NORDLOCH Oslo Conference 2026 is a Nordic research conference that explores how longitudinal child protection research can strengthen comparative Nordic learning, improve methodological quality, and support rights-based public-sector development for children at risk.
The programme includes a PhD forum, a policy-maker symposium, and paper sessions with dedicated discussants.
The conference is hosted by Oslo Centre of Children´s Rights at the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy
About the conference
The conference is organised as an open, research-led event with a particular focus on child welfare and child protection services. A key objective is to bridge state-of-the-art research with policy development across the Nordics.
Its point of departure is a shared Nordic concern: Children who come into contact with child protection services often face weak long-term outcomes, while public authorities are expected to exercise discretionary and sometimes coercive powers in ways that are effective, accountable, and demonstrably consistent with children’s rights.
NORDLOCH 2026 is intended as a meeting place for serious scholarly exchange across national settings. It addresses how longitudinal and register-based research can contribute to better decision-making quality, stronger accountability, and more rights-sensitive public services for children at risk.
In this sense, the conference is relevant not only to child protection research, but also to broader questions concerning knowledge use, administrative legitimacy, and institutional learning in the public sector.
Why this conference matters
Across the Nordic countries, policy instruments and service designs differ in meaningful ways, including thresholds for intervention, placement regimes, aftercare, preventive services, and inter-agency coordination.
These differences create an important comparative setting for research. At the same time, comparative longitudinal research remains methodologically demanding, and fragmentation across countries can limit cumulative learning.
The conference is therefore designed as a dedicated Nordic forum for synthesising evidence, strengthening comparability, and discussing how research may support prevention-, protection-, and rehabilitation-oriented services for children.
The conference also has a clear public sector relevance. Under the thematic area “A better public sector”, it asks how robust research can inform service design and administrative safeguards such as predictability, equal treatment, reason-giving, and traceable accountability.
What the conference will focus on
NORDLOCH 2026 has four integrated objectives. It will disseminate recent longitudinal findings on life-course outcomes for children in contact with child welfare and child protection services, especially those with out-of-home care experience. It will advance comparative Nordic analysis of how policy variation relates to later outcomes in education, labour-market attachment, health, and wellbeing.
It will strengthen methodological competence in cross-country longitudinal research, including work on data harmonisation, causal inference strategies, and measurement comparability. It will also support evidence-informed and rights-sensitive public-sector development through structured dialogue with policymakers and service-development actors.
A distinctive feature of the conference is that empirical research is discussed alongside questions of governance and implementation. The first-day policy format is explicitly designed not to politicise research findings, but to test how they can become administratively meaningful while respecting the autonomy of scholarship.
Who should attend?
The conference is open to researchers, doctoral candidates, students, practitioners, policymakers, and public-sector actors with an interest in child protection, children’s rights, welfare governance, in the combination with longitudinal research and register data research.
It is especially relevant for those working with comparative Nordic research, register-based methods, service development, and policy questions concerning children at risk.
Programme overview
The final programme will be made available late September.
A detailed paper list, discussant assignments, and session chairs will be finalised after submissions and registrations are confirmed.
The conference runs over three days.
Monday 26 October
This is a public pre-conference day with two dedicated sessions. The morning is reserved for a PhD forum, where doctoral candidates can present projects and publication plans and receive discussant feedback.
The afternoon is devoted to a policy-maker symposium, bringing together NORDLOCH participants (researchers and policymakers) and invited public-sector actors for a focused exchange on governance challenges and routes for knowledge translation in rights-based child protection services.
Monday evening there is a dinner, free for participants
Tuesday 27 October
Tuesday opens the research conference with a plenary framing session on longitudinal evidence, rights-based child protection, and public-sector learning. This is followed by paper sessions with dedicated discussants.
Tuesday evening there is a dinner, free for participants
Wednesday 28 October
The conferance continues with paper sessions and concludes with a closing discussion on synthesis and next steps.
Practical information and registration
Conference format
Open, research-led conference. Monday features two public sessions; Tuesday and Wednesday are devoted to paper sessions with dedicated discussants.
Travel and accommodation
Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation.
Registration with abstract
Deadline for registration is 15.08.26. You will find the link at the top of the page.
General rgistration
Registration is open to all who wish to attend the conference (nettskjema.no).
