IOERC11

Criteria for Hosting the International Outdoor Education Research Conference (IOERC)

Background

The IOERC has traditionally been organised by a small international academic committee and a local organizing committee. There is no constitution, no ongoing constituency, and no financing. The conference does not aim to make a profit, but does aim to bring the community together in person.

The focus of the conference is outdoor education research with a particular emphasis on sociological and critical perspectives. We have avoided applied sessions for practitioners, providers and policy makers. The cycle has normally been for a conference to be held every 2 to 2.5 years alternating between Europe and Australasia; although the 7^th IOERC (2016) was the first to be held in North America and the 10^th IOERC (2024) will be hosted in Japan. Traditionally we have not had keynotes so as not to prioritise any one person’s research over another’s. We have also minimised the attendance of tradeshows, industry organisations and profit-making institutions.

The committee would especially welcome enquiries from countries and regions who have not previously hosted this conference. Otherwise, applications for the 11^th IOERC should come from North America or Australasia to fit the ongoing rotation.

Criteria

The general criteria for selecting an IOERC conference host include:

1. An educational institution will host (and underwrite) the conference. The host will arrange and facilitate the meetings of the international academic committee to organise the conference.
2. The hosting of the conference should have ‘no strings attached.’ The conference will not be bundled in with another conference, tied to a sponsor, or likely to be dominated by local interests.
3. The individuals or teams proposing to host the conference should have a track record of involvement in past conferences.
4. Ideally, individuals or teams proposing to host the conference will have been involved in previous conferences, so as to ensure continuity with past conferences.
5. Where possible, the conference will ideally alternate between Northern and Southern hemispheres, or East-West between regions.
6. The proposed dates will be suitable for a range of international attendees.
7. The individuals or teams proposing to host the conference must be able to demonstrate the capacity and abilities to host the conference succesfully.

Process

The current IOERC conference (Cumbria, 2022) website contains details that may be useful for potential hosts. Candidates will forward a one to two page written application for consideration by the international academic committee. In the past, applications were presented to the international academic committee at the current conference and a decision was made before the end of the event. However, due to global uncertainties, we are hoping to be more proactive in planning for the host candidates for the 11^th IOERC. If you interested, please submit an application electronically, as a single PDF file, to Søren, Mark and Glyn by January 31, 2023. This will allow for an accelerated process and assist with longer term planning.  

A decision (always made by consensus) will be made by the international academic committee and publicly announced in 2024.

For the 11^th IOERC, host applications, and any questions, should be directed:

Søren Andkjær, Denmark, sandkjaer@health.sdu.dk;

Mark Leather, UK, mleather@marjon.ac.uk;  

Glyn Thomas, Australia, gthomas2@usc.edu.au;