Call for Papers Welfare & Ergonomia - n. 1/2026

The digital revolution has sparked a profound transformation of welfare systems, introducing new tools and technologies that are redefining how social services are delivered and how social risks and emerging needs are identified and addressed (Taylor-Gooby, 2004; Palmiero, 2020; Safarov, 2024). In this context, digital technologies not only promote new forms of access and participation, but also raise a wide range of issues related to the increasing complexity of governance and decision-making processes (Campedelli & Vesan, 2023; van Toorn et al., 2024).
In particular, digitalisation is reshaping how social data are collected, managed, and used for informed decision-making (Dencik, 2022). Digital platforms and social media offer an unprecedented source of real-time information, particularly in relation to historically excluded or marginalised populations (Pearce et al., 2020). Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, as well as messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp, act as repositories of social data (Cena & Dettano, 2022; Marrazzo & Punziano, 2021; Trezza, 2023), providing valuable insights into the socio-economic and healthcare needs of individuals and communities (Yafooz et al., 2025; Yue et al., 2023). However, the use of these data raises new challenges in terms of governance, transparency, and privacy. Traditional infrastructures such as information systems, while long-established, risk becoming too slow and inadequate to meet the demands of a digitalised and platform-based welfare system (Bonifacio et al., 2022; Longo & Maino, 2022).
The potential of digital technologies goes beyond data accessibility and service innovation: it also includes the ability to foster bottom-up participatory processes, engaging both citizens and policymakers within a framework of multi-level governance (Fung, 2015; Lin & Kant, 2021). At the same time, digitalisation comes with critical downsides. While tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) may enhance service delivery—ranging from robotic technologies to AI-powered support chatbots—they also raise unresolved concerns about ethical and responsible data use (De Luca Picione, Fortini & Trezza, 2024), privacy protection, and new forms of digital exclusion (Bentivegna, 2009; Larasati et al., 2023), including the risk of social isolation caused by excessive reliance on digital technologies (Grimaldi, 2022).
The introduction of AI into welfare systems also prompts broader questions: which population groups can these technologies help us understand better? How far can we push data analysis without risking ethical violations or exacerbating vulnerabilities? Responsible data governance and the implementation of transparent and fair policies are now unavoidable priorities in the contemporary debate on digital welfare.
In light of these transformations, digitalisation should be viewed both as an opportunity for innovation in social policy and as a new terrain of challenges—for those tasked with systematising the technological and informational change underway, and for the scientific community investigating these shifts (Henman, 2022). The production, management, and use of social data are in fact central to understanding whether and how digital welfare systems can promote inclusion, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
Based on these premises, this call for papers invites theoretical, empirical, and case-based contributions that explore the following areas:
• The impact of digitalisation on social policies: how digital technologies, including AI, are transforming social and healthcare policies and their implementation.
• Governance of digital data in welfare services: challenges and opportunities related to the management and use of social data within welfare systems.
• The role of social media in welfare transformation: how platforms shape information flows and contribute to more transparent and accountable welfare services.
• Digital exclusion and new inequalities: implications of the digital divide and strategies to ensure equitable access to digital services.
• Technology and co-design: active citizen participation in the planning and implementation of digitalised social services.
• Sociotechnical risks and vulnerabilities: ethical, social, and technical implications of using digital data and technologies in welfare, with a focus on exclusion and inequality.
• Data quality in digital welfare: critical reflections on the quality of digital data in the design and implementation of welfare policies, including discussion of limitations, breaking points, and innovation potential, alongside plausible future scenarios.
Contributors interested in submitting to this special issue of Welfare e Ergonomia are invited to submit an abstract (max 3,000 characters including spaces) by September 25, 2025. Upon acceptance, full papers (maximum length: 25,000 characters including spaces) must be submitted by January 20, 2026.
Abstracts must include the following sections:
• Introduction to the topic
• Theoretical framework and national/international debate
• Methodological approach and research hypotheses
• Main and innovative findings
• Essential references

Abstracts must be submitted via email to: welfarergonomia.rel@irpps.cnr.it

After notification of acceptance, authors will be required to register on the FrancoAngeli OJS platform: https://ojs.francoangeli.it/_ojs/index.php/we/user/register
Once registered, the article must be submitted via the “Submit a new proposal” link in the Dashboard.
If the proposal does not align with the journal’s themes, the editorial board reserves the right to reject the submission.

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