STRIDE partners’ motivation and capacity to contribute to the ongoing development and dissemination of knowledge within the field.
