Call for Papers - The Osaka Conference on Education (OCE)

IAFOR Hybrid Model

The Osaka Conference on Education (OCE) uses a hybrid conference model to ensure effective interaction between onsite and online participants. Click here to learn more about the OCE Hybrid Model.

IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)

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

Unable to travel due to coronavirus restrictions?

Key Information

Conference Dates: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 to Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: March 19, 2020^*
Final Abstract Submission Deadline: September 15, 2020
Results of abstract review returned to authors: Generally within four weeks
Full conference registration fees due for all presenters: November 06, 2020
Full conference paper submission (after the event): January 18, 2021

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

The Organising Committee of The Osaka Conference on Education (OCE) 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

Submission Streams

The OCE Organising Committee welcomes papers from a wide variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives, and submissions are organised into the streams and substreams listed below:

Teaching & Learning

Learning Experiences, Student Learning & Learner Diversity
Teaching Experiences, Pedagogy, Practice & Praxis
Assessment Theories & Methodologies
Curriculum Design & Development
Adult, Lifelong & Distance Learning
Education & Difference: Gifted Education, Special Education, Learning Difficulties & Disability
Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary & Transdisciplinary Education

Educational Structures

Educational Policy, Leadership, Management & Administration
Educational Research, Development & Publishing
Professional Training, Development & Concerns in Education
Primary & Secondary Education
Higher Education

Community & Society

Education, Sustainability & Society: Social Justice, Development & Political Movements
International Education

Language & Culture

Language Development & Literacy
Foreign Languages Education & Applied Linguistics (including ESL/TESL/TEFL)
Challenging & Preserving: Culture, Inter/Multiculturalism & Language

Psychology, Mind & Brain

Mind, Brain & Psychology: Human Emotional & Cognitive Development & Outcomes within Educational Contexts
Counselling, Guidance & Adjustment in Education

Innovation & Technology

Design, Implementation & Assessment of Innovative Technologies in Education
Nurturing Creativity & Innovation: New, Innovative & Radical Education
Knowledge Creation, Preservation & Access: Curation, Librarianship, Information & Archival Science

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 at [email protected].

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. Available in person at the venue or online via live-stream.

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. Available in person at the venue or online via live-stream.

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. Available in person at the venue or online via live-stream.

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)

This proposal type and session consist of formal paper presenters (3-5 papers maximum) within a 15-20 minute presentation, a chair and a moderator (discussant). This session proposal type is submitted by the session organiser as a fully organised session complete with all paper presentation abstracts, a selected chair and discussant.

The session chair briefly introduces the panelists, ensures panelists keep to their allotted presentation time, and moderates the Q and A when needed. Ensuring equal time for all presenters is essential, and chairs must be prepared to end a presentation that will clearly exceed the allotted time by several minutes. All organised panel session proposals should include a chair role. The role of the discussant is to facilitate a discussion among the panelists and attendees.

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

Roundtables (75 minutes)

A Roundtable is a session format at which no formal papers are presented. This format provides opportunities for participants with specific expertise to discuss with each other, and with members of the audience, timely issues or themes. This session type consists of a chair and 3-5 panelists that serve as discussants.

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

Live-Stream Presentation

For presenters who cannot attend in person can present online in a scheduled session via Zoom, the cloud-based video conferencing platform. The “live” form of presentation most resembles the normal conference experience, except that the audience are joining remotely, and will ask you questions after your presentation in the online chat feature. You can exchange and engage with other participants online.

This is available for oral and workshop presentations, as well as panel and roundtable presenters.

Virtual Presentation (Pre-recorded video)

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 published in IAFOR’s Online Video Archive; it 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.
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.

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 January 18, 2021.

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 February 19, 2021.

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.