Sylvie Van Dam
Contact
Stadscampus
Within Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC; https://www.uantwerpen.be/nl/onderzoeksgroep/cresc/) and VLAS (www.vlaamsarmoedesteunpunt.be) Sylvie Van Dam worked on a PhD about the role of migrant organizations in poverty alleviation. (Challenges and capabilities: Real opportunities of migrant organisations and intervention strategies for local target-group driven poverty alleviation; http://hdl.handle.net/10067/1389140151162165141)
Besides CRESC, she is also affiliated with the Master of Social Work.
Earlier, she conducted research into the survival strategies of people with a migration background in poverty. She was also involved in research into a network among diverse parnters in the city of Antwerp that focus on supporting vulnerable families.
Furthermore she worked on action research into a project that invests in the support of ex-inmates during the periode directly after their release. (https://www.departementwvg.be/home-welzijn-en-samenleving-hulp-en-dienstverlening-aan-gedetineerden-gevangenis-antwerpen). She also conducted an evaluative follow-up study of this project.
Currently she conducts evaluation research in an ESF-project on user participation in social organisations providing job counseling.
In the department of Sociology she was guest professor in the course of Leeronderzoek in the Bachelor of Sociology. In the Master of Political Science and the Master Political Communication she provides a Methods Seminar on research methods as guest professor.
Her research interests mainly concern vulnerable groups, social assistance and support, social work and civil society, migration and migrant organizations, poverty and social exclusion, generalist work and professional roles, participation, policy-making, networks and collaboration, capabilities, etc. This involves both policy research and action research as well as evaluation research. She also attaches great importance to (critical) theoretical reflection, interdisciplinary work and the application of mixed methods.