EASP × FISS · TAIPEI · 2027 Annual Conference
Rethinking Social Policy for a Just Transition in the AI Era
The 2027 conference is the 23rd International Conference of the East Asian Social Policy research network (EASP), held jointly with the 33rd International Conference of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS). It is hosted by the Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University, in Taipei.
The East Asian Social Policy research network (EASP) brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with a shared interest in social policy and welfare across East Asia. Since its founding, EASP has fostered comparative dialogue on pensions, health and long-term care, family policy, labour markets, inequality, and the changing role of the welfare state.
The Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS) is an independent, non-profit association that aims to promote international, multidisciplinary research on social security, including its relationships with other aspects of society (such as the labour market, unemployment, poverty, income redistribution, savings, housing, the family, health and well-being).
The conference takes the coming of an AI society as its principal axis and eco-social policy under the environmental transition as its second. It places both within the structural context of rapid demographic transition around the world, and draws them together around two lines of policy response: social investment and social innovation.
Rethinking Social Policy for a Just Transition in the AI Era
Welfare states stand at a crossroads. Artificial intelligence is remaking labour markets and care systems, while climate change compels countries to pursue net zero and to rethink the social risks that transition brings. Added to these are the pressures of super-ageing and ultra-low fertility, and the gaps in social safety nets exposed by the pandemic. What social policy faces is no longer the repair of a single programme but the reconstruction of a paradigm.
Automation and the platform economy are rewriting employment, leaving social protection built around standard employment relationships out of step. AI also brings new instruments to social services and care — from care technology and risk prediction to administrative automation — and with them new questions of digital divides, data governance and algorithmic accountability.
The drive towards net zero redistributes jobs and social risks. How can a just transition ensure that vulnerable groups are not left behind, and how can ecological sustainability be built into the design of the welfare state? Differences in economic development, industrial structure, energy dependence and social protection capacity mean that the transition poses different policy challenges across countries. The conference will examine, through cross-national and interdisciplinary dialogue, how countries balance growth, decarbonisation and social protection.
Countries are undergoing demographic transition in different forms and at different speeds. Some face low fertility, population ageing and a shrinking workforce, while others must meet the social needs created by population growth, youth employment and rapid urbanisation. These changes strain the financing and workforce of pensions, health care and long-term care. They also interlock with both axes above: care shortages drive the use of care technology and AI, while decarbonisation and automation may reshape employment across generations.
Social investment holds that, beyond income protection after the fact, the welfare state should emphasise prevention and capacity-building across the life course. Social innovation stresses collaboration among the state, market, non-profit organisations and communities. The institutional conditions, implementation and distributive effects of both approaches still need to be examined across countries and institutional contexts. The conference invites scholars worldwide to explore how social policy can draw on both to respond to new risks while safeguarding basic income security and social rights.
Online portal goes live for paper and panel proposals.
Final date to submit abstracts for review.
Authors notified of review outcomes.
Reduced registration rate closes.
Three days of keynotes, panels, and networking.
We welcome individual papers, organised panels, and poster submissions on all aspects of social policy. Postgraduate and early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply.
Full call for papersKeynote speakers will be announced.
Affiliation
Affiliation
Affiliation
Affiliation
National Taiwan University, Taipei. Hosted by the Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University. The detailed campus venue will be announced.
Information on airports, visas, and local transport will be posted here.
Recommended hotels and booking details to follow.
Submission arrangements are set out in the full call for papers. Registration and fees will be announced on this page.
