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The Voluntaris Special Issue “Contemporary Volunteering Study and Research in Europe" was launched on 25th November 2025 and is now available as free download here.
The Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) contributed to this innovative and unique publication, in a collaborative effort involving more than 25 researchers and practitioners convened by the Centre for European Volunteering (CEV) and co-financed by the EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values fund (CERV).
This Special Issue maps volunteering studies and research in Europe today. It grounds theoretical discussions within practice, bringing authentic insights from volunteer management, policy development, and civil society action. The selected topics, Motivation; Infrastructure; Law; Impact Measurement; and Politics, cover both traditional and novel aspects of volunteer involvement.
IVR has purposefully collaborated to produce this open access publication, to include all groups involved in and affected by volunteering research, as a further step towards enacting ethically grounded involvement in the International Volunteer Year 2026.
Sharing knowledges in collaboration with new forms of publishing directly reflects IVR’s long-term mission to provide robust knowledge and solid evidence, strengthened by involving experts by experience at all stages. Its ethos is to ensure that nobody gets ‘used’ and every role and activity gets acknowledged in collaborating. We challenge ourselves and others to become more inclusive and to learn more about ways to show and promote inclusion in our study and research.
Get in touch with us by emailing info.ivr@uea.ac.uk