The ESAI Annual Conference 2024, an important event for the educational research community in Ireland and beyond, will be held at Maynooth University Co. Kildare from 4th to 6th April 2024. We’re pleased to announce a call for papers to researchers, policy makers, practitioners, emerging researchers, and interested others from Irish and international contexts to come together to share, reflect, discuss, and debate insights.
Call for Papers 2024
The conference theme for 2024 is ‘Education for more just societies: the roles of imagination, innovation and collaboration’. This conference will be a platform for robust discussions, networking, and the sharing of ideas that can shape the future for a more just world. Participants will be invited to explore and discuss the transformative potential of educational research, policy and practice, particularly concerning social justice, with a focus on the power of creative and collaborative responses.
We encourage contributions that critically examine current knowledge and empirical research in this area and explore the benefits and challenges, both in policy and practice, of innovations in education leading to inclusive, democrative and socially just system responses? Papers discussing collaborations between researchers, practitioners and policy makers are particularly encouraged. Contributions that extend the conversation on last year’s theme of education for democracy and change are welcomed.
We extend a warm welcome to all to join us at Maynooth University for discussion of questions such as (but not limited to):
- What successful practices exist in transforming education systems to promote social justice locally and globally, and what lessons can we learn from them?
- What are the key educational policy implications and considerations when transitioning towards more socially just societies?
- What role does technology play in fostering diversity and inclusion, in education, and what are the challenges associated with its integration?
- How can educational institutions adapt and innovate to address challenges to and opportunities in achieving education for all?
- What creative and innovative responses are currently being implemented to promote and support a more just society?
- What collaborative steps are being taken between researchers, policy makers, practitioners to scaffold a more inclusive society?
- In what ways can arts in education be used to support tolerance, equity and diversity?
- How can initial teacher education play a stronger role in advancing a greater equity and social justice in our schools and society?
- In what ways can inter-disciplinary, innovative and research-informed approaches play a part in advancing awareness of and action on social injustice?
- By what means are awareness of relationality, care, and our social obligations to one another considered and acted upon in research, policy and practice?
The conference theme ‘Education for more just societies: the roles of imagination, innovation, collaboration’ welcomes broad interpretation, interrogation, and a diverse range of responses. We invite research papers, presentations and posters that consider the concept through a variety of lenses which include (but are not limited to) sociological, pedagogical, historical, religious, ethical, technological, philosophical, political and economic.
Hosted by Maynooth University, the ESAI annual Conference 2024 will continue our strong tradition of providing a forum for the dissemination of research that considers past, present and potential contributions and influences at local, national and international levels.
Conference Schedule
The ESAI Conference Schedule is outlined here and the most current detailed version of the timetable is available for those who have registered for the conference through the online conference management system (Conftool).
The conference will run from Thursday, 4th April at 9.00 am to Saturday 6th April at 4.00 pm. https://esai.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/draft-schedule.pdf
Keynote Speaker
Sharon Todd is Professor of Education and member of the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Ireland. She has published widely in the areas of embodiment, social justice and ethics in education and is currently engaged in making connections between the climate emergency, art practice, and political aesthetics in education. She is author of The Touch of the Present: Educational Encounters, Aesthetics, and the Politics of the Senses (SUNY Press, 2023), Toward an Imperfect Education: Facing Humanity, Rethinking Cosmopolitanism (Paradigm, 2009), and Learning from the Other: Levinas, Psychoanalysis and Ethical Possibilities in Education (SUNY, 2003) and her co-edited volumes include Re-imagining Educational Relationships: Ethics, Politics, Practices with M. Griffiths, M. Honerød and C. Winter (Wiley, 2014); Philosophy East/West: Exploring the Intersections between Educational and Contemplative Practices with O. Ergas (Wiley, 2015). She is currently involved in an EU funded Marie Curie Innovative Training Network ‘SOLiDi – Solidarity in Diversity’ and a Swedish Research Council funded project, ‘Forms of Formation: A Pedagogical-Philosophical Inquiry into Embodied Tensions around Gender and Social Equality in the Classroom.’
Prof Todd’s presentation at ESAI 2024 is entitled: Ecology of Encounters: Re-imagining (Compost) Relationality for Education in Times of Environmental Breakdown. You may download Prof Todd’s abstract here.
Keynote Speaker
ESAI is delighted to announce that Professor Stephen McKinney, School of Education, University of Glasgow, will give the second keynote address at 11am on Friday April 5th.
Stephen McKinney is a professor and the leader of the Research and Teaching group, Creativity, Culture and Faith in the School of Education, University of Glasgow. He has worked in the field of Education at the University of Glasgow for over 25 years. During that period he has taught at all levels: undergraduate, Masters and doctoral levels. He has assumed a number of key leadership roles, has led some Research Associations/networks and has engaged in numerous research projects.
He is the past President of the Scottish Educational Research Association. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Beliefs and Values and Improving Schools and is a past co-editor of the Scottish Educational Review. His research interests include faith schooling, Catholic schooling, and the impact of poverty on school education. Prof McKinney has used a variety of mixed methods and quantitative and qualitative methods in his research including tri-partite measurement, interviews, observation, document analysis and historical analysis. He has authored or co-authored over 170 articles, book chapters, research reports and briefings.
Book of Abstracts 2024
We had an incredible response to the Call for Papers for Conference 2024. This year we accepted in excess of 260 paper presentations, 21 symposia and a number of poster presentations.
Download the full book of abstracts.
Early Career Researcher Award 2024
The ESAI Early Career Researcher Award celebrates an outstanding conference paper and presentation by an early career researcher presented at the annual ESAI Conference. The ESAI has established this award to celebrate the excellent work which is contributed to the academic field by early career researchers.The ESAI welcomed contributions for this award from all Early Career Researchers (ECRs) who submitted a paper to the ESAI Conference 2024. The overall award went to Fergal Harrington and two highly commended awards were also presented to Stella Wai-Wan and Colm Ó Ríain. Congratulations to all!
ESAI Environmental Sustainability Statement
Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 – Prof Áine Hyland
ESAI is delighted to present the Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 to Professor Áine Hyland in recognition of almost five decades of engagement and leadership in the association.
Áine Hyland is Emeritus Professor of Education and former Vice President of University College Cork. A true pioneer in her vision for education at all levels from primary to Higher Education, her contribution to research, teaching and learning and national policy marks a turning point in our conception of Higher Education in Ireland.
Read the full citation on the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner webpage.
