What were the most important developments within our network during this year?
In autumn 2026, the four-year term of Mihaela Mitescu Manea as NW01 Link Convenor ended. During a convenors’ team meeting in September 2026, the convenors’ team elected Sally Windsor to take over Mihaela’s role, ensuring a smooth leadership transition. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mihaela for her outstanding service as NW01 Link Convenor over the past four years. Mihaela combined professional excellence with remarkable personal warmth and integrity. Her generous collegiality and tireless dedication have been a true gift to our network—enriching our work and strengthening our community. It has been both a privilege and a joy to have her as our Link Convenor. Thank you, Mihaela, for everything.
Network 1 continues to attract researchers and colleagues from many different countries and remains one of EERA’s largest networks with two Link Convenors. To manage the continued growth, the convenor team worked in sub-groups throughout the year: one responsible for the review process, another for programming and scheduling, and a third for network communication and dissemination. This issue led to the decision to raise the number of convenors. This year, our team of convenors welcomed a new member: Sofia Eleftheriadou, who is also the Emerging Researchers' Representative in our team. We are delighted that Sofia is now part of our convenor team.
The NW01 Spring School took place from April 21 to 23, at the West University of Timișoara, Romania. The event focused on Academic Writing and Research in an Era of AI – Concerns and Opportunities for Professional Learning in Education in Europe. The Spring School was highly successful. The participating countries were Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Scotland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Canada. Visibility and follow-up social media posts related to the Spring School generated significant engagement, exceeding one thousand impressions in the first week after the event; emerging researchers actively promoted the initiative online. To sustain engagement beyond the event, participants created LinkedIn groups. The continuing relevance of themes around AI, ethics, publication, authenticity, collaboration, and professional learning was emphasised, and Ken Jones agreed to facilitate a follow-up discussion, potentially during the ECER 2026 Network Business Meeting.
The highly successful development of the TIME project (Ecologies of Teacher Induction and Mentoring in Europe), which has been part of EERA's Network 1 since 2021, was further promoted and led by Hannu Heikkinen. It has made substantial progress by organising symposia and special calls for research related to the induction and mentoring of new teachers. The TIME project team has organised various research meetings to promote collaboration between researchers working on mentoring and induction practices. In 2026, Helle Plauburg is stepping down from TIME network, and she will be replaced by Johannes Dammerer and Michelle Attard Tonna (Hannu Heikkinen, Michelle Helm Lorenz & Eva Bjerkholt are the other members of the executive committee).
During the year, several convenor meetings have been scheduled between the annual conferences. The team of convenors is highly motivated to create an active network that engages with diverse topics and events.
Conference submissions in 2026 demonstrate the continuously high interest in and relevance of the networks’ core topics for research and practice. For ECER 2026, a total of 168 presentations were accepted within NW01; the average acceptance rate was 82.2%. The accepted contributions comprised 145 papers and 9 symposia; additionally, 10 posters and 4 workshops were recorded. Of these, 129 were submitted to the general call and 39 to the special call.
Our Network Business Meeting at ECER in Tampere demonstrated participants’ interest in cooperating on the network's aims and topics. Business Meeting discussions addressed ethical and practical questions about the use of AI, dissemination, and the creation of trusted spaces for open exchange. Considerations included the suitability of LinkedIn for sharing uncertainty, options for monthly online meetings, and links with the TIME network and Spring/Summer School seminars. Members are invited to share ideas, which will be communicated via the Newsletter. During the meeting, participants were also asked to indicate their availability to serve as reviewers and session chairs for ECER 2027. They also gave consent to receive a Newsletter from NW01 as a platform to strengthen ties and enhance networking among NW01 members throughout the year, both during and between conferences, to raise awareness of professional learning initiatives and to give a voice to network participants.
What were the highlights of this year's conference?
Hannu Heikkinen was one of the keynote speakers at ECER 2026 in Tampere. We are both proud and happy that Hannu, who has already participated in 30 consecutive ECER conferences, had the opportunity to give his keynote address during the 31st ECER conference. Hannu’s keynote was a genuine highlight—universally acclaimed as excellent and important, with relevance and intellectual rigour. The lecture hall was overflowing, with many standing. The fully packed lecture hall was treated to an outstanding keynote.
During ECER 2026, we organised a meet-and-greet session with our network members. More than 140 participants accepted our invitation and took the opportunity to network and exchange in both professional and casual atmospheres. Since this meet-and-greet session was highly successful, we have also decided to offer a similar session at the upcoming ECER in Debrecen.
The TIME project team issued a special call for ECER 2026, following a similar call for ECER 2025. This special call has been highly successful over the past two years. At ECER 2026, it resulted in 42 presentations across 11 sessions, involving 129 authors. The contributions were presented and discussed during the conference in specially designated sessions. We will continue this call for 2027.
The conference in Tampere provided opportunities for discussion and exchange, both during and beyond the network sessions. We could see participants’ interest and willingness to engage in critical, fruitful discussions on our network’s core topics.