Peter Lauritsen says: "We have made two introductory interviews with professionals on both employee- and leader level in Aarhus Municipality to know more about their experiences with the increased datafication in the Danish public sector. In addition to this, we have hired a resarcher to explore the curriculum at the School of Social Work. Does it respond to this expanding datafication and how does it manifest in the curriculum? These are some of the questions we are curious to ask."

A main topic in this project is to explore the consequences of datafication in relation to the welfare professions. In relation to this, Peter Lauritsen says: "When we discuss technology, we very often meet the same critical approach to the digitalization in the public welfare sector: that the digitalization is in some way interfering with the social worker's professional competency. If we want to have a qualified discussion of what happens in the intersection of the digital and the welfare professions, we need research projects like this where we ask the empirical questions to these practices. Peter Danholt supplements: "We also want to explore how the increasing datafication in the public welfare sector is experienced by those families, children, and youngsters who "become" their data in this municipal meeting."

Over the next six months, Postdoc at SHAPE Patrick Heiberg Kapsch is going to explore this part of the research project.

Collaboration with both private and public organizations is a natural part of SHAPE's resarch approach and, accordingly, of this project too: Aarhus Municipality is already onboard and other municipalities are welcome to join the project:

“In collaboration with Aarhus Municipality, we are able to be a part of the concrete practices within social work and among the citizens involved. We both want to get a detailed and concrete understanding of the challenges, and in relation to that we hope to contribute to an increased knowledge and reflection on the digital for everyone involved in this study. Hopefully, we will gain more knowledge on this challenge which can help increase the level of understanding of and reflection on the topic. In this project, as well as in SHAPE in general, we have a very pragmatic, explorative, and consulting approach," Peter Lauritsen elaborates.