BU Research Blog

Over the last two days (23^rd-24^th September) the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy has been collaborating with colleagues from Kawasaki University, Japan on a pilot research project that compares and contrasts two systems of childcare and child protection.

Professor Dr Tadakazu Kumagai, also a visiting faculty member at BU, Dr Katsuki Naoshima and Tim Cleminson of Kawasaki University met with Professor Dr Jonathan Parker, Jill Davey and Richard Williams from BU and held discussions with Centre colleagues from Bournemouth Borough Council led by Principal Social Worker, Stefan Kleipoedszus. They explored different conceptions and constructions of social organisation, practice and policy and what this means for individual members of society and professionals within these two countries. Outcomes from this meeting will result in a further bid being prepared by Kawasaki University to extend the research, a report for the Japanese funder of this research and two peer-reviewed papers.

The discussions highlighted a range of interesting interdisciplinary and cross-cutting themes looking at variation across cultures, different models of social organisation and welfare developing within particular contexts and some of the ways in which cross-cultural research must take into account different models of selfhood and identity, social responsibility and social policy. Matters of great importance to our contemporary global world!

Prof Jonathan Parker