Dr. Michael Ian Rasell

Vita

Forschung

Michael Rasell joined the Disability Studies and Inclusive Pedagogy team in November 2021. He is a qualitative sociologist and his research analyses how social policies and professional practices shape the inclusion, rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities in Eastern Europe and Russia. At the University of Innsbruck, he is developing a research project about contestations of neurodiversity amongst activists, professionals, media and policymakers in Russia. This will examine the underlying norms and power dynamics involved in producing and challenging ‘knowledge’ about autism.

Knowledge exchange and the civic mission of universities are important elements of Michael’s work. He is a member of the Working Group “Measures to strengthen the peer movement in mental health” in Austria as part of an initiative targeted at destigmatising mental health coordinated by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH. Michael is also a trustee of the UK-based charity BEARR, which supports grassroots civil society organisations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia to tackle social and health issues.

Michael previously worked at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom, where he developed a strong profile in international social work and transnational dimensions of marginalisation. He co-supervises a Marie Curie Fellowship that seeks to build evidence base to support Polish women victims of domestic abuse in the United Kingdom (Dr Iwona Zielinska, 2020-22). He coordinated the Erasmus Mundus Master programme “Advanced Development in Social Work” from 2013-2019, which seeks to upgrade the practice skills of experienced social workers from around the world and is recognised as best practice in global social work teaching. 

At the University of Lincoln, Michael served as Director of Studies for PhD theses on child protection for families with autistic children, refugee women in Brazil, domestic abuse in rural England and primary healthcare for older LGBTI+ people. He has been External Examiner for PhDs at University College London and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Projekte

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship ‘Building an evidence base to support Polish women victims of domestic violence in the UK’, Dr Iwona Zielinska (Maria Grzegorzewska University), Celia Madden and Lu Webb (EDAN Lincs), Dr Michael Rasell (University of Innsbruck), Prof. Anitha Sundari and Dr Ros Kane (University of Lincoln), 2020-2022.  

This project will develop an evidence base for domestic abuse services in the United Kingdom and Europe to improve support for Polish migrant women in violent relationships. Despite a significant Polish population in the UK, domestic abuse services receive very few referrals by Polish women. The research will discover the reasons behind this and develop recommendations for appropriate outreach and support services. Practice outputs will be disseminated to services and policymakers in the UK, Poland and other European countries.

Erasmus Mundus Master programme ‘Advanced Development in Social Work’ (ADVANCES), University of Lincoln, Aalborg University, University of Lisbon, Paris Nanterre University and University of Warsaw, 2013-2024, www.socialworkadvances.aau.dk

This Master programme is funded by a multi-million grant from the European Commission and designed to give social workers outstanding levels of practice skills so that they can confidently respond to the vulnerabilities and uncertainties facing societies across the world.  The 22-month course is explicitly targeted at qualified, experienced social workers from around the world who wish to upgrade their practice skills, especially with a transnational focus.

Publikationen

• Naumiuk, A., Serra, F., Rasell, M., Uggerhoj, L., et al. (2022) Using participation to understand and address the anxieties of European youth about unemployment, future work and community. In: V. B. Nielsen, P. Malin, I. Julkunen, L. Uggerhøj (eds.) Social Work, Social Welfare, Unemployment and Vulnerability Among Youth. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 95-111, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003096795-7/
• Ren, M., Wang, B. and Rasell, M. (2022) ‘Flexibility and Professionalisation: Reflections on Adaptions by Social Work Services in China during COVID-19’ Practice: Social Work in Action, 34:2, 87-101.
• Zielinska, I., Anitha, S., Rasell, M. and Kane, R. (2022) Polish women’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse in the UK. Research report. Lincoln: EDAN Lincs and University of Lincoln, https://dvsupport.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/project-report/
• Naumiuk, A., Rasell, M. and Uggerhoj, L. (2020) ‘When Europe’s East, West, North and South meet: learning from cross-country collaboration in creating an international social work master’. In Lorenz, W., Havrdová, Z. and Matoušek, O. (eds.) European Social Work After 1989: East-West Exchanges Between Universal Principles and Cultural Sensitivity.  Basel: Springer
• Rasell, M. et al (2019) ‘Diversity, dialogue and identity in designing globally relevant social work education.’ Social Work Education, 38:6, 675-688.
• Kulmala, M., Rasell, M. and Chernova, Z. (2017) ‘Overhauling Russia’s child welfare system: institutional and ideational factors behind the paradigm shift’.  Journal of Social Policy Studies, 15:3, 353-366. 
• Rasell, M. and Iarskaia-Smirnova, E. (eds.) (2014) Disability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: history, policy and everyday life.  Abingdon: Routledge
• Rasell, M. and Iarskaia-Smirnova, E. (2014) ‘Conceptualising disability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union’ in Rasell, M. and Iarskaia-Smirnova (eds.) Disability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: history, policy and everyday life.  Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 1-17 
• Rasell, M. (2014) ‘Poverty and social welfare in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia’ in Heaney. D. (ed.) Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2015. 15th revised edition.  Europa Publications/Routledge
• Iarskaia-Smirnova, E. & Rasell, M. (2014) ‘Integrating practice into Russian social work education: institutional logic and curriculum regulation.’ International Social Work, 57:3, 222-34
• Rasell, M. (2009) ‘Neoliberalism in the North: the transformation of social policy in Russia’s northern periphery,’ Polar Geography, Vol. 32, Nos. 3-4, pp. 91-109
• Wengle, S. and Rasell, M. (2008) ‘The Monetisation of L’goty: Changing Patterns of Welfare Politics and Provision in Russia.’ Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 60, No. 5, pp. 739-756

Vorträge

• Keynote ‘Building responsive social services to ensure that no one is left behind’, IFSW European Social Work Conference, Prague, 21 May 2023
• ‚Nutzer:innen-Erfahrungen zur Responsivität sozialer Dienste’. Forum der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Soziale Arbeit, St. Pölten, 11 Mar 2024
• Legal structures for participation: comparative analysis of disability services in four EU countries’, Europe Disability Research Conference, Paris, 28-30 Jun 2023
• ‘Polish women’s experiences of domestic abuse services in the United Kingdom: towards relationship-based practice’, Practice and Research Symposium: Social Service Responses to Migration, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece, 11-12 May 2023
• ‘Supporting Polish victims of domestic abuse in the UK: practitioner perspectives’, BASEES Polish Studies Group Conference ‘Polish Studies: Today and Tomorrow, 13-14 September 2021, [joint presentation with Dr Iwona Zielinska]
• ‘Older people’s mobilisation around social rights and the symbolic role of their interests in the Russian Federation’, Conference Politics from below: Reasserting or transcending the democratic paradigm?, Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien (ZOiS), Berlin, Germany, 27 –28 January 2021
• ‘A source of pride?  Representations of disability and welfare support in East German public awareness campaigns’, International symposium Technologies of Mind and Body in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, Nottingham University, 17-18 May 2019
• ‘Rights, care and personalisation in Russian disability policy’, Workshop Care as concept, experience and policy, University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 16-17 Apr 2019

Tagungen

• Tagungsteam, 35. Jahrestagung der Inklusionsforscher*innen [online], Universität Innsbruck in Kooperation mit der KPH Edith Stein, 23.-25. Februar 2022, https://www.uibk.ac.at/congress/ifo2021/index.html.de

• Webinar Organiser, Civil Society Support for Persons with Disabilities in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, BEARR Trust, 5 November 2020, https://bearr.org/2020/11/01/bearr-trust-webinars-november-2020/

• Conference co-organiser, Disability and Inclusion in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, BEARR Trust, 16 Nov 2018, London, https://bearr.org/bearr-trust-annual-conference-2018/

• Workshop co-organiser, ‘Understanding neoliberalism in the postsocialist region,’ King’s College London, 17 March 2014, https://postsocialisms.wordpress.com/

• Conference co-organiser, ‘Health in Transition: Ethnographies of Biomedicine in Postsocialist Europe,’ Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 7-8 June 2012.

Mitgliedschaften und Tätigkeit als Gutachter*in

• External Examiner for PhD theses at University of Illinois at Chicago (2017) and University College London (2022)

• Expert reviewer for article submissions to International Journal of Social Welfare, Europe-Asia Studies, Social Policy & Society, International Social Work, European Journal of Social Work

• Reviewer of academic book proposals and draft manuscripts for Routledge, University of Michigan Press, Palgrave Macmillan and Central European University Press