ESPAnet Austria organizes regular research conferences to facilitate exchange and cooperation between researchers in Austria and abroad who are conducting research (including comparative research) on Austrian social policy. We welcome presentations in German as well as in English.

The 8^th ESPAnet Austria Research Conference will take place on 9 and 10 April 2026 at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. The Call for Papers for this conference can be found here. Submissions are open until 17 November 2025. Please send abstracts in Word format by email to espanet_at@wu.ac.at. 

The 7^th ESPAnet Austria Research Conference took place on 24 and 25 April 2025 at the University of Innsbruck. Thirty-six specialist presentations were given and discussed in 12 thematic panels. The detailed programme can be found here.

The 6^th ESPAnet Austria Research Conference took place on 4 and 5 April 2024 at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. It was organised by Tobias Wiß and Angela Wegscheider. 46 presentations were held and discussed as part of 13 thematic panels. The detailed programme can be found here. As part of the conference, Prof. Dr Herbert Obinger gave a keynote speech on the Austrian welfare state.

The 5th ESPAnet Austria Social Policy Research Conference took place on September 14, 2022 at the University of Vienna. It was organized by Karin Heitzmann, August Österle and Yuri Kazepov. In 5 sessions 13 papers were presented for discussion. The detailed program can be found here. Following the 5th Social Policy Research Conference, the 20th European ESPAnet Conference took place, also at the University of Vienna (September 14-16, 2022). At the 20th European ESPAnet Conference, Karin Heitzmann and August Österle offered a stream focusing on the Austrian welfare state(Austrian social policy between path dependency and innovation).

After a long interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4th Social Policy Research Conference (Version 2) of ESPAnet Austria took place at the University of Graz on September 27 and 28, 2021. Over two days, 25 papers were presented for discussion in 8 sessions. The detailed program can be found here. The research conference was organized in memory of the late Univ.^Profin. Margarete Kreimer, whose tireless commitment to empirical research in the fields of social policy, the labor market, care and feminist economics. She was also a long-standing member of the ESPAnet Board. We miss her very much!

Unfortunately, the 4th research conference of ESPAnet Austria, which would have taken place from April 16-17, 2020 at the University of Graz, had to be canceled due to the measures to contain the corona virus. The organizers have created a program and opened up the possibility of informal exchange for the speakers.

The 3rd ESPAnet Austria Research Conference took place from April 25-26, 2019 at the University of Innsbruck. Over two days, 41 papers were presented for discussion in 8 sessions. The detailed program can be found here.

The 2nd ESPAnet Austria Research Conference took place from April 5-6, 2018 at the University of Linz. Over two days, 28 papers were presented for discussion in 8 sessions. The detailed program can be found here.

The 1st research conference of ESPAnet Austria took place from April 20-21, 2017 at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Over two days, 41 papers were presented for discussion in 14 sessions. The detailed program can be found here.

If you are interested in the activities of ESPAnet Austria or would like to subscribe to the ESPAnet Austria e-mail distribution list, please contact: espanet_at@wu.ac.at