The focus of the conference, which will take place from 11 to 13 April 2011, is: Learning for practice, learning in practice: exploring how practitioners develop knowledge, competence and wisdom in the human services. Themes will highlight the integration of theory and practice in health and social sciences. The program includes presentations from England, Wales and Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, Cyprus, South Africa, India and Kuwait. Attending the conference will also provide a learning experience with regard to the integration of community engagement, teaching and research.

Dr Prinsloo’s presentation will be on enhancing social responsibility of students and the integration of social work values and principles in challenging settings, such as detention centers and prisons. It is based the Youth Awaiting Trial-project that she initiated in 2008 as community engagement project for the Department of Social Work and Criminology’s second year social work students. The project continues every year and is one of the projects funded by the Department of Community Engagement since 2010. The Departments of Drama and Ancient Languages (Latin) joined the initiative in 2010 and the planning for 2011 is that other departments in the Faculty of Humanities will come aboard to enrich the outcomes.