The 3^rd International Conference on Transformative Educational Research and Sustainable Development

(4-6 November 2022)

 Sustaining and Thriving Transformative Educational Research and Practice
in Challenging Times and Contexts

Transformative Educational Research and Sustainable Development (TERSD) is a scholarly forum that aims to conceive, enact, and flourish the depth and scope of transformative capabilities, collaboration, embodied practice, and praxis in education and research. Kathmandu University School of Education (KUSOED), Nepal, hosted two previous international conferences on Transformative Educational Research and Sustainable Development (TERSD). The first conference, held in 2016, promoted theoretically informed discussions on the need for relational ontology and multi-paradigmatic epistemologies in education and research. The second conference, held in 2018, focused on collective transformation through context-responsive wisdom and knowledge heritage. Both conferences contributed to expanding awareness of our situatedness and created a harmonious space by strengthening and enlarging an international network of transformative practitioners.

TERSD-2022

The 3^rd International Conference on Transformative Educational Research and Sustainable Development (TERSD-22), scheduled for 2.5 days, will bring together researchers and practitioners to share scholarly narratives about their transformative educational research and pedagogical practices. Scholarly narratives of the predicaments of the status quo, especially hegemonic power in educational processes and systems, will point to the need of expanding enhanced awareness of our situatedness in the world to critically understand who we are and who we might become as individuals and communities. Our conference seeks to expand the horizon of transformative educational research and practice, considering how local people, communities, and practitioners can sustain and thrive their educational research and practice in these challenging times and contexts.

We will explore ways in which research and educational practices, especially in this time of COVID-19, are being framed by the hegemony of technical rationality which upholds a narrowly conceived view of research as proving and educational processes as a chain of cause-and-effect linearity. The agenda of technical rationality is to be found in ongoing policy decisions that frame curricula, pedagogies and assessment practices in both school and higher education. In this socio-political context emergent post/humanistic research and educational practices are being overshadowed and narrowly restricted. The conference will be a place for us to critique this narrowness and cultivate a vision of greater openness. Our notion of openness seeks to promote equity, empowerment and enhanced meaningfulness in educational research and practice.

The conference offers the community of transformative scholars, practitioners and researchers a platform to share their innovative praxis-driven educational research and pedagogical practices in overcoming challenging socio-political contexts. In particular, we consider the present time to be a unique moment to challenge the central thesis of anthropocentric human development and to reimagine the survival of the planet as dependent upon the wise, the benevolent, the caring and the enabling. The wisest person is one who allows their ego to turn into themselves. True human nature goes deep inside to explore answers to pressing questions such as: Who am I during this current isolation, exhausted as I am by the unrelenting news on social media and television channels?

The main theme of the conference emphasizes everyday life lessons learned from the pandemic experience for overcoming adversity and challenge. We are bringing together transformative experiences and visionary practices that can enhance the process of living life in informal and un/structured ways, accepting g/local changes of human relations and ecosystems. Overall, the conference aims to give a consolidated experience of transformative research and practice for organic solidarity.

The conference will inspire courageous, sustainable and thriving coalitions among scholars by means of a transdisciplinary professional development space that fosters reflexivity, change and hope. Practitioners of multiple disciplines will be invited to illustrate ways in which they are challenging discriminatory and disempowering policies and practices and are moving towards developing a transformative research culture. Epistemological tensions of inequity and injustice are expected to be addressed through individual and collective presentations (paper, video, and poster), workshops, symposia, and other creative forms of storytelling. We welcome epistemological pluralism via collaborative inquiry, cooperative inquiry, participatory inquiry, arts-based inquiry, and indigenous inquiry methods.

Delegates’ mindfulness will be fostered throughout the conference and beyond. We shall contemplate and take empathic action through exploring meaningful questions to transform self, others and social formations; questions such as: Who are we? What challenges are we facing in this time and context, and why? How can we respect diversity individually and sustain equality and justice in our educational institutions and communities? What are our best policies and practices for sustaining and thriving to ensure equality and social justice? How can we unite with researchers, practitioners and citizens across multiple academic fields and disciplines to address the urgent challenges of our educational and social problems?

Aims
The 3^rd International Conference on Transformative Educational Research and Sustainable Development (TERSD-22) aims at:

1. Sensitizing scholars and practitioners towards improving their research and pedagogical practices in favor of the many, if not all;

2. Exemplifying epistemological pluralism with the idea of empowerment at the center of discourse and praxis;

3. Embracing education and research as/for sustainable development;

4. Developing constructive awareness of local and global realities; and exploring authentic ways of learning and researching; and

5. Providing a flourishing platform for researchers, practitioners, activists, students, representatives of universities, educational and research institutions, government organizations, United Nations’ agencies, NGOs and INGOs.

Main Theme of TERSD-2022

The main theme of TERSD-2022 – Sustaining and Thriving Transformative Educational Research and Practice in Challenging Times and Contexts – focuses on overcoming cultural, epistemological and institutional resistances that educational researchers and practitioners are facing. We seek to co-jointly envision a post-COVID paradigm shift for empowering the future of research and education. An empowering space that fosters critical reflexivity as a means for promoting praxis-driven discourses. An empowering space in which practitioners of multiple disciplines collaborate to challenge and overcome discriminatory and disempowering policies and practices that restrain education and research from addressing emerging complexities in our lifeworlds, especially those related to the social, economic, political, ecological and spiritual spheres.

Sub Themes
In addition to addressing the main theme of the conference participants are welcome to also focus on any of the following sub-themes:

• Learning and researching for sustainable futures

• Transformative sustainability pedagogies

• Education and research in a post-COVID era

• Justice, sustainability, and peace

• Critical spirituality

• Critical futures studies

• Education and research for the common good

• Lived experiences of practitioner-researchers

• Posthuman research in education

• Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary education and research

• Ecopreneurship

• Collaborative transformation

• Authenticity and ethical responsibility

• Transformative STEAM education

• TVET as/for empowerment

Call for Submissions

TERSD-2022 includes a series of keynotes, plenaries, paper presentations, panel discussions, workshops, arts-based performances, and book talk series. We encourage researchers, practitioners, activists, students, representatives of universities, educational and research institutions, government organizations, United Nations agencies, NGOs, and INGOs to join our knowledge community via this conference. The conference seeks abstracts (see the abstract guidelines) of original research related to both the theme and selected sub-themes.

Key Dates
Submission opens: June 10, 2022
Submission closes: August 31 September 10, 2022
Review sent to author(s): September 15, 2022
Final submission: September 27, 2022
Submission acceptance notification and registration: September 30, 2022
Registration closes: October 25, 2022
Conference program available: November 1, 2022
Early Career Researchers’ Day: November 3, 2022
Conference date: November 4-6, 2022

Types of Submissions (Click here for submission guidelines)
Plenary Presentation (2000 words) – Open and Solicited
Proposal for Paper Presentation (2000 words)
Panel Discussion Proposal (2000 words)
Workshop Proposal (2000 words)
Arts-based Performances (2000 words)
Book talk (2000-3000 words)

Although participants may choose to focus on one or more sub-themes of the conference, it is important to explicitly connect papers, posters, and workshops with the main theme of the conference. Submission may be: (a) uploaded on the conference website or (b) sent as an email attachment to tersd2020@kusoed.edu.np by 31 August 2022. Submission details, and formatting based on submission guidelines.

Venue
Online

Conference Program
To be published by November 1, 2022

Registration Fees and Payment

The following registration fees apply for conference participants:

Registration opens: 30 September 2022
Deadline for early-bird registration: 25 October 2022

Our Partners
UNESCO Kathmandu
Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology
University Grants Commission, Nepal
Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)
Karkhana
Education Journalist Group Nepal
NORHED Rupantaran (Journal of Transformative Praxis)
Lumbini Bouddha University
Pokhara University
Rajarshi Janak University

Outcomes

The conference will contribute to promoting local wisdom and knowledge heritages in the field of education, teaching, learning, training, and researching for sustainable development. It will bring together the global networks of educational practitioners dedicated to transformative education for quality, equity and relevance of teaching and learning. The participants will find their conference paper published in the conference proceedings and journal (if they meet the criteria for the journal). Further, the scholarly contents of the conference website will contribute to international dissemination and network building.

Organizers

The conference is organized by Kathmandu University School of Education (KUSOED), Nepal, and is supported by University Grants Commission, Nepal.

Sponsors

To keep this event affordable, we rely on the generosity of sponsors. We welcome donations, especially some funds, to assist us in putting on a successful, educational, and entertaining event. This is your opportunity to get your organization’s name out there and establish a strong social presence around the world.

Contacts

For more information, please contact us;

Peter Charles Taylor (P.Taylor@murdoch.edu.au)

Bal Chandra Luitel (bcluitel@kusoed.edu.np)

Suresh Gautam (sgautam@kusoed.edu.np)

Binod Prasad Pant (binod@kusoed.edu.np)

Niroj Dahal (niroj@kusoed.edu.np) 

Note

• Selected papers will have an opportunity to be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of Transformative Praxis.
• Earlier TERSD conferences–TERSD-2016 and TERSD-2018

Conference Website
Please check our website (https://tersd2022.kusoed.edu.np/) for updates on the conference program.