Research Connections | Back to School 2026

As a new academic year begins, we are excited to share research making a real difference – from preventing substance use disorders to documenting labor movements and confronting child marriage abroad. We are also spotlighting how our Doctor of Social Work (DSW) students are tackling real-world problems of social work practice in our DSW Spotlight Series.

Community engagement drives research at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Through research centers, funded projects, public scholarship, and service, our faculty, staff, and students use research to ask tough questions and work toward answers that create meaningful change and improve lives and communities.

We are pleased to share our Back to School 2026 edition of the Research Connections Newsletter. We invite you to contact us at kusswdo@ku.edu. Your feedback and collaboration are extremely important to us.

Take good care,

Michelle Mohr Carney, PhD, MSSA
Professor and Dean

Juliana Carlson, PhD, AM
Professor and Associate Dean for Research

Researchers in the KU School of Social Welfare have updated training materials that prepare healthcare providers to prevent, identify and treat substance use disorders across Kansas.

SBIRT – Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment – is an evidence-based approach to talking with people about their substance use. A recently completed project, Enhancing SBIRT through Provider Workforce Development in Kansas, prepares Kansas nurses, doctors, social workers and behavioral health clinicians to have honest conversations with patients about risky drinking or drug use.

Training, videos and resources are available online at SBIRT.care.

The University of Kansas remains among the top-ranked public universities for federally funded research in Social Work, according to the national Higher Education & Research Development (HERD) Survey.

The most recent HERD Survey from the National Science Foundation ranked KU as:

The latest HERD survey is based on fiscal year 2024 data.

A series of virtual continuing education events this fall highlights connections between research and practice from students in the online Doctor of Social Work (DSW) program.

The DSW Spotlight Series features presentations from KU DSW graduates and current students. They will share work from their DSW Capstone Projects on topics including health service access, mental health and intellectual disability, and child and family services.

Assistant Professor Tadeo Weiner Davis contributed to the Stand Up KC Community Archive, an effort to tell the story of a movement to improve pay and conditions for restaurant workers.

Weiner Davis's research documents community organizing, labor movements, urban politics, race and class.

Assistant Professor Claire Willey-Sthapit received an award recognizing her international research from KU International Affairs.

Willey-Sthapit’s research focuses on translating domestic violence policy and practice between the U.S and international contexts, specifically building from her family ties and professional experiences in Nepal.

Read more

Associate Professor Sarah Jen and Graduate Assistant Zhiqi Yi collaborated with the KU Libraries on "Aging, Art, and Activism: Reimagining Our Aging Futures through Creative Representations and Personal Narratives."

The exhibit builds on Jen's work with "Untold Stories of Aging," a project featuring artwork on aging-related themes.

Read more

Assistant Professor e alexander received a KU travel grant to support research and collaboration abroad.

alexander, a recipient of the International Travel Fund for Humanistic Research, traveled to Nigeria this summer to collect data through interviews, focus groups and oral histories about labor union organization and workers' rights advocacy.

Read more

New research from scholars in the KU School of Social Welfare draws on insights from those working to end child marriage in Malawi.

As a doctoral student, Linda Banda, who earned a Ph.D. in Social Work from KU, began conducting research as part of her dissertation with Juliana Carlson, professor in the School of Social Welfare. For a recently published study, Banda interviewed more than 20 people in Malawi. The new research found that attempts to combat child marriage are often guided by well-intentioned approaches that do not always align and leave out key stakeholders and local knowledge.

Co-author affiliation:
University of Vermont

Read more

DSW Spotlight Series: Community Engagement for Health Service Access
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026
12 to 1:30 p.m. CT
Online
CEU: 1.5

2026 LGBTQ Research Symposium
"Critical Hope: Queering Care, Belonging, and Survival"
Thursday and Friday, Sept. 17-18, 2026
Co-hosted by the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare

DSW Spotlight Series: Mental Health & Intellectual Disability: Coming Together for Inclusive and Effective Social Work Practice
Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. CT
Online
CEU: 3.0 clinical diagnosis/treatment

DSW Spotlight Series: Grand Challenges - Ensure Healthy Development for Youth: DSW Innovations to Reform Systems
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026
12 to 2 p.m. CT
Online
CEU: 2.0

Culturally Congruent Engagement and Assessment with Military Service Members and Their Families
Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. CT
Online
CEU: 3.0

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