Annual Report 2016, Dublin

At the Emerging Researchers' Conference in Dublin, there were around 300 participants and 175 paper/ poster/ pecha kucha presentations. (There were 52 withdrawals). There were 65 sessions, including 2 Network workshops, 2 Workshops (1 on Preparing for the Viva and another one on academic writing and for EERJ), 1 Roundtable and 1 Keynote. 366 participants were expected, out of which 282 attended. ERG had the support of 39 different chairs during the two days of the Conference. Chairs and mentors commented on the high quality of engaging and dynamic presentations. Attendance was generally good, with majority of the sessions (27) having 11-20 people present, and 10 having more than 21 people present. The thematic focus of the presentations, as with all ERCs, ranged from across the range of networks. The overlap issue (of the ERC with ECER) seems to have been solved by having targeted/ attractive  workshops in the afternoon, and an interesting keynote.

There was a much higher uptake of the opportunity to do pecha kucha presentations compared with previous years. In fact, during the ERG meeting, some participants commented that they did know they had the option to participate in pecha kucha sessions (they were paper presenters, rather than poster presenters, as all poster presenters has been invited to submit a Pecha Kucha only once their abstracts had been accepted).

ERG ties with other networks are in the process of being strengthened/ developed, for instance, the ERG Link Convenor held meetings with representatives from NW: 2 (VETNET) and NW: 6  (Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures) who expressed willingness to further develop ties, and to look into the possibility of offering network workshops for the ERC2017. A meeting was also held with the Convenor of NW:19 (Ethnography) about the possibility of a methdology-related roundtable for ERC2017. The local ESAI (Educational Studies Association of Ireland) community was involved in ECER2016 through the delivery of a very well-reeceived roundtable which offered an interactive, hands-on engagement with the complex issue of ethical research in education, and the associated 'The Distinct Contributions of Educational Research and Researchers' which was the overall theme of the conference.