The development of social work research throughout years has become one of the biggest and ever-present concerns emerging from the social work field. Moreover, in the context of public universities the reinforcement of the support to social work research has been seen as critical for the acceptance and acknowledgement of social work as an academic discipline, peer with other disciplines of the social sciences realm. In Europe, this linkage with research activities as a means of developing social work position within public universities has been taken different forms and implications. Therefore, the aim of the proposed symposium is to explore, analyze and debate different experiences of research development in social work, its implication for the position of this discipline in the university and the ways in which these activities connect with social work education, namely at master and PhD level. We will explore Iberian experience at this regard. From Portugal, we will present the experience of the PhD programme at the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) and the national research networks in-progress with other higher schools. From Salamanca/Spain, an approach to an existing Iberian and Latin American network of teaching and research will be developed, highlighting the outcomes and the contribution to the position of social work in Spain, Portugal and other countries involved (Latino-américa). Finally, from Madrid an experience will be brought on how intercontinental networks may enhance and contribute to the research body in Social Work. The aim is to debate and share experiences from which we can learn the various ways in which research activities based on networks (national or international) might contribute to reinforce the position of social work at public universities.

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Social work ;Social Work research; Research networks; Social Work education