Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences is excited to announce the call for abstracts for the upcoming SANORD 2023 conference with the broader topic: "The role of higher education in contributing to just and sustainable futures."
The conference aims to bring together scholars, researchers and practitioners to explore a wide range of research, approaches and practices in the role of higher education in contributing to promote global social justice and sustainable futures for all.
We invite the submission of abstracts for paper presentations, full symposiums, workshops and panel discussions. We welcome submissions from a range of perspectives and disciplines, including but not limited to education, health, environment, agriculture, wildlife management, sustainability, social and environmental justice, digital technologies, crisis management and innovation – particularly in a North-South collaboration perspective.
The deadline for abstract submission is 26 April 2023. Abstracts should be limited to 250 words for paper presentations. Proposals for workshops, symposiums and roundtable sessions must be uploaded as a pdf and contain all necessary details.
Submissions must be in English only.
To submit your abstract, please upload it here.
We look forward to receiving your submissions and hope to see you at the conference!
Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: 26 April 2023
Notification of accepted abstract: 5 May 2023 (estimated)
Registration opens: 1 May 2023
Registration closes: 7 August 2023
Theme 1: Global perspectives and sustainability in teacher education
Across the world, teacher education has tended to be politically governed, often at a national level. While policy documents and national frameworks sometimes restrict collaboration across borders, the challenges facing the world of tomorrow are universal. Schools are where the foundation of tomorrow’s societies are laid, and teacher education plays a crucial part in building better futures for all. Education has the power to make transformations through addressing topics such as sustainable development, justice, citizenship, inequality, decolonialization and critical thinking. Through international collaboration, higher education institutions can share and learn how to better equip citizens of and for the future. We welcome papers on subject-specific research and interdisciplinary topics relevant for teacher education. We are particularly interested in collaborative North-South research and development projects. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
- Critical thinking
- Democracy and (global) citizenship
- Digital technology
- Decolonialization/ decoloniality
- Equality
- Gender
- Global awareness
- Humanities
- Education in multilingual settings
- Language policy
- Indigenous perspectives
- Intercultural learning
- Race, ethnicity and minorities
- Sustainable development and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Theme 2: Future-proofing agriculture within a sustainable social-ecological context
Food security is a prerequisite for human development. However, there are many challenges associated with reaching this goal. Agriculture is impacted by climate change and changing social settings, but must also be seen within a broader ecological context where it both affects, and is affected by, the ecosystems within which it is conducted. The sum of these considerations means that a future-proofed, sustainable agriculture must be seen within a wider social-ecological context that also embraces the dynamic interconnections of the global (North-South) nature of our food production systems. Blæstad, one of the campuses at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, celebrates its centenary as an arena for agricultural education in 2023. Together with our sister departments that focus on biotechnology and applied ecology we take this occasion as an opportunity to invite contributions within agriculture and the way it connects to this wider context.
We encourage contributions related but not limited to the following aspects;
- Climate impacts on agricultural production
- Impacts of changing social context on agriculture
- Human-wildlife conflicts
- One Health - diseases in the human-livestock-wildlife interface
- The impact of national and international geopolitics, trade policies and subsidies on the livelihoods of farmers
Theme 3: Global and mental health research
Global health research is of crucial importance for global equality and sustainability in multiple ways. Diseases and illnesses are globally and increasingly interconnected. Diseases in China or Southern part of Africa may be part of Scandinavia tomorrow. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has given recognition to the idea that “there is no health without mental health.” Yet poor mental health is a growing public health problem, especially in low and lower middle-income countries where poverty is common and health systems are fragile. Improving mental health is, however, viewed as key to making progress on several Sustainable Development Goals. To improve this situation, the WHO has argued for a need to focus on promotion, prevention, early intervention, and recovery and reduce the reliance on medical interventions, especially through strengthening primary health care. Higher education institutions can contribute towards many of these fields.
We respond to this agenda by inviting presentations in the following areas (but not limited to these):
- All aspects of global health issues
- Both infectious and non-infectious diseases
- Health education, including training of health professionals
- Epidemiology – Diseases between people and in the nexus between human-livestock-wildlife interface
- Disease prevention and health promotion
- Stigma and discrimination in contemporary society, including in the health system
- Human rights and inequality in health care services
- Building children’s resilience
- Innovation through social and digital interventions
- Quality of life and recovery
We welcome in particular contributions from international research collaboration between the global North and South.
Theme 4: Artificial Intelligence and the future of society
Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies are becoming more and more available in society, with their applications permeating virtually every aspect of human life. A number of these tools leverage deep learning and natural language processing to mimic human behaviours, imitate or replace human users to perform certain tasks commonly associated with human beings. AI enhanced functionalities and areas of use continue to evoke new questions and fears over their implications for the future of society. Recent release of an advanced ChatGPT chatbot that is capable of producing high-quality essays with minimal human input, has brought to the fore new discussions about the power and influence of AI-generated content. What does artificial intelligence mean for the future of society in general and higher education in specific? What new opportunities, limitations and challenges emerge?
We invite submissions related but not limited to the following topics:
- Artificial intelligence in (higher) education
- Artificial intelligence in research
- Epistemology and artificial intelligence
- Ethical and legal issues for artificial intelligence
- How can artificial intelligence contribute towards a sustainable future?
- Artificial intelligence in human resources and business
- Artificial intelligence in crisis management
- Artificial intelligence in the public sector
Theme 5: Crisis Management: Towards a Sustainable Future
The societies we live in are increasingly vulnerable to different types of crisis, be they natural or man-made disasters. As Mitroff and Anagnos (2000) once noted, crises are no longer an aberrant, rare, random or peripheral feature of today’s society, but rather built into the very fabric and fibre of modern societies. The Covid-19 pandemic, that all societies around the world had to cope with, is a reminder that no society is immune to crises. The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War has a global impact and wide-ranging consequences, that threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The country’s ability to deal with the ramifications of the crisis continue to erode. Lessons from Covid-19 and the ongoing Ukraine crisis highlight the critical importance of international collaboration in crisis management. Poor leadership and inadequately coordinated responses can lead to future humanitarian and sustainability challenges.
We invite contributions that bring sustainable insights into the field and practice of crisis management. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Sustainability and crisis management
- Disaster preparedness
- Sustainability factors in crisis response
- People-centred recovery processes
- Sustainable humanitarian operations
- Sustainable innovative technologies in crisis management
Theme 6: Digital Technologies in Educational Systems
In the 21st century, digital technologies are increasingly ubiquitous elements in the design of educational systems. Not only do digital technologies contribute to efficiencies within the known contours of educational systems, but they also contribute to redefining those contours. In this conference track we invite abstracts that employ digital technologies for strengthening the following educational systems:
- Indigenous knowledge systems
- Healthcare education
- Teacher education
- Higher education
- Vocational education
These digital technologies may be (but are not limited to)
- Games (including mobile based games)
- Virtual Reality (VR)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Robotics (ranging from robotic process automation tools to humanoid robots)
- Sensors
- AI/ML
- Blockchain technologies
- IoT
- Other digital tools for education
We identify global South-North collaboration as an essential need for creating sustainable solutions that address opportunities within the above educational systems. Therefore, we strongly encourage abstracts/papers that specifically focus on re-imagining global South-North collaboration in the 21st century in the education realm mediated by current and emerging digital technologies.