Interdisciplinarity in Human Rights Education
14-15 June 2027 OsloMet University, Oslo, Norway
Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
The International Association for Human Rights Education (IAHRE) was established in 2023 at the 15th International Conference for Education and Democratic Citizenship (ICEDC) hosted by Sutherland School of Law at University College Dublin, Ireland. IAHRE exists to support the development of human rights education research, scholarship and practice. It has been awarded charitable status in recognition of its efforts to promote the public good. IAHRE’s scholarly journal is the award-winning Human Rights Education Review (HRER) founded in 2018 and published by Taylor & Francis.
The IAHRE Conference is a meeting place for scholars, researchers, graduate students, education policymakers, and civil society activists from across Europe and internationally. It builds on the work of the WERA International Research Network on Human Rights Education, coordinated by Professors Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey. It provides a unique opportunity to present and discuss current research and policy relating to human rights education and questions of human rights within education. There is an expectation that presenters accepted for IAHRE 2027 will submit their final revised conference papers to Human Rights Education Review shortly after the conference.
Call for papers
We invite papers for the 2027 IAHRE Conference Interdisciplinarity in Human Rights Education. IAHRE 2027 aims to build on the vast array of disciplines that contribute to human rights education, and we welcome scholars from sociology, education, law, history, politics, geography and other relevant disciplines, as well as those specialising in regional studies. Papers should review and critically reflect on human rights education policy and practice, child rights education and the wider area of education and human rights. We are interested in research that addresses HRE across formal education, from early years through to higher education, as well as community-focused and community-led initiatives designed to enhance and strengthen human rights understanding. Papers reflecting the work of those aiming to enhance human rights understanding in professional education, in diverse fields, including teacher education, medicine, nursing and social care also welcome.
Colleagues working in NGOs and international organisations who have campaign case studies are likewise invited. We welcome contributions from researchers at all stages of their careers.
At IAHRE 2027 we aim to build upon the contributions at IAHRE 2026 Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent World that recognised how human rights education is taking place in an increasingly unstable world with growing authoritarianism and challenges to human rights and democratic values in all regions and where climate change, disinformation, terrorism, war and conflict, hate speech and xenophobia confront us in the starkest terms. Given these challenges we remain mindful of both the challenges and the opportunities that educators in varied contexts face.
Human rights education (HRE) supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 4. HRE has a vital role in maintaining hope and enabling people of all ages to reimagine a positive future. Children and young people experience barriers to democratic participation since they are not only excluded from formal political mechanisms and decision-making processes but have been the subject of government-led social media bans that threaten access to communication and information.
Any vision of a sustainable future necessarily includes ‘sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development’ (SDG 4.7). IAHRE 2027 invites contributions that build on and extend the focus of past conferences and on the fast-expanding HRE literature, both in HRER and other journals and books. IAHRE 2027 includes but is not limited to papers addressing:
- Human rights curricula
- Education for peace
- Global citizenship education
- Climate, environment and sustainable development
- Migration, citizenship and rights
- Children’s digital worlds
- Human rights, intercultural and language learning
- Worldviews and religion
- Decolonising learning
- Professional education and training
- Children’s rights and child friendly schools
This call for papers invites both individual papers and proposals for symposia.
Individual paper requirements
Prepare an abstract of no more than 300 words, including paper title, your name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact email(s). Please indicate whether you would prefer to give an oral or a poster presentation. Abstracts should be sent, no later than Monday 19 October 2026 to: Professor Hugh Starkey h.starkey@ucl.ac.uk.
Symposium requirements
A symposium brings together 4 linked papers, which are grouped together by overarching topic or theme, for example, educating for human rights in the early years; teaching human rights through creative writing in higher education.
The organiser is responsible for coordinating and collating the 4 abstracts and writing a brief symposium introduction (no more than 250 words) explaining how the papers are linked. They can also name a symposium chair (who should not be one of the paper presenters). Please list the institutional affiliation and email of the organiser (who may also be a presenter) and the chair. Each individual abstract should be no more than 300 words, including paper title, author name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact email(s). The organiser should submit the symposium proposal (introduction and abstracts) as one document, checking that all named persons have provided their contact details. They should confirm that every paper has at least one person planning to attend IAHRE 2027 in person. The organiser is responsible for submitting the symposium proposal and ensuring the coherence, quality of the abstracts, and required contact details. Symposium proposals should be sent, no later than Monday 19 October 2026 to: Professor Hugh Starkey h.starkey@ucl.ac.uk
Peer review
All abstracts will be peer reviewed by members of the IAHRE Conference Committee. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the review by 27 November 2026.
Accepted presenters will be required to register by 18 January 2027 to secure their place on the conference programme.
A full draft of accepted papers should be submitted to the conference organisers by 29 March 2027.
Human Rights Education Review
There is an expectation that presenters who accept our invitation to present at IAHRE 2027 will submit their revised paper to Human Rights Education Review (HRER), shortly after the conference. You can find out more about HRER and the journal’s submission process here
Your revised paper should be submitted toHuman Rights Education Review by 12 July 2027.
Registration opens in September 2026
Conference registration includes tea, coffee and snacks and lunch on both days.
Conference fees:
IAHRE Annual Members should pay or renew their membership for 2027 (£85 GBP) prior to registration to benefit from IAHRE member conference rates
Earlybird rates (registration by 1 March 2027)
IAHRE members £395
Non-members £520
Standard rates (after 1 March 2027)
IAHRE members £520
Non-members £620
IAHRE2027 REGISTRATION
Earlybird rate (until 1 March 2027)
Member rate
IAHRE2027 Earlybird Member £395
£395.00
IAHRE2027 Earlybird Non-member £520
£520.00
Conference Committee:
Dr Beate Goldschmidt-Gjerløw Conference Director, OsloMet University
Kalpani Dambagolla MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Professor Audrey Osler IAHRE Trustee & Editor-in-Chief Human Rights Education Review, University of Leeds and University of South-Eastern Norway
Professor Hugh Starkey IAHRE Trustee & Treasurer + corresponding committee member for academic questions, University College London (UCL) h.starkey@ucl.ac.uk
Ragnhild Lindahl Torstensen Østfold University of Applied Sciences
PAST CONFERENCES
3rd International IAHRE Conference 26-27 May 2026 – Münster, Germany
Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent World
Venue: Zfsl An den Speichern 5, 48157 Münster, Germany
We are pleased to announce the programme for our conference. Scroll down to see all six pages. Click on the download button below for your own copy.
The 2026 IAHRE Conference Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent Worldis an interdisciplinary conference, and will include scholars from sociology, education, law, history, politics, geography and other relevant disciplines. Papers will review and critically reflect on human rights education policy and practice, child rights education and the wider area of education and human rights. NGO colleagues will provide case studies of campaigns .
The IAHRE Conference is a meeting place for scholars, researchers, graduate students, education policymakers, and civil society activists from across Europe and internationally. It builds on the work of the WERA International Research Network on Human Rights Education, coordinated by Professors Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey. It provides a unique opportunity to present and discuss current research and policy relating to human rights education and questions of human rights within education. There is an expectation that presenters will submit their final revised conference papers to Human Rights Education Review.
Human rights education (HRE) is supported by UN Sustainable Development Goal 4. HRE has a vital role in maintaining hope and enabling people of all ages to reimagine a positive future. Children and young adults frequently struggle to make their voices heard and children face barriers to democratic participation since they are excluded from formal political mechanisms and decision-making processes. HRE has a key role to play in addressing and challenging intergenerational justice.
Any vision of a sustainable future necessarily includes ‘sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development’ (SDG 4.7).
The conference host is: Professor Frauke Matz frauke.matz@uni-muenster.de
Conference Steering Committee:
Professor Frauke Matz Conference Co-Director, University of Münster
Professor Audrey Osler Editor-in-Chief Human Rights Education Review, University of Leeds
Professor Hugh Starkey IAHRE Treasurer+ corresponding committee member for academic questions, University College London h.starkey@ucl.ac.uk
Dr David Rott Conference Co-Director, University of Münster
Academic queries about the conference can be addressed to Professor Hugh Starkey h.starkey@ucl.ac.uk
Queries and enquiries about Human Rights Education Review can be addressed to Professor Audrey Osler a.h.osler@leeds.ac.uk