Lars Uggerhøj is an educated social worker and has been working at the Department of Social Work in Aarhus, Denmark for 13 years before continuing his academic carrier. He has been visiting professor at Boston University, USA, visiting professor at Helsinki University, Finland and currently a visiting professor at University of Lincoln, UK.

Research

Lars Uggerhøjs’ research focuses on the meeting between service users and social workers/systems and is primarily based on service user experience and the challenges, barriers and possibilities in involving service users in social work – with a specific interest in powerrelations and actor perspectives. His research approach is Practice Research and he has since 2008 published several articles and book chapters about this issue – as well as trying out different practice research approaches and projects. He has been one of the principal organizers of the four international conferences in Practice Research and a pivotal person in the international development and definition of Practice Research.

Teaching

Lars Uggerhøj has been teaching all through his professional carrier - as a presenter and keynote speaker at numerous national and international conferences, as a consultant in social work practices and as a lecturer at bachelor, master and doctoral level. Main topics have focused on his research topic and his practice research approach, but also social work perspectives, theories and methods.

Coordination and Management

Lars Uggerhøj has headed the Danish MSc in Social Science in Social Work for nine years. He has for 6 years been the Danish coordinator of the international Erasmus mundus programme ‘Master in Advanced Development in Social Work’ – a collaboration between UK, France, Portugal, Poland and Denmark – and he is now the head coordinator of the programme. He is the Danish coordinator of the ‘Nordic master in Social Work and welfare’ – another international master programme in social work, including partners in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He is heading the ‘Practice Research and Service User Perspectives’ research network at Aalborg university, and has until recently coordinated the Nordic ‘Knowledge production in Social Work’ research network and the ‘Nordic/Baltic Doctoral Network in Social Work’ offering international doctoral courses. He is convenor of ‘The Special Interest Group in Practice Research’ in the European Social Work Research Association and coordinator of the Nordic FORSA (Research in Social Work) network on Practice Research. Lars Uggerhøj has been heading or been member of several committees and boards nationally and internationally over the years.

Publications

Lars Uggerhøj has published widely nationally and internationally on general social work issues, but specifically on the topics ‘Service User Involvement and experience’ and ‘Practice Research in Social Work’.

Selected Publication from the last Five Years

Matthies, Aila-Leena and Uggerhøj, Lars (eds.) 2014 Participation, Marginalization and Welfare Services - Concepts, Politics and Practices Across European Countries, Ashgate, London

Uggerhøj, L. (2014). The powerful meeting between social workers and service users: Needs, barriers and possibilities in participation processes in agency settings. Participation, marginalization and welfare services: Concepts, politics and practices across European countries.

Uggerhøj, Lars (2014) Participation or Marginalization: How Different Perspectives Lead Towards a Democratic Direction in Matthies, Aila-Leena and Uggerhøj, Lars (eds.) 2014 Participation, Marginalization and Welfare Services - Concepts, Politics and Practices Across European Countries, Ashgate, London

Uggerhøj, Lars (2014) Learning from each other - Collaboration Processes in Practice Research, Nordic Social Work Research, Vol. 4, Supplement 1, 2014, p.44-57

Austin, M., Fisher, M. and Uggerhøj, L. (2014) The Helsinki Statement, Nordic Social Work Research, Vol. 4, Supplement 1, 2014, p.7-13

Austin, M. Epstein, Fisher, M., Julkunen, I., Sim, T. and Uggerhøj, L.(2015) The New York Statement on the Evolving Definition of Practice Research Designed for Continuing Dialogue: A Bulletin From the 3rd International Conference on Practice Research 2014, Journal of Research on Social Work Practice, Volume 25, p.711-714.

Julkunen, I and Uggerhøj, L. (2016) Negotiating Practice research, Journal of Teaching in Social Work Special Issue: Teaching Practice Research Volume 36, Issue 1, p. 6-10

Uggerhøj, L. (2016) ‘Theorizing Practice Research in Social Work’ in Shaw, I. Hardy, M. and Marsh, J. Social Work Research , volume three: The Practice of Social Work Research. London: Sage Publishing

Austin, M., Fisher, M. Julkunen, I., Sim, T., Isokuortti, N. and Uggerhøj, L. (2016), Practice Research, Oxford Bibliographies

Uggerhøj, L. (2016), Viden i Praksis (Knowledge in practice), Vera –Tidsskrift for pædagoger Volume 77, December 2016

Uggerhøj, L. (2017) ‘Possibilities and Barriers in Practice Research Approaches’ in Støkken A.M. and Willumsen, E. (eds) Brukerstemmer, Praksisforskning og Innovasjon (Uservoices, practice Research and innovation). Kristiansand: Portal Forlag AS

Andersen, M.L., Henriksen, K., Mejlvig, K. and Uggerhøj, L (2017). Driving forces in practice research in Høgsbro, K and Shaw, I. (eds.) Social Work and Research in Advanced Welfare States. London: Routledge

Sim, T. et al. (2018) ’The Hong Kong Statement on Practice Research 2017 – Contexts and Challenges of the Far East. Research on Social Work Practice, June 2018

Uggerhøj, L. Henriksen, K, and Andersen, M.L. (2018) ‘Participatory practice research and action research – birds of a feather?’ China Journal of Social Work, Volume 11, 2018 - Issue 2: Special Issue: Practice Research in Chinese Societies

Rasell, M., Join-Lambert, H., Naumiuk, A., Pinto, C., Uggerhøj, L. & Walker, J. (2019) Diversity, dialogue, and identity in designing globally relevant social work education, Social Work Education, April 2019