2026 was a year of consolidation and opening for Network 21, founded in 2022. At ECER 2026 in Tampere, the network confirmed its identity as a collaborative, intellectually stimulating and supportive research community bringing together European researchers interested in the effects of unconscious processes in education, training and teaching. Highlights of this year's conference included:
A high density of research workshops, in particular the two-and-a-half-hour Tuesday Morning Workshop, which allowed concrete, collaborative work on texts and materials. Participants stressed that these experience- and material-based formats made it possible to understand better how colleagues work and how they understand psychoanalysis, and proved more productive than purely lecture-based panels.
For the first time, a joint symposium with Network 19 (Ethnography). This was a highly valuable learning experience that opened ethnography to an engagement with the “inner world” and raised important questions on research ethics, notably how researchers can give something back to the people who contribute to their research. We see it as a first step towards further exchanges between our networks.
A wide range of theoretical approaches and frames of reference in the proposals received (Freud, Lacan, Bion, Winnicott, among others). In keeping with the ethos of ECER and the founding principle of the network, no contribution has ever been rejected on the basis of its affiliation with a particular psychoanalytic school. Maintaining this delicate balance enables a form of dialogue that is both rare and distinctive within European educational research informed by psychoanalysis.
Network 21 was only marginally affected by the overall increase in submissions, which helped preserve the quality and collegial character of our sessions. The presence of students, and their participation in informal discussions, enriched exchanges across career stages. Participants also greatly appreciated the excellent local organisation, the efficient and supportive assistance of the EERA Office, the high quality of the academic exchanges and the warm and welcoming atmosphere at the conference and throughout the city.