Annual Report 2015, Budapest
The second network meeting of Network 30 (NW30) in Budapest continued our great success from our first one in Porto. After the conference the link convenor received emails from new and experienced participants who are very pleased with the organization and conduct of the NW program and ECER conference in general.
The success of the network can be attributed to its general and inviting format and the research that was showcased. Moreover, the personal encounters within the network consistently feature in feedback about why participants return each year to the conference.
This year there were 59 contributions in all, . This number is down from 67 in 2014, but the rejection rate was higher because we are attempting to apply our review guidelines more stringently to improve research quality. All planned sessions were conducted. Additionally whilst the number of paper sessions reduced the number of symposia increased so overall the number of presenting participants remained roughly equal.
Participants commented on the increase in quality of presentitions. Attendance at sessions varied from 20 to 100 participants with somewhat fewer participants attending the early morning and late afternoon sessions, for example in the last session on Friday we had 28 participants.
There is an accordance amongst participants to work together taking common responsiblity for making this conference a great event. The atmosphere aligned with the experiences in Porto and was very positive and encouraging and there was a mutual respect for research, and criticism was friendly and constructive.
The network program included all formats: paper sessions, symposia, roundtable, workshop and posters.
A great majority of presentations were of a very high standard as indicated by the positivity expressed in comments to the convenor from participants, both novel and seniors. The research quality varied less this year and was according to many senior reseachers very high. Most of the sessions were closed with explorative and constructive discussions.
The overall research quality was very good, nonetheless we are already working on ways in which we can sharpen the author and reviewer guidelines and we elected a policy and governance group to work out the managment rules for NW30.
NW 30 conducted several joint session together with NW 8 Health Education Research, NW 13 Philosophy of Education, NW 14 Communities Families and Schooling in Educational Research and NW24 Mathematics Education Research. These collaborative sessions were useful because they highlighted both similarities and specific differences between the research areas.
NW 8 and 14 also had symposia about sustainability to which members of NW 30 were invited. The first opening NW 30 symposium had discussants invited from NW13 Philosophy of Education, as last year in Porto. This symposium was a great success attracting more than 100 participants. NW30's collaboration with other networks works very well.
The Berlin link convenor meetings in April each yearare crucal for making these collaborations possible. On each day of the conference our programme had sessions to gather the whole network together. Single sessions such as symposia, network meeting, roundtable and workshops gathered ESE researchers to socialize, get acquainted and initiate collaboration.
We had presentations from the local research community and we also worked with a researcher living in Budapest who was heavily involved in the planning of the NW meeting and common social events for example our second NW dinner. This wonderful and popular event took place in the library/book store of the Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development Centre for Content Development and Methodology.
The network meeting was also a great success, involving most members of the program committee. It was carefully designed to bas inclusive as possible and will have a considerable impact on our future planning and direction. The combination of social and fomal events enable communication and increase the possibilities for common research activities in between annual ECER conferences.
We in the program committee are vey happy about the outcomes of our second meeting and we will continue to work on raising standards further for Dublin.