Great Opportunity!

 

Great Opportunity!

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FROM EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS FOR THE 2013 EARLI ADVANCED STUDY COLLOQUIUM ON THE ROLES OF THEORY IN RESEARCH ON LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION

Professor Gert Biesta (University of Luxembourg) and Professor Rupert Wegerif (University of Exeter) have been awarded funding from EARLI for an Advanced Study Colloquium (ASC) on the roles of theory in research in learning and instruction. The ASC will be a three-day gathering of about 8 experienced research and 8 early career researchers and will focus on the roles of theory in research on learning and instruction, with particular attention to different traditions of theory and theorising within Europe.

The ASC provides a unique opportunity for Early Career Researchers to engage in scholarly discussions about an important topic that until now has received relatively little attention but that nonetheless is crucial for the conduct of meaningful research on learning and instruction. The ASC will consist of presentations from all participants and themed discussions. It will use the Metafora project (see http:/www.metafora-project.org) as a 'case' to explore issues around the roles of theory and the different traditions of theory and theorising. The ACS will be held in London from Wednesday afternoon 8 May 2013 until Saturday morning 11 May 2013. Expenses of participants will be covered.

The ASC will facilitate focused interaction between experienced and early career researchers (PhD students/junior researchers within about two years of obtaining their PhD). While we anticipate that senior/experienced participants will be able to provide contributions that contain a broad and deep engagement with particular issues, we will also request that all junior researchers prepare original contributions to the event, albeit on the expectation that they will do so from their particular intellectual 'location' and in relation to their expertise and experience. Doing so not only will make sure that junior researchers will contribute fully to the discussions, but will also allow playing to the strengths of each of the participants. In addition we envisage that the contributions themselves will make visible how experienced and junior researchers perceive and experience the field in which they are working differently, and how this impacts on their perception of the roles of theory and theorising and on their views about the issues that need attention and further development. We anticipate that this way of working will provide a stimulating and intellectually challenging opportunity for junior researchers.

This call is an invitation to early career researchers within EARLI to apply for a place at the ACS. In order to apply we ask you to submit a brief document with your contact details, a description of your research interests (about 200 words), when and where you obtained your PhD plus a brief description of the topic (about 200 words), and an abstract for a possible contribution to the ACS (about 300-500 words). Such a contribution can either look at the use of particular theories in research on learning and instruction, or at particular traditions of theorising.

This event is being organised by the University of Exeter so please submit your application by Monday 14th January 2013 to Karen Ogden (K.E.Ogden@exeter.ac.uk). You will be notified of the outcome by Friday 1 February 2013. If you have particular questions about the ACS, please feel free to contact us directly (until the end of December:
gert.biesta@stir.ac.uk from January 2013 onwards: gert.biesta@uni.lu; r.b.wegerif@ex.ac.uk). A fuller description of the context and content of the event can be found on http://www.dialogiceducation.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/EARLI-ASC-2013-Theory-Call.docx.docx.docx