Call for Papers and Participation

Innovating Together: Transforming Practice through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Submission deadline: 7th January 2027

Indicative notification of outcomes: 1st March 2027 at the latest

EuroSoTL27 invites educators, students, researchers, academic developers, professional services colleagues and partners from across Europe and beyond to come together to explore how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can transform educational practice.

Under the conference theme Innovating Together: Transforming Practice through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, EuroSoTL27 will celebrate collective creativity, collaboration and shared experimentation in higher education. At a time when universities are responding to rapid technological change, evolving student expectations, questions of inclusion and belonging, and increasing pressures around student support and wellbeing, the conference asks how we can work together to create meaningful, resilient, responsive and compassionate approaches to teaching and learning.

Innovation is most powerful when it is collaborative. EuroSoTL27 therefore places particular emphasis on learning across institutions, disciplines and professional roles, and on meaningful partnership with students. By bringing together different perspectives and experiences, the conference will create a space in which participants can share evidence, test ideas, challenge assumptions and collectively shape the future of higher education.

We welcome established SoTL researchers as well as colleagues taking their first steps into scholarship, students working in partnership with educators, professional and academic support colleagues, and partners from industry and wider society.

Conference Sub-Themes

FOR SUBMITTERS

Submissions are invited across the following interconnected themes:

Widening Participation and Inclusive Access

Exploring equitable pathways into and through higher education, widening participation, inclusive and compassionate practice, student success, belonging and approaches that enable diverse learners to thrive.

AI, Digital Futures and Ethical Education

Examining the opportunities, challenges and ethical implications of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies for teaching, learning, assessment and the student experience.

Curriculum Innovation and Authentic Assessment

Reimagining curriculum design, assessment and feedback to create relevant, inclusive and meaningful learning experiences.

Cross-Sector Collaboration and Academic Support

Strengthening collaboration across disciplines and between academic colleagues, academic and professional support services, employers, industry, communities and wider society.

Learner-Centred and Innovative Pedagogies

Sharing active, interactive and transformative approaches to learning and teaching, including experiential and authentic learning, and pedagogies that place learners at the centre of educational design.

Advancing SoTL and Educational Research

Extending the reach and impact of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning through rigorous inquiry, reflective practice, evidence-based innovation, cross-disciplinary scholarship and new approaches to educational research.

Student Voice, Partnership and Wellbeing

Exploring student voice, staff–student partnership and co-creation, compassionate education, inclusive curricula, belonging and approaches that recognise student wellbeing as an important dimension of learning.

Sustainability, Leadership and the Future of Higher Education

Considering how higher education can respond to future challenges through sustainability, strategic innovation, educational leadership and collaborative approaches to change.

Ways to Participate

EuroSoTL27 is designed as a participatory conference rather than solely a programme of conventional research presentations. We therefore invite proposals for a range of formats, from completed SoTL research to emerging ideas, practical experimentation and collaborative problem-solving.

Paper Presentations 15 Minutes

Paper presentations provide an opportunity to share completed or substantially developed SoTL research, evaluations of educational interventions, evidence-informed innovations, conceptual work or critical reflections on teaching and learning.


We particularly encourage papers that share not only what was done, but what was learned, how evidence informed the work, and what others might take from it into their own contexts.

Paper presentations will be organised into thematic parallel sessions, with time for discussion between presenters and delegates.

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations provide an accessible and interactive opportunity to share research findings, educational innovations, partnership projects and developing work.

We particularly welcome posters from students, doctoral and early-career researchers, first-time SoTL contributors, and colleagues wishing to generate discussion around emerging work.

Posters should stimulate conversation and exchange in addition to communicating finished findings.

Interactive Workshops

Workshops should actively involve participants in exploring an educational question, approach, method or challenge. Rather than extended presentations, workshops should create opportunities for participants to experience, discuss, test, design or apply an approach.

Proposals might introduce a pedagogical technique, SoTL research method, assessment strategy, partnership model, digital approach or other practice that participants can explore and adapt to their own settings.

Length: 1 hour or 3 hours

Innovation Labs 

Innovation Labs are spaces for making, testing and experimenting.

These hands-on facilitated sessions invite participants to work together on new teaching tools, classroom techniques, assessment approaches or responses to real educational challenges. Proposals should identify a clear challenge or opportunity and provide a structured activity through which participants can collectively explore possible solutions.

Innovation Labs may involve prototyping, testing, collaborative design, rapid or an experimentation. The emphasis should be on moving from ideas towards action.

Staff–Student Co-Creation Sessions

Reflecting EuroSoTL27's commitment to meaningful student partnership, these sessions will showcase projects that have been developed, investigated or delivered collaboratively by students and staff.

Wherever possible, proposals should be jointly presented by students and staff and should consider what was learned about partnership itself, as well as the outcomes of the project.

SoTL-in-Progress: Collaborative Space

Not every valuable SoTL conversation begins with completed research.

The SoTL-in-Progress strand provides a supportive collaborative space for participants to bring emerging research questions, early-stage projects, methodological challenges or ideas that would benefit from discussion with the wider SoTL community.

Rather than presenting finished findings, contributors will invite participants to help interrogate, develop or strengthen work in progress.

Got an idea for a Plenary Session?

EuroSoTL27 invites proposals for plenary sessions that bring the conference community together around important questions, challenges and possibilities for the future of higher education.

Plenaries should be engaging, collaborative and relevant to a broad audience. We particularly welcome sessions that bring together different perspectives, challenge established assumptions, connect scholarship with practice, and create opportunities for audience participation and discussion.

Strong plenary proposals will:

  • address a question or issue of broad relevance to the higher education community;
  • bring together different perspectives, experiences or forms of expertise;
  • make clear why the proposed conversation matters now;
  • connect scholarship, evidence and educational practice;
  • encourage participation, reflection or dialogue rather than relying entirely on formal presentation;
  • identify what participants might take away from the session for their own practice, scholarship or institutional context.


Plenary sessions might take the form of a panel conversation, facilitated dialogue, interactive debate, roundtable, interview, participatory activity, collaborative problem-solving session or another format suited to engaging a large and diverse audience.

We particularly encourage proposals that demonstrate collaboration across institutions, disciplines, professional roles or sectors, as well as those involving meaningful student participation.

Proposals should include:

  • Names speakers, facilitators or contributors in mind
  • What is your proposed plenary title or topic?
  • Briefly describe your plenary idea
  • What format do you envisage for the session?
  • Panel conversation
  • Facilitated dialogue or roundtable
  • Interactive debate
  • Interview or conversation
  • Participatory activity or collaborative problem-solving
  • Paper presentations
  • Other / innovative format
  • Is there anything else you would like us to know?


Indicative plenary length: 60 minutes

Submit Plenary Proposal