The ECER 2023 conference was the highlight for NW18 this year and it was pleasing that we saw a return to pre-pandemic numbers in terms of submissions (n= 48). Most of these were individual papers, though we also had symposium and research workshop submissions. The conference itself was also well attended, including within NW18. All sessions had a good number of people in the audience, though some parallel sessions towards the end of the conference had less.
There were a number of international attendees at the conference, as well as several ECRs, which facilitated networking opportunities and discussions on different contexts.
Within the conference we also had an inaugural Honorary Member keynote, delivered by Professor Kathleen Armour. This was on the topic of the challenge of AI for educational leadership and was very well attended.
Another successful component of the conference was the delivery of joint sessions with NW08 (one on trauma and one related to critical health pedagogies) and we will look to build on these connections to other networks over the coming year.
In addition to the main conference, another achievement for NW18 this year has been the completion of an edited text on Research with Children and Young People in Physical Education and Youth Sport (Eds. Fiona Chambers, Rachel Sandford, Oliver Hooper and Lee Schaefer). This publication was developed on the back of an EERA-funded symposium on 'Values, Voice and Ethics' and includes work that has previously been presented at ECER conferences.