On the 25th November, BERA hosted “Critical Conversations in Education – BERA AGM, Awards and Keynote lecture”

Following our annual general meeting (minutes and presentation available below), a packed room enjoyed a keynote from Professor Heike Wendt, who delivered an engaging talk on Teaching for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainability Across Europe.

Following this, we hosted our ‘In Conversation with…’ lecture. That year, we were delighted to welcome Professor Heidi Safia Mirza, Emeritus Professor of Equality Studies in Education at the UCL Institute of Education, who joined us for an inspiring and thought-provoking discussion.

We were delighted to honour this year’s award winners at our annual awards ceremony, recognising outstanding research, leadership, and contribution across the discipline. The event brought together members of the educational research community to celebrate excellence at every career stage, from undergraduate scholars to internationally renowned leaders in the field. 

Honouring distinguished contribution and leadership

The John Nisbet Fellowship, established in 2014 and named after BERA’s first President, celebrates individuals who have made an exceptional career-long contribution to educational research. The 2025 Fellowship was awarded to Professor Heidi Safia Mirza, an internationally acclaimed scholar of race, gender, and identity. Her pioneering research, influential publications, and leadership in advancing equality and decolonisation have shaped educational thinking and policy in Britain and internationally. Professor Mirza spoke to BERA president Marlon Moncrieffe in a rich and varied conversation about her career.

The BERA Academic Citizen of the Year award recognises a researcher who has demonstrated exemplary commitment to the discipline and wider academic community. The 2025 recipient Dr Karen Guldberg, is a leading figure in autism studies and inclusive education whose research, leadership, and large-scale professional development initiatives have had transformative impact across the sector.

The 2025 Equality in Education Award was presented to Professor Mel Ainscow, acknowledging his exceptional and sustained contribution to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in education. A globally recognised authority in inclusive education, his decades of work have driven research-informed, system-level change that has improved outcomes for disadvantaged learners and strengthened self-improving school systems.

The 2025 Educational research Book of the Year went to Race and Assessment in Higher Education: From Conceptualising Barriers to Making Measurable Change by  Paul Ian Campbell.

Celebrating emerging scholarship

This year’s awards also recognised outstanding research at early stages of the academic journey:

The BERA Undergraduate Award 2025 went to Brooke Armstrong for her thesis

“Educational support for secondary school students with long term health conditions in England: Using the biopsychosocial model of disability to understand the impact of educational support on students’ experiences.”

The BERA Masters Dissertation Award 2025 went to Samuel Akroyd for his dissertation “Toward a critical-ethical framework for the mitigation of the social injustice potential of Artificial Intelligence in education: Students and selfhoods.”

The BERA Doctoral Thesis Award 2025 went to Dr Lucy Robinson for her thesis “How does military life shape service children’s identity and school experiences?”

BERA Conference Awards

We were also pleased to honour the recipients of the 2025 BERA Conference ECR Presentation Award, SIG Best Paper Awards, and Poster Awards.

A full list of these awardees can be viewed via the 2025 BERA Conference website here

Annual General Meeting

Thank you to everyone who attended our AGM. All papers are available on the event page. The minutes of the meeting and the PowerPoint presentation will shortly be available as downloads below. 

You can view all pictures from the event below