PICTURES

2018 EISS Conference in Venice, Italy: “Sustainable social security: past and future challenges in social security”       

The EISS is celebrated its 50th anniversary with a splendid international conference from 11 to 12 October at the premises of Venice International University. The conference focused on sustainable social security. Pictures can be found below.

Full program

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Short overview:

On 11 and 12 October, the EISS welcomed around 90 participants for its annual conference, which this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Institute. The participants representend a good reflection  of the condition of the Institute at its 50th birthday: the current established generation of social security academics and professionals was complemented by a new generation of young researchers in the field, who were amply present. The conference succeeded in its aim to bring the different generations of social security experts together, an exchange both sides could appreciate. While the invited speakers delivered contributions at a very high level, the comments of the young researchers added an extra perspective to the conference that was highly valued by all present.

The partnership between the founding universities of the EISS in organizing the event added to its symbolic value. Benefitting from the wonderful location on the island of San Servolo in Venice provided by the partners of Venice International University,  all participants agreed that the conference celebrated the Institute in a perfectly fitting manner.

The conference presentations have been made available to the participants and EISS members. If you want to find out more and get access to the presentations, contact us at info[at]eiss.be.

Next year's conference will take place in Zurich from 26-27 September. The focus will be on "Social Security and New Family Structures". We hope to welcome you then!

On the conference topic:

Sustainability is often referred to as a major objective to be respected by social policy makers. Yet, what is to be understood by this principle? Is there something as a common understanding of the principle of sustainability, valid across various disciplines, in a cross-national setting and going beyond the mere economic-financial assessment of system sustainability (“i.e. financial and economic constraints to social security”), which is traditionally applied by international organizations such as IMF, OECD and the EU?

By merging the different views on sustainability (law, economics and social security), the ambition was to find out whether sustainability can be a guiding principle in designing a global model for social security, reaching in its turn to new global (legal) standards in the field of social security. The joint event thus addressed an international (European) public and had the ambition to bring together established scholars in the field as well as the upcoming younger generation of social security scientists.

The conference was also the occasion to celebrate the 50 years of the European Institute of Social Security; hence, we brought together the past (founding generations of the Institute) and the future generations of social security scientists around the topic of sustainability (part of them being participants in the Young Research Event that preceded the conference).