Organized by the Institute for Political Science and Social Policy under the leadership of Tobias Wiß and Angela Wegscheider, the ESPAnet conference was an opportunity for colleagues in the field of Austrian social policy research to come together. The conference featured 45 presentations across 13 panels and a keynote speech by Herbert Obinger (University of Bremen) in which he spoke on the development of the Austrian welfare state through the years, the present, and future challenges. As is often the case with the panels, the discussion after the presentation was both stimulating and insightful.

ESPAnet, opens an external URL in a new window (the European Network for Social Policy Analysis) is a network of European researchers active in the field of social policy research. ESPAnet Austria fosters academic dialog and collaboration among Austrian and international researchers working in the field of social policy related to Austria.