Plenary Session 1

Group Mentoring
A strategy to nurture passion for research among practising social workers in Singapore

Mr Ivan Woo, Senior Research Executive
Lien Centre for Palliative Care, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

Social work departments across the world have disappeared due to lack of evidence to justify their existence in a world that places increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice. Continuous survival of the social work profession is threatened, resulting in an acute need for social workers to take a more active stance in research.

This presentation begins with attempts to address social workers’ common fears of research. Group mentoring as a strategy to nurture passion for research among practicing social workers in the community is then discussed. Suggestions for social workers to increase research capability in the community end the presentation.


If Mary Richmond and Jane Addams Could See Us Now

Dr Sudha Nair, Assistant Professor
Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore

Social work in Singapore has seen a continuous growth since the 1950s when the British Government and charity service organisations introduced welfare oriented policies and services to a fledgling soon-to-be nation. For 60 years, as social workers we have been "doing" whether in research, policy or practice. This presentation takes stock of what we are "doing" or not, whether we are "doing" it right or not and where we could go from here.