Anke is a social worker and coach/supervisor for social professionals and has specialized in social work with sex workers. Although often rewarding, this work also regularly left her feeling tired, angry and powerless. As a practitioner Anke experienced how there can be tensions between demands of social work organizations and state-set frameworks on one hand, and the needs of marginalized or underprivileged communities on the other.

For this PhD research, Anke is interested in what social justice work or politicizing practices mean to social work practitioners, and how this relates to their ideas of ‘good work'. What do they encounter when working on social justice and politicizing practices, and how does this impact them (as practitioners, as part of a professional community, as citizens, as human beings)? Finally, can we collectively find ways to strengthen these practices?