Symposium

Release of Abstract Book 25/03/2025

Release of Exact Schedule 18/03/2025 (updated 31/03/2025)

Announcement 10/03/2025

In case you have not reached out to us with your missing abstract until the 11th of March 2025, we will unfortunately not be able to take your abstract into consideration.

Announcement 24/02/2025

We have become aware that the e-mail address of Sissy Kreid given on the call for submissions to the symposium on our website is linked to a non-functional variant of the e-mail address. Thus, if you used the link to her e-mail to submit your symposium abstract to us, it may have never arrived.
If you have sent a submission for the symposium and have NOT YET received any reply from us regarding the abstract, please reach out to us immediately.

juliane.hohle (a) ugent.be and emma.heikkila (a) helsinki.fi 

Update 20/02/2025: Registration form

The registration for the symposium is now open until 30th of March 2025 or when the maximum number of participants (100) is reached. You will receive the Zoom link for the symposium via the e-mail you sign up with, a week before the symposium.

Please also sign up via the following link even if you are already a member of the EMESER network or you are an organiser/presenter.

https://forms.office.com/e/ThzWZvuNGQ

And please spread this invitational letter to interested colleagues:

Update 12/02/2025: Schedule

Symposium Schedule

Thursday 10th of April (Time: CEST)	Friday 11th of April (Time: CEST)
13:00 Welcome and opening the symposium	13:00 Welcome
13:10 Keynote 1 – Prof. Maria Ojala Critical emotional awareness: On the importance of combining psychological emotion theories and critical approaches when taking account of emotions in ESE	13:10 Keynote 2 – Prof. Michalinos Zembylas Fugitive Pedagogies of Dread for Radical Futurity: Affective, Ontological, and Political Implications
14:05 Instructions and break (10 min)	14:05 Instructions and break (10 min)
14:15 Parallel sessions 1	14:15 Parallel sessions 3
15:15 Coffee break (15 min)	15:15 Coffee break (15 min)
15:30 Parallel sessions 2	15:30 Parallel sessions 4
16:30 Discussion	16:30 Discussion and closing the symposium

Key Note Speakers

The title of her presentation is: Critical emotional awareness: On the importance of combining psychological emotion theories and critical approaches when taking account of emotions in ESE

The title of his presentation is: Fugitive Pedagogies of Dread for Radical Futurity: Affective, Ontological, and Political Implications

Update 02/12/2024: Review criteria

We will have two keynote speakers for our symposium: Prof. Maria Ojala and Prof. Michalinos Zembylas.

Please find below the review criteria for your abstract.

Criteria	Points	R1	R2
Addressing of all three areas – education, sustainability, emotions(If this is not given, instant rejection of the abstract)	Yes or no
Clarity of argumentation	1-3
Research aim(s) and/or question(s) clearly stated	1
Clarity of methodology and/or theoretical approach	1-3
Significance (including critical approach and novelty)	1-3
Emphasis on educational theories, questions and perspectives on emotions (in contrast to purely psychological or sociological ones)	1
Fit to the core questions (please give 1 point if any or several of the questions below are addressed)	1
Which conceptualizations of emotion from other fields of research are best suited for ESE?	Yes or No
Which research methods are used and might be beneficial in the future to conduct in-depth research into sustainability-related educational processes?	Yes or No
How have emotions been addressed in ESE practice to catalyze transformation for sustainability? What should didactic methods for working with emotions look like and what role do educators play?	Yes or No
What are implicit (normative/disciplinary/ideological/political) assumptions in addressing emotions in ESE research?	Yes or No
What are aims and pathways for future research regarding emotions in ESE?	Yes or No
SUM OF POINTS	Out of 12

Call for Submissions for a Symposium 

Educational perspectives on emotions in teaching and learning for sustainability – Conceptualisations, methodological questions, empirical insights, and pathways for future research 

April 10-11, 2025, online

Emotions are an increasingly important focus within the research field of environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Learners and educators experience a wide range of emotions when they enter into learning environments, while dealing with controversial and existential issues of (un)sustainability or as a result of education processes. The connection between emotions and (un)sustainability are manifold. On the one hand, the multiple developments and crises of (un)sustainability are provoking different emotional reactions (like climate anxiety) or responses (outside-in perspective). On the other hand, emotions are a main driver for engagement, for example when learners are transforming their sustainability-related rage into concrete actions (inside-out-perspective). Educational organizations can create room for recognising and dealing with emotions and thereby empower individuals and groups to take action. Nevertheless, there is only little systematic knowledge on how to deal with or address emotions in ESE. Additionally, the question of how to address learners’ and/or educators’ emotions (including emotions of the public, researchers etc.) goes along with fundamental ethical questions (for example, how to avoid using emotions instrumentally).

There is a growing number of studies on eco-emotions, climate anxiety, or grief mostly from a psychological perspective. Nevertheless, the state of research on emotions in the context of ESE is still insufficiently systematized and other disciplinary perspectives (e.g., sociological, feminist) are currently underexplored. Key questions are too rarely discussed, like: 

• Which conceptualizations of emotion from other fields of research are best suited for ESE?
• Which research methods are used and might be beneficial in the future to conduct in-depth research into sustainability-related educational processes?
• How have emotions been addressed in ESE practice to catalyze transformation for sustainability? What should didactic methods for working with emotions look like and what role do educators play?
• What are implicit (normative/disciplinary/ideological/political) assumptions in addressing emotions in ESE research? 
• What are aims and pathways for future research regarding emotions in ESE?

With the symposium we want to contribute to advancing the growing research field on emotions and ESE and create space for reflection and discussion between multiple perspectives. The symposium is part of the activities of an International Research Network (IRN) of the World Educational Research Association (WERA). The network called EMESER brings researchers with an interest in emotions in ESE together and thereby broadens and strengthens research on emotions in ESE through encouraging discussion and collaboration. The symposium is free of charge and will take place online on two afternoons on April 10th and 11th 2025.

We invite abstracts for theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions in line with this call. We welcome scholars at any level of their academic career to contribute. A group of researchers from the network will select the contributions based on the quality and the fit to the core questions of the symposium. All submissions should deal with all three aspects: emotions, sustainability, and education. 

Abstracts should have a length of 500 words (excluding references)

• Abstract submission deadline: 7th of January, 2025 (NEW DEADLINE)
• Communication of review status: 31st of January, 2025

Submissions can be sent to Sissy Kreid, sissy.kreid@ur.de

Questions regarding the symposium can be sent to Emma Heikkilä, emma.heikkila@helsinki.fi