Cluster Chairs

Overview of Cluster Chair Roles and Responsibilities in the Abstract Review and Development of the Abstract-based Program Content of the SSWR Annual Conference

Cluster Co-Chairs play a significant role in the abstract review and development of the abstract-based program content for the SSWR 2027 annual conference. The multi-stage abstract review process, which is led by the Cluster Co-Chairs, is intrinsic to a successful, impactful, and scientifically rigorous research conference. We could not offer the conference without the energy that volunteer reviewers, Cluster Co-Chairs, and staff devote to the abstract review process.

CLUSTER CHAIR TERM AND APPOINTMENT PROCESS
Service Term: 3-year term
Eligibility Requirements: Prospective cluster chairs must meet the following criteria:

  1. PhD in social work or social welfare (or be on a social work faculty)
  2. Maintain a current program of research
  3. Possess relative expertise to the SSWR clusters and topics
  4. Experience serving at least two years as an abstract reviewer for SSWR, and/or as an abstract reviewer for another social work or related national membership organization in a similar or related area to the cluster(s) you are being nominated for

Recommendation Process: Every year, a number of Cluster Co-Chairs rotate off. The Cluster Co-Chairs, SSWR Board and conference committee members, SSWR Fellows, and the Special Interest Group (SIG) conveners are asked to recommend individuals that meet the eligibility requirements.

Vetting Process: The SSWR Vice President/Conference Chair and SSWR staff vets each of the prospective Cluster Co-Chairs. The SSWR Vice President/Conference Chair then recommends the Cluster Co-Chair appointments to the conference committee and board who vote to affirm the appointments.

CLUSTER CHAIR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Abstracts submitted to the conference are categorized within 29 clusters. Each cluster is chaired by 2-4 members of the social work community for a 3-year term – in many cases we aim to appoint three co-chairs to better distribute the work. Cluster chairs have a very significant role in the abstract review process and ensuring timely notification of abstract status to authors.

Cluster chairs jointly are responsible for the following tasks in this progressive order:

• Agree to serve for 3 years.
• Help to recruit reviewers with expertise in related to your Cluster.
• Make reviewer assignments to submitted abstracts. (each abstract is reviewed by two reviewers.)
• Review incomplete assignments or outlier abstracts for your Cluster. (Cluster chairs are asked to review incomplete review assignments, have conflicts of interest, or when abstract content and reviewer expertise is not a good match. After the Vice President/Conference Chair oversees the abstract review score discrepancy analysis for outlying reviewer scores, the cluster chairs provide a third review for abstracts where there are outlying reviewer scores)
• Recommend abstracts for acceptance in each format (individual oral papers, flash talks, posters, symposia, roundtables, and workshops) and group into cohesive sessions which contain 4-5 highly scored individual oral paper abstracts, convert highly scored papers that don’t fit thematically into a paper session to ePosters when the authors agree.
• Create flash-talk sessions which contain 6-7 highly scored individual oral paper abstracts, convert highly scored papers that don’t fit thematically into a flash talk session to flash-talk sessions when the authors agree.
• Recommend moderators for oral paper and flash talk sessions.
• Report on Cluster submissions and accepted abstracts to your Cluster and any affiliated or related Special Interest Groups.

Tentative 2027 Timeline for Cluster Chairs’ work:

  • March 2026: recruit volunteer reviewers for their cluster (as needed)
  • April 16-30, 2026: assign abstracts submitted in their cluster to volunteer reviewers
  • June 8-22, 2026: handle incomplete abstract review assignments
  • July 1-15, 2026: review outlier abstracts
  • July 23-August 7, 2026: complete abstract decision-making process

If you have any questions, please contact A. DeeJay Hastings, IOM, CAE, SSWR program director, dj@sswr.org.

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