Call for Papers
Call for Papers
We invite you to join us for the Thirty-Third International Conference on Learning, the annual meeting of The Learner Research Network, taking place 8–10 July 2026 at the University of Hong Kong and online, with full participation through the CGScholar Event (KX) environment. The Network brings together researchers, educators, technologists, instructional designers, policymakers, and community practitioners who share a concern for learning in all its sites—early childhood, schools, tertiary institutions, workplaces, and informal environments—and who seek to build connections across disciplines, methodologies, and cultural contexts.
In 2026, our special focus “Digital Literacy for Future Readiness” examines how learners and learning systems can respond to the profound transformations inaugurated by artificial intelligence, rapidly evolving digital tools, and shifting conditions of participation in a global knowledge society. As digital technologies increasingly shape how we learn, teach, work, and engage civic life, questions of access, fluency, ethics, and equity become central to educational design and policy. This year’s focus invites contributions that explore how digital literacy can be cultivated across diverse contexts; how AI reshapes pedagogical relationships and assessment strategies; how the digital divide continues to challenge inclusion; and what new competencies are required for learners to thrive in technologically mediated futures.
The focus also encourages reflection on systems-level transformation: how institutions can support educators in designing inclusive and innovative digital practices; how communities can participate in shaping technologically enhanced learning; and how learners themselves can become co-authors in the design of their digital futures. By foregrounding both opportunity and risk, the special focus calls for research and practice that build the capacities needed for a digitally fluent, resilient, and equitable society.
Alongside the special focus, we welcome proposals across the Network’s annual themes: Pedagogy and Curriculum; Assessment and Evaluation; Educational Organization and Leadership; Early Childhood Learning; Learning in Higher Education; Adult, Community, and Professional Learning; Learner Diversity and Identities; Technologies in Learning; Literacies Learning; and Science, Mathematics, and Technology Learning.
Knowledge Experience and Format
The conference is organised as a hybrid knowledge experience, integrating in-person and online participation within a single, unified scholarly environment. All accepted proposals become Presentation Pages on CGScholar Event (KX), where presenters upload abstracts, media, and reflections and where delegates may engage in conversation before, during, and after the event.
A shared schedule weaves together in-person presentations, live online sessions, and asynchronous contributions. All delegates—regardless of mode—gain access to the complete program, session recordings, and an expanding archive of materials. The emphasis across all formats is on reciprocal, human-scale engagement: sessions structured for dialogue, reflection, and collaborative inquiry rather than one-directional presentation.
Publication Pathways
Presenters are invited to further develop their conference work for possible publication in the Network’s journals—The International Journal of Learner Diversity and Identities; The International Journal of Adult, Community, and Professional Learning; The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation; The International Journal of Early Childhood Learning; The International Journal of Educational Organization and Leadership; The International Journal of Learning in Higher Education; The International Journal of Literacies; The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum; and The International Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Learning—or in The Learner Book Imprint, which publishes monographs and edited collections that extend the field of educational research. Both journals and books offer traditional and Open Access publication pathways.
Membership and Community
We welcome new and returning members to The Learner Research Network. By purchasing a Presenter Pass, you automatically become—or renew as—a Network Member for the year. Membership places you inside the online Knowledge Experience, a shared scholarly space connecting the entire cycle of our work: preparation, presentation, reflection, and publication. Members access conference updates and media, calls for papers, programs, archives, journals, and books, and contribute their own work through peer-facilitated community review. Scholar-led and inclusive by design, the space functions as a living commons for reciprocity, rigor, and continuity.
Membership is also activated through our in-person gatherings, where delegates exchange insights, build collaborations, and engage directly with host institutions and global partners. Membership sustains the Research Network and ensures continued access to its programs, archives, journals, and books—keeping ideas in motion across time and across the many communities that constitute The Learner Research Network.
Join Us
We warmly invite you to submit a proposal and to join us—either in Hong Kong or online—for the Thirty-Third International Conference on Learning, the annual meeting of The Learner Research Network. Together, we will explore how learning can be reimagined for a digitally complex and interconnected world.
Bill Cope (Research Network Chair, English)
Mary Kalantzis (Research Network Chair, English)
José Luis Ortega Martín (Research Network Chair, Spanish)
The Local Conference Committee at the University of Hong Kong (Gary Ka Wai Wong, Shihui Feng, Lianjiang Jiang, Lukas Liu),
and the broader community of editors, partners, and members who sustain The Learner Research Network.