Brief & Brilliant Session

Call for Self-Nominations

Interested in reaching a broader audience with your work?
Invested in sharing your work with the public, decision makers, funders?
Self-nominate to speak in SSWR’s 5th annual Brief & Brilliant Session.

Abstract submission deadline extended for one more week from April 30, 2020 to May 8, 2020.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact our lives, we know that our members are dealing with multiple, unexpected demands of time, both professional and family. We hoped that this additional time to submit your abstract will be helpful.

At this time, SSWR is still planning on holding the 2021 SSWR Conference in San Francisco. However, we recognize that the coronavirus pandemic has caused many universities to implement financial and travel restrictions on faculty and students. It is also uncertain what course the pandemic will take in late 2020 and early 2021. Therefore, in the coming months, the SSWR Board and the Conference Program Committee will be exploring ways in which we may be able to include some virtual components to the conference.

Abstract Submission Site:
https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2021/brief/cfp.cgi

The Brief & Brilliant session is a TedX-style event held annually at the SSWR conference that showcases social work scholarly talent. Five scholars will be selected to each give a 10-minute lightning talk, highlighting an idea from their area of work that is particularly important, relevant or intriguing.

The Brief & Brilliant session aims to translate social work research in order to engage a broad audience and emphasize the public relevance of this work. The goal is to emphasize the main conclusions of a scholar’s work (or the work of others in their area) rather than the methodological details behind it. Speakers will be provided with two training and support sessions (via video conference) where they will be coached to put aside their traditional academic slides of bulleted methods and, instead, prepare a talk that utilizes photos, images, storytelling, and media to engage their audience in understanding and connecting to their idea.

We are particularly interested in bold ideas related to this year’s conference theme: “Social Work Science for Social Change.”

To submit, please see author instructions below. The submission site is https://sswr.confex.com/sswr/2021/brief/cfp.cgi. Please note the deadline is Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 11:59 pm, Pacific Time. Consider sending your colleagues interested in sharing their work in this innovative format this announcement and encouraging their self-nomination. Selected speakers will be notified late August 2020. Trainings will occur in November and December and talks will take place at SSWR in January 2021.

The Brief & Brilliant submission form includes the following questions.

  • Presentation title
  • In a sentence or two, how would you describe the focus of your scholarship? (150-word limit)
  • Why are you interested in speaking in the Brief & Brilliant session? (250-word limit)
  • What successes and challenges have you experienced in translating your work for broader (non-academic) audiences? (250-word limit)
  • Please list potential ideas or topics you are excited about sharing through the Brief & Brilliant format.

Notice about Abstract Submission Deadline:
SSWR has extended the 2021 conference abstract submission deadline from April 15, 2020 to April 30, 2020. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact our lives, we know that our members are dealing with multiple, unexpected demands of time, both professional and family. We hope that this additional time to submit your abstract will be helpful.

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