SERA Conference 2026 – Call for Papers

Venue: Napier University, Edinburgh

Dates: 18th to 19th November 2026

All proposals are to be sent to sera.conference@gmail.com

Living Our Research: Agency, Culture, and the Pursuit of Equity in Education

We invite researchers and practitioners working in Scottish, UK and international contexts to share their insights under the theme of Living our Research: Agency, Culture and the Pursuit of Equity in Education. Building on previous SERA conference themes, this conference envisions a community of educators, scholars, and leaders who translate research and apply this meaningfully to practice. Grounded in agency, sustained by culture, and driven by social justice, this conference centres equity not as aspiration but as action. Together, we are committed to raising the quality of educational research by supporting intellectual excellence, methodological rigor, and meaningful engagement with the lived realities of our universities, colleges, schools and communities.

We invite educators, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students to submit proposals that explore how research informs, challenges, and transforms practice.

The following guiding questions from practical, conceptual, and empirical perspectives offer a starting point for all potential delegates:

  • How can educational research be lived, embodied, and enacted in practice within classrooms, institutions, and communities?
  • In what ways do educators, learners, and leaders exercise agency to shape educational cultures, practices, and systems?
  • How do cultural, institutional, and social contexts influence how research is produced, interpreted, and applied in education?
  • How can research help move equity in education from aspiration to action, addressing persistent inequalities in access, participation, and outcomes?
  • What forms of collaboration between researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and communities most effectively transform evidence into meaningful change?
  • Which methodological approaches best capture the complexity of lived educational experiences while maintaining rigor and ethical integrity?
  • How can practitioner inquiry, participatory research, and co-creation empower educators and learners as knowledge producers?
  • What possibilities for more equitable educational futures emerge when research, culture, and professional practice are closely connected?

We welcome proposals that address:

  • Educator agency and leadership for equity
  • Culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies
  • Research-practice partnerships
  • Social justice frameworks in action
  • Embodied and reflective professional practice
  • Excellence redefined through equity-centred lenses
  • Community-engaged scholarship
  • Transformative policy and systems change

SERA 2026 Conference Strands

Key organising strands for this year’s SERA conference will be:

  • Globalisation, Governance and the Politics of Education
  • Curriculum Transformation and Education for Sustainability
  • Digital Technologies and Pedagogical Innovation
  • Equity, Access and Inclusive Education
  • Professional, Community and Vocational Learning Practices
  • Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Education

The conference will accept individual papers, symposia, short presentations and poster presentations as well as suggestions for roundtable discussions, workshops and performance/arts-based sessions. See below for more detail on each of these different formats.

Submission Formats

The conference will accept individual papers, symposia, short presentations, poster and rapid thesis presentations, as well as suggestions for roundtable discussions, workshops and performance/arts-based sessions.

Click the links below for more details on each of these different formats.

Prizes and Awards

Estelle Brisard Award. This award is presented on an annual basis to the best research paper written by an early-career researcher based in Scotland. The cash prize of £250 is presented at the annual conference. Further details can be found on our webpages and through posts on our X account. To apply, please send your name, email address, area of research, course, university and title of your paper to sera.conference@gmail.com.

Best poster/rapid thesis/short presentation. Three prizes of fifty pounds are awarded at the SERA conference for the best poster, best rapid thesis and best short presentation. A panel composed of SERA executive members will review the entries, and the winning entries will be announced during the conference.