Call for Papers

IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)

This conference is associated with the Scopus and DOAJ listed IAFOR Journal of Education.

Key Information

Conference Dates: Friday, November 08, 2019 to Sunday, November 10, 2019
Conference Theme: "Uncertain Futures: Repurposing Higher Education"
Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: June 28, 2019^*
Final Abstract Submission Deadline: August 29, 2019
Results of abstract review returned to authors: Generally within four weeks
Full conference registration fees due for all presenters: September 26, 2019
Full conference paper submission (after the event): December 10, 2019

^*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

The Conference Programme Committee is calling for abstract submissions. To present your research at the conference your abstract must first pass double-blind peer review. Upon payment of registration fees, your attendance at the conference will be confirmed.

Submit an Abstract / Log In

Conference Theme & Streams

Conference Theme: "Uncertain Futures: Repurposing Higher Education"

The conference theme for CHER-HongKong is "Uncertain Futures: Repurposing Higher Education", and the organisers encourage submissions that approach this theme from a variety of perspectives. However, the submission of other topics for consideration is welcome and we also encourage sessions across a variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives.

Submissions are organised into the following thematic streams:

Globalisation, internalisation of education and impact on student learning
Questing for innovation and entrepreneurship: Curriculum design and student learning
Promoting STEM and the role of value in education
Innovation, entrepreneurship and graduate employment
Driving for innovation-centric entrepreneurship: Management and governance issues

Special Themes and Areas of Focus

Authors have the optional opportunity of identifying whether their paper addresses either the 2020 IAFOR Special Theme and/or one of the ongoing IAFOR Special Areas of Focus.

IAFOR 2020 Special Theme: “Embracing Difference”

At a time when nationalism and ethno-centrism have become ascendant ideologies and provide easy refuge from the anxieties generated by globalisation and economic uncertainty, it is far too easy to see “difference” as a problem rather than an opportunity. Yes, cultural, religious, linguistic, and social differences can make us uncomfortable. They can be frightening, unsettling, and intellectually challenging. At the same time, they are enormously generative. It is only through encountering cultures and belief systems unlike our own that we learn anything about the flaws and limitations inherent in our own perspectives.

“Difference” is the source of innovation and change. While negotiating the difficulties of seemingly incompatible belief systems may pose tremendous challenges to us all, the payoffs for actively seeking out, celebrating, and working to converse across profound differences are manifold. As we learn about others, we learn about ourselves. And through those encounters, we have the opportunity to chart a future in which difference does not lead to violence, intolerance, or retrenchment, but instead is celebrated as the source of our collective strength.

IAFOR Special Areas of Focus

In line with its organisational mission, IAFOR encourages, facilitates and nurtures interdisciplinary research, with an emphasis on international and intercultural perspectives. Current areas of focus of the organisation include the following ongoing collaborative programmes and initiatives.

Innovation and Value

The Innovation and Value Initiative is housed at the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan. It was launched at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, in a special collaborative UN/IAFOR session at the Third Annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum 2018) on June 6, 2018, and has included various conferences and seminars, including the October 2018 IAFOR Global Innovation & Value Summit (GIVS), organised in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. This theme invites reflections at the intersection of innovation and value as they relate to the conference areas of study. For more information about the Innovation and Value Initiative, click here.

Resilience

IAFOR was asked by the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office of the Government of Japan to collaborate on the launch of the Kansai Resilience Forum. The forum was held in February 2019 and looked at how resilience is built in individuals and communities, through education and experience, as well as through various physical and logistical structures, enhanced by innovations in engineering and technology. This theme encourages interdisciplinary studies on the concept and reality of resilience as it relates to the conference areas of study. For more information about the Kansai Resilience Forum, click here.

The Silk Road

The IAFOR Silk Road Initiative is an ambitious international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research initiative that uses the silk road trade routes as a lens through which to study some of the world’s largest historical and contemporary geopolitical trends, shifts and exchanges. The initiative is a collaborative endeavour which includes the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University (Japan), Belgrade University (Serbia) and The École Normale Supérieure (France). This theme encourages submissions on Silk Road Studies and international cooperation in general as they relate to the conference areas of study. For more information about the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative, click here.

How to Submit Your Abstract

To submit, go to IAFOR's online submission system.
Create your account. Your email address will be used as your username and you will be asked to create a password. Please be aware that the information you enter when creating your account will be used for official Letters of Acceptance, Letters of Invitation, and Conference Programmes, so please ensure correct spelling of names, affiliated institutions, and so forth.
Submit your abstract (maximum 250 words), choosing from the presentation formats listed below (Oral, Poster, Panel, Workshop, Live-Stream, or Virtual).
Submit well before the submission deadline in order to benefit from Early Bird or Advanced Registration rates.
Your abstract will undergo double-blind peer review and the results will be returned to you generally within four weeks.
If your abstract is accepted you will be invited to register for the conference.
Upon payment of the registration fee, you will receive a confirmation email containing your official receipt.

Submit an Abstract / Log In

Submission Status

Check on the status of your abstract submission by logging in to the online submission system. The status is displayed in the "Your Submissions" area. Your personal information may be edited at any time.

If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, a notification email will be sent to your registered email address. If you do not receive this email, please contact us

Presentation Formats

Oral Presentation (25 minutes)

This is the standard presentation format. In an oral presentation the presenter delivers their research to their audience verbally, often accompanied by a PowerPoint slideshow. Oral presentations are generally organised by stream into parallel sessions comprising three or four presentations.

Poster Presentation (60 minutes)

A poster presentation provides a relaxed presentation atmosphere in which the presenter uses a poster pinned to a poster board (1800mm high by 900mm wide) to illustrate their research. Presenters will often engage with interested participants on a one-to-one basis, providing excellent opportunities for networking, discussion and relationship building.

Virtual Presentation

Virtual presentations afford authors the opportunity to present their research to IAFOR’s far-reaching and international online audience, without time restrictions, distractions or the need to travel. Presenters are invited to create a video of their presentation, which is then uploaded to the official IAFOR Vimeo channel and remains online indefinitely. This is a valuable and impactful way of presenting in its own right, but also an alternative means for those delegates who may be unable to travel to the conference due to financial or political restrictions. The same publishing opportunities apply to virtual presenters, with final papers being included in the Conference Proceedings.

Following the conference, virtual presenters will be mailed a conference pack, including an official payment receipt, certificate of participation and a printed copy of the Conference Programme.
The Vimeo channel will be referenced on all conference materials.
There is no limit to length or style but certain restrictions apply to file size and music selection. Guidelines and further information on creating the video will be sent following registration.
Please note that video presentations are to be created by the author.

Workshop Presentation (50 minutes)

A workshop is a brief, intensive course, lasting 50 minutes, which is led by an experienced researcher or practitioner, usually with a PhD-level qualification. It facilitates group interaction and the exchange of information between a smaller number of participants than is usual at a plenary session.

Often a workshop involves problem-solving, skills training, or the dissemination of new content or disciplinary approaches. Conference workshops are typically more instructional and interactive in nature than oral presentations and involve participants working with the workshop leader on a particular topical issue.

Symposium Presentations (75 minutes)

Symposium presentations are conceived and organised by individuals who recruit speakers to present papers on a specific topic. Presenters should submit their own abstracts separately before a Symposium Presentation can be proposed. Presenters may submit separate papers to the Conference Proceedings. The organiser will require a Submission Number from each accepted presenter in order to propose a Symposium Presentation.
They last for 75 minutes and are typically organised as follows:

Introduction
3 or 4 oral presentations based on submitted abstracts
Discussion

Panel Presentations (75 minutes)

Panel presentations are conceived and organised by individuals who recruit speakers to present in an interactive discussion on a specific topic. There are no titles associated with the panelists’ presentations. Proposals for panel discussions should include clear descriptions of the topics to be discussed. Presenters may submit a joint paper to the Conference Proceedings. They last for 75 minutes and are typically organised as follows:

Introduction
a short presentation by each panel member
Discussion

As the organiser of a proposed panel, submit your proposal through the online system. Presenters may submit a joint paper to the Conference Proceedings.

Review System

Authors as Reviewers: A Reciprocal System

Our academic events would not be what they are without a commitment to ensuring adherence to international norms of abstract peer review. IAFOR relies on a large number of international scholars from around the world to contribute to a shared vision of promoting and engaging in international, intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue, and if you are taking part in an IAFOR event, then that would mean you. Authors may be asked to review up to five abstracts for the conference. You are under no obligation to participate in this reciprocal system, but if you are selected to review, and undertake this task of grading abstracts for the conference, you will be credited in the conference programme.

Scheduling Requests

Because of the complexity of putting the Conference Programme together and the large numbers of participants involved, it is not usually possible to accommodate requests for specific presentation days or times. We ask that you reserve requests for religious reasons or other exceptional and unavoidable circumstances.

We encourage participants to attend the conference each day in order to benefit fully from the experience. While requests for specific presentation days or times are not accepted other than under exceptional circumstances, you may request one blackout day – a day on which you will not be scheduled to present at the conference.

Scheduling requests will not be accepted after the registration deadline.

Conference Proceedings

If you wish your paper to be published in the Conference Proceedings, once you have registered please ensure that you upload your full paper through the online system by December 10, 2019.

Final papers are only accepted in Microsoft Word format. Before submitting your paper please ensure that you have read the Final Paper Guidelines and formatted your paper correctly.

The official Conference Proceedings will be published online in a PDF format under an ISSN issued by the National Diet Library of Japan on January 10, 2020.

Publication & Licensing Issues

IAFOR believes in “Open Access” publishing, and since 2009, has been committed to maintaining an online searchable research archive that offers free access to anyone, anywhere, where there is Internet access, regardless of institutional affiliation or scholarly rank. IAFOR publications are accessible on the website (Open Access) to researchers all over the world, completely free of charge and without delay or embargo. Authors and contributors are not required to pay charges of any sort towards the publication of IAFOR journals.

Abstracts, research papers, and video footage are published under an IAFOR user license and are protected by copyright. Users may access, download, copy, translate, text and data mine, redistribute, display or adapt the articles for non-commercial purposes provided that users follow the guidelines set out in the IAFOR User License.

Journals and other forms of print and digital media will be made available by IAFOR to the general public on an online, Open Access basis. By publishing their work with IAFOR, authors enter into an exclusive License Agreement, where they have copyright but license exclusive rights in their article to IAFOR as the publisher.