Abstract submission now open

Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2026

Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2026

Please read all the information below before submitting an abstract 

Important points for submitting an abstract:

• There is no overarching theme for the conference. When submitting an abstract you will need to select up to 2 themes to align your abstract to.
• You will need a BERA account to submit an abstract. You do not need to be a BERA member. Once you have signed in, you will be redirected to the abstract submission page.
• Currently you will not need to submit a full paper for the Conference.
• The conference is fully in person and we will not be accepting any virtual presentations if accepted
• You should receive an email confirmation with a link to your abstract once your submission has been completed.

Themes

All submissions should indicate the theme which closely relates to the topic when submitting.  BERA reserves the right to reassign your abstract to a different theme than submitted if more relevant for programming purposes. If your paper abstract does not fall within the remits of the listed themes, please email conference@bera.ac.uk and you will be given instructions how to submit.

Themes this year are:

• Children and Young People
• Comparative and/or International Education
• Curriculum and subject pedagogy
• Digital Technology and Artificial Intelligence
• Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice
• Educational Assessment and evaluation
• Educational Leadership and Policy
• Health and wellbeing in education
• Higher Education and Lifelong Learning
• Professional Education
• Theory, methodologies and ethics in Education

You will also have the option to select a second theme which relates to one our Special Interest Groups:  www.bera.ac.uk/communities.

Young People at Conference

Young people’s participation at conference or events is an opportunity for BERA and its
members to work in partnership with those who are often the subject of educational research, but who are rarely present when their experiences are discussed. It is an opportunity for young people to develop a broader understanding of the processes and affordances of educational research, to have their agency recognised, and to have diverse voices heard. We welcome more abstracts that have engagement with young people and have developed a procedure to ensure a proposals can be considered taking into consideration safeguarding, supervision, funding and risk assessment.

Research Ethics

The submitters and authors are responsible for ensuring that ethical issues relating to the research project are identified and brought to the attention of the relevant approval or regulatory body. Approval to undertake the research must be granted before any work requiring approval begins. Ethical issues should be interpreted broadly and may encompass, among other things, relevant codes of practice, the involvement of human participants, tissue or data in research, the use of animals, research that may result in damage to the environment and the use of sensitive economic, social or personal data. The BERA Ethical Guidelines can be found on our website.

AI

Generative AI tools have rapidly evolved and are increasingly integrated into academic life through research, writing, and review processes. Their use must be approached with transparency, caution, and a commitment to research ethics.

While generative AI can assist with drafting, summarising, proofreading, or refining academic content, it cannot be considered capable of producing an original piece of research or submission without substantial human intellectual contribution and oversight. In accordance with COPE guidelines, generative AI systems cannot be listed as authors, as they cannot assume accountability for errors, ensure ethical standards have been adhered to, or respond to critiques of the work.

BERA expects all researchers to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and ethical conduct in their work. For work utilising AI, this includes, but is not limited to:

• Research integrity: Generative AI must not be used to fabricate, manipulate, modify, or falsify research data or findings. AI-generated content should not mislead readers about the provenance or originality of the work.
• Transparency: Any use of generative AI tools to support the creation of submissions to BERA must be fully disclosed at the point of submission, including specifying the tool used and what it has been used for.
• Accountability: Named authors are fully responsible for verifying the accuracy, validity, and originality of all content within their submission, including content produced or assisted by AI. They must take care to ensure that application of AI-based tools does not lead them to plagiarize, misrepresent or falsify content, or infringe third party rights
• Confidentiality: Inputting unpublished, sensitive, or proprietary material (such as manuscripts, peer reviews, or confidential data) into AI tools that transmit data to third-party servers may constitute a breach of privacy and confidentiality. Therefore, no confidential manuscript or peer review content may be entered into generative AI tools.
• Peer review and judging: Peer review must be a human-led process. Generative AI must not be used to draft, evaluate, or make decisions on peer review or judging processes. AI tools may be used in the final preparation of referee reports provided the use of AI is explicitly disclosed, including specifying what purpose (e.g. to improve language style) it was used for, and the reviewer retains full responsibility for the content and judgments expressed.

BERA will continue to monitor developments in AI technology and its implications for ethical research practices. Any undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI tools, particularly for the generation of content presented as original, may be considered a breach of the BERA Code of Conduct, and BERA reserves the right to take appropriate action.

BERA Council review this statement annually. Last updated: May 2025

Abstract reviewing

Each abstract is reviewed blindly by two reviewers drawn from BERA Members, or one of the BERA Committees.

Reviewing criteria

We welcome volunteers to peer review the abstracts submitted and we rely upon the efforts of our volunteers to ensure we have sufficient capacity to review all abstracts. If you would like to be added to the database please register online here.

Symposium:

• Clarity of the focus of the research
• Originality of the symposium proposal
• Rigour and coherence of the symposium and its individual papers
• Significance of the research for education practice, policy or theory

Individual Papers:

• Clarity of the focus of the research
• Originality of the research
• Rigour of the research
• Significance of the research for education practice, policy or theory

ePoster

• Clarity of the focus of the research
• Suitability of the format
• Rigour of the research
• Significance of the proposal for practice, policy or theory

Panel Discussion/ Workshop/ Activity:

• Clarity of the focus of the research
• Suitability of the session format
• Rigour of the research
• Significance of the proposal for practice, policy or theory

Results

There is limited space on the programme and sessions available at the conference. Each year we are mindful that presenters do not want more sessions as the rooms will not be as full. Therefore there will always be a percentage of papers rejected. In the last few years this is around 30% of papers but it will depend upon the number of abstracts submitted. The Conference & Events Committee continually review the processes to ensure these are fair and transparent.

If the same abstract is submitted under different themes this will only be reviewed once and you will only receive one set of results.

The programme will be published and presenters can check their date and time of presentation if accepted after the early bird deadline, by then all presenters need to register. This is to ensure once the programme is grouped, this consists of confirmed presenters only.

> For individual and poster submissions

• Only one individual abstract will normally be accepted per main presenting author, which will be the highest scoring paper. You can still submit more than one paper.
• Only one presentation style will be accepted for the same abstract
• This does not apply if you are a presenting co-author on other papers
• Similarly this does not apply if you have also been accepted for a symposia or other session

> For symposium submissions

• A minimum of 3 papers and 3 (unique) presenters for each paper need to be registered by the early bird deadline for the symposium to remain in the programme

> For panel discussion submissions

• A minimum of 3 (unique) presenters need to be registered by the early bird deadline for the symposium to remain in the programme