The Danish Centre for Welfare Studies (DaWS) was established in 2005 in cooperation between the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark. The aim of DaWS is to enhance and coordinate welfare state research at the University of Southern Denmark.
DaWS is truly cross-disciplinary. Our group includes political scientists, economists, historians, literary scholars, and sociologists. DaWS also cooperates with scholars from public health, demography, and other disciplines.
DaWS researchers hold a broad portfolio of research projects and interest within the broad fields of political economy, comparative welfare research, and welfare state history. We are interested in fundamental questions such as the normative foundation of the welfare state and its development in a comparative and historical perspective, responses of the welfare state to external challenges, and the impact of welfare states on individuals.
DaWS is active academically in international cooperation and networks, and also contributes to public and political debates domestically.