2026 - Histories of Education Summer School

16th HISTORY OF EDUCATION DOCTORAL SUMMER SCHOOL (HEDSS)

This conference invites applications from postgraduate students in the history of education with an interest in the histories of educational spaces and discourses and new ways of working with images, artefacts, and archives. Leading international historians of education will give lectures and workshops, and offer advice concerning the research process. There will be opportunities for students to discuss their dissertation projects with fellow doctoral candidates and receive comments from prominent scholars in the field.

The summer school started as an EERA pilot project and is the sixteenth conference in a series of successful events that started in Ghent in 2010 and was followed by meetings in Birmingham 2011, Lisbon 2012, Hamburg 2013, Umeå 2014, Luxembourg 2015, Groningen 2016, Porto Conte 2017, Riga 2018, Liverpool 2019, Lyon 2021, Madrid 2022, Zurich 2023, Copenhagen 2024, and Oslo 2025. This session of the summer school is organised at the University of Paris, France.

The conference is supported by:

  • Stichting Paedagogica Historica
  • History of Education Society, UK
  • European Educational Research Association (EERA)
  • International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE)
  • The Arctic Six
  • University Paris Cité

The number of participants will be limited to up to 20 students. The conference language is English. Participation in the conference is free of charge. Accommodation and meals will be provided, but delegates will have to cover the cost for their travel to Paris. ISCHE travel bursaries are available to students from low-GDP countries. For more information, please check the application form.

Tutors: Ian Grosvenor and Siân Roberts (University of Birmingham, UK), Frederik Herman (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland) and Björn Norlin (Umeå University, Sweden).

Local organisers: Rebecca Rogers, Octave Debary, and Marianne Thivend (University Paris Cité, France), Pierre Guidi (Institut de recherche pour le développement and Université Paris Cité), and Noah Sobe (UNESCO, Paris).

Closing date for applications is 31 December 2025. Successful applicants will be notified in February 2026.

Need more information?
Contact: history-of-ed-ss-2026(at)eera-ecer.de for queries regarding application, eligibility and selection criteria; Rebecca Rogers (rebecca.rogers(at)u-paris.fr) for queries on practical issues, e.g. regarding travel, accommodation and venue.

Season School Mission

The aim of the ‘European Educational Research Association’ (EERA) is to further high quality educational research for the benefit of education and society. High quality research not only acknowledges its own context but also recognises wider, transnational contexts with their social, cultural and political similarities and differences. To accomplish this, engagement and support for the next generation of European researchers is essential.  EERA season schools bring together early career researchers and PhD students from a number of nations to share and discuss their research and experiences with experts within their own field of research, in order to further the professional development of emerging researchers.