Worker Considerations
Identification of Technological Innovations to Address Disasters Developed by Social Work: The Experience of Brazil and Australia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Isabel Barros Bellini, Niki Edwards, Julie King, Nadianna Rosa Marques
This investigation aims to answer the research problem: What technological innovations and strategies for coping with disasters, developed by social work in Brazil and Australia, can be replicated and disseminated in the interprofessional perspective and in collaborative practices, contributing to the prevention and mitigation of the effects of these events in different realities? The objective is: Identify and disseminate technological innovations and strategies for coping with disasters developed by social work in Brazil and Australia, in order to enhance the use by different professional areas at the national and international level, contributing in an interprofessional and collaborative way in the prevention and mitigation of the effects of these events. The methodology covers bibliographical, documentary and field research in a systematic and interdependent way, using the quantitative and qualitative approach. The perspective of totality allows the apprehension of the contradictions and dynamics of the object studied. It is important to highlight that social work is a profession that intervenes in various expressions of the social issue, in the most distinct areas of activity, and in this case, acting in disasters is a demand that presents itself from time to time, requiring immediate action. This research raises debate, reflection, academic production and the elaboration of subsidies from concrete experiences of social workers in two different countries with different social realities. The purpose is to grow interprofessional qualifications for this type of intervention.
Experiences and Coping Mechanisms of Highly-skilled Foreign Professionals Living and Working in the City of Vienna: Furthering Internationalisation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ana Nestorovic, Marie Therese Claes
This mixed methods study uses the theoretical background of Tajfel and Turner’s Social identity theory (1986) about in-group and outgroup dynamics and the Dietz (2015) skill paradox, to investigate and analyze what kind of obstacles do highly skilled migrants and expatriates (outgroup) experience, face in everyday life in public spaces, entering the job market or encounter for integration and acculturation in the workplace in Vienna, and what are their responding and coping mechanisms, how do they respond to the obstacles that they are encountering? This study investigates this contradiction from the perspective of highly skilled foreigners who are choosing Vienna as their center of work and life. Qualitative exploration will be done by analyzing 40 interviews with highly skilled foreign professionals with diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, citizenship, nationality, and gender; and should be followed by a quantitative survey aimed at 500 foreign employees. The study includes all foreigners, ex-pats, and skilled migrants. This study is currently important in a situation where there is a growing and ongoing need for foreign labor in Vienna and can contribute to a theoretical understanding of mechanisms that lie behind highly skilled immigrants and expats’ experience of acculturation and accommodation to the workplace and living environment. We identify the obstacles at the interpersonal, organizational, or/and structural levels, as well as responding and coping mechanisms, so we can understand, prevent, and counteract the loss or demotivation of highly skilled immigrants and ex-pats in Vienna.
Climate Change and Migration: Implications and Opportunities of a Crisis Framing
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Karen Block
Drivers of mass migration occur at the intersection of multiple crises: conflicts, climate change, disasters, poverty, persecution, discrimination, and socio-economic inequality. Migration also frequently triggers a manufactured crisis narrative within receiving countries, particularly when it involves the exodus and arrival of refugees, as with the 2015 European ‘refugee crisis’. The construction of migration as crisis is then commonly conflated with political crises: of state security, the economy, national sovereignty, cultural and religious identity, (un)employment, and strain on infrastructure and resources, including healthcare and housing. The result is increased politicisation and securitisation of global mobility policies and discourses. While mass movements of people triggered by climate change and related disasters is expected to comprise predominantly internal migration, its impact will nonetheless be immense. The World Bank, for example, predicts that up to 216 million people could be displaced by 2050 without urgent action, largely justifying the crisis label. This paper explores the implications and opportunities afforded by a conflated crisis framing of migration and climate change. Will mass displacements of people lead to ever-widening global inequalities, conflicts and increasing securitisation of borders? Or can a climate justice movement create opportunities for new cross-border solidarities and social and environmental resilience?
