Doctoral dissertations

PhD student: Gretl Dons
Summary: The last decades, transparency in social work became a guiding framework. Both in social policy and social work practices. Transparency is a complex and multidimensional concept that takes on different meanings depending on who it is about, who is using it, or the context in which it is used. In this action research, together with practitioners in the various sectors of youth care, the focus is on what pedagogy is being developed in social work practices when it comes to transparency as in the interactions between professionals and service users. We want to explore how child and family social workers make transparency as a basic attitude explicit in their daily practice and what dilemmas they face in this context. The aim is to change practice itself. The setup is a change process in collaboration with those involved with the purpose of theory building.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Rudi Roose, Jan Naert (Social Work, Ghent University)
Periode of time: October 2020 - January 2025

PhD student: Soline Balet
Summary: The structural exclusion of illegalised migrants from Belgian society, their limited rights and restricted access to social services render it difficult for social workers and volunteers to provide more than just material support, situated in the present. This research project aims to gain a deeper understanding of structural social support practices and specific approaches to socio-legal and psycho-social support through ethnographic research methods. Therefore, the project focuses on local and municipal initiatives that link conditional welfare services, namely shelter, to intensive social counselling towards certain future perspectives for illegalised migrants. At the same time, the research endeavours to encompass how social workers, volunteers and illegalised migrants themselves construct informal forms of social support.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Robin Vandevoordt, Ine Lietaert (Social Work, Ghent University)
Periode of time: October 2021 - October 2025

PhD student: Matthias Remmery
Summary: To improve the inclusion and citizenship of youngsters in residential youth care in society, recent research focuses on the development of a positive living group climate. However, this concept limits itself to interpersonal rather than socio-spatial relations and socio-spatial relations and treatment motivation rather than capacity to aspire of youngsters. Therefore, the of the research project is to acquire theoretical and empirical knowledge on the development of a socio-spatial citizenship climate. A socio-spatial lifeworld orientation theory is used to examine how youngsters experience and shape their freedom of movement and their capacity to aspire, related to the question how residential youth care can hinder or enable them to reveal this. A qualitative research approach is used, combining ethnography, mental mapping, biographical interviews and focus groups.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Griet Roets, Rudi Roose (Department Of Social Work And Social Pedagogy, Ghent University)
Periode of time: November 2021 - October 2025

PhD student: Eveline Meylemans
Summary: This research focusses on the place of children in society and in research. The study suggests a social-pedagogical approach to scrutinize young children’s (9-12 years) actual (lived) citizenship experiences in relation to their social, cultural, economic and spatial environments through a qualitative child-driven approach, in which children are enabled as co-researchers throughout the whole research design. In doing so, this study will contribute to (1) the international body of empirical and theoretical knowledge on young children’s actual citizenship; and to (2) the emerging academic field of participatory research with children as co-researchers, aiming to deepen the methodological and ethical dimensions of this approach.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Lieve Bradt, Lieselot De Wilde
Periode of time: November 2021 - November 2025

PhD student: Sander Van Thomme
Summary: The child friendly city (CFC) is generally seen as a practice of good urban planning in the best interest of the child. However, thorough debate on its actual pedagogical meaning is missing. To open up this debate, we will take on a social pedagogical perspective, focusing on how the CFC organises the relationship between children and young people and the society. As a result, the CFC will be approached as a pedagogical project shaping the pedagogical potential of the city. As such, this PhD-project aims to disentangle the hidden pedagogy of policy and practices in the CFC, to better understand the way the CFC acts as a socialising framework for children and young people and to collect empirical knowledge on the way CFC's embrace the various ways in which both children and young people are approached as citizens. This will contribute to the broader knowledge base on the position of children and young people in society and the way cities deal with urban transformations and challenges.
PhD in Social Work
Promoter(s): Lieve Bradt, Sven De Visscher (Eco-City, University College Ghent)
Periode of time: December 2022 - January 2028