PEA
Call for Proposals

Fourth International Conference

PEA – Pedagogy, Ecology and the Arts

"praxis"

10, 11, 12 September 2026, Meran-o, South Tyrol, Italy

 

 

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the fourth international conference PEA – Pedagogy, Ecology and the Arts in Meran-o, Italy. The conference will be hosted by the Academy of Italian-German Studies and the Centre for Culture and will be held in three languages (English, German and Italian). It is organised as a convivial space and will bring together researchers and practitioners on forms of educational dialogue, particularly between the German and Italian-speaking regions, but will also be open to other international and intercultural experiences.

PEA explores pedagogy in an ecological dimension as a link between humans and nature, in which the arts can initiate an effective synthesis.

The three topics underpinning the conference are:
●    Pedagogy: education is the focus of the conference, especially in its inclusive, empowering and developmental sense.
●    Ecology: ecological thinking implies a systemic perspective of education that connects experiences, lives and systems (places, institutions, classrooms…).
●    Arts: we aim for a qualitative inquiry that incorporates artistic processes and creativity into the experiential-aesthetic dimension to understand and articulate the inter-subjectivity of human experience.
 

Theme of the 2026 Conference

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praxis

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In contemporary times, reflection on education, politics, and society increasingly risks remaining at the level of interpretation. After decades of critical thought — from the analysis of power and its dispositifs to the deconstruction of dominant narratives — a pressing question emerges: how are these insights translated into practice?

Following the three-year trajectory of PEA — polis, peace, power — the 2026 edition opens a new phase of inquiry. The theme that emerged from the 2025 “residency of thought”, developed together with Peter Mayo, Rachele Borghi, Rahel Sereke, Lorenzo Bernini, and Federico Faloppa, is praxis.

Praxis — understood not simply as action, but as situated, reflective, and transformative practice — challenges the separation between theory and practice, between knowledge and action, between organization and experience. It calls into question the ways in which educational, social, and political processes are enacted, embodied, and sustained.

If polis interrogated the space of the collective, peace its tensions and conditions of coexistence, and power its dynamics and asymmetries, praxis asks: how do these dimensions take form in concrete practices? How are they organized, negotiated, reproduced, or transformed within institutions, communities, and everyday life?

From Karl Marx’s thesis on transforming the world, to Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of conscientization, praxis has been understood as a process in which reflection and action are inseparable. At the same time, contemporary perspectives — from feminist and decolonial approaches to critical pedagogy and community-based practices — insist on the situated, relational, and plural nature of praxis.

However, if praxis is to be taken seriously, it cannot remain only an object of discourse. It must also interrogate the very formats through which knowledge is produced and shared.

In this sense, the PEA Conference itself becomes part of the question: can a conference move beyond the transmission of knowledge toward forms of collective elaboration, participation, and co-creation? What would it mean to design a conference as a praxis — a space that not only discusses, but enacts alternative modes of learning, organizing, and relating?

The 2026 edition therefore invites contributions that explore praxis both as a theme and as a mode of doing, addressing questions such as:

• Praxis in education: how are teaching and learning practices shaped, constrained, or transformed in concrete contexts?

• Organizational praxis: what forms of governance, coordination, and participation emerge in schools, institutions, and communities?

• Praxis and power: how are power relations reproduced or reconfigured through practices?

• Praxis and conflict: how can tensions and contradictions be engaged productively?

• Situated and embodied knowledge: how do practices generate knowledge?

• Artistic and poietic praxis: what role do arts and creative processes play in shaping transformative practices?

• Praxis and social justice: how do practices address inequality, exclusion, and marginalization?

• Ecological praxis: how can practices respond to interconnected social and environmental challenges?

• Digital and technological praxis: how do digital environments reshape action, participation, and knowledge?

In continuity with previous editions, the conference welcomes contributions from the broad fields of pedagogy, education, training, community work, and mediation. At the same time, particular attention will be given to contributions that explicitly engage with practice: case studies, situated experiences, experimental formats, action-research, and hybrid forms that blur the boundaries between theory and practice.

Alongside the open call, PEA 2026 will include invited contributions from scholars, practitioners, and experts, as well as keynote speakers conceived as activators of collective processes. Their role will not be limited to delivering lectures, but will extend to engaging with participants throughout the conference, contributing to a shared elaboration that may continue in post-conference publications.

The conference aims to remain a convivial space — grounded in encounter, dialogue, and participation — while further developing its organizational form in coherence with the theme of praxis. In this perspective, PEA 2026 seeks to experiment with formats and processes that embody the very questions it raises.

At PEA Conference 2026 “praxis” we invite participants not only to reflect on practice, but to contribute to shaping it.

 

Additional Call Format: Invited Panels and Research Groups

Alongside the open Call for Papers, PEA 2026 introduces an additional invitation-based call format, designed to further develop the collaborative and research-oriented dimension of the conference.

This format will consist of thematic invited panels, each coordinated by moderators selected by the conference curators. These moderators will be responsible for inviting participants, shaping the specific articulation of the conference theme within their panel, and curating a focused scholarly dialogue around it.

Each invited panel is conceived not merely as a session of presentations, but as a research and development group, working collectively on a shared thematic trajectory. The aim is to foster sustained intellectual collaboration among participants, with a view to producing coordinated outputs that may contribute to post-conference publications or edited volumes.

This structure is intended to complement the open call by introducing a more curated and process-oriented dimension, enhancing continuity between dialogue, collective inquiry, and publication.

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Types of proposals
●    Individual papers (20 minutes + 10 minutes Q & A)
●    Workshops (40 minutes + 20 minutes Q & A)

Key dates:
●    Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 June 2026
●    Notification of acceptance: 30 June 2026
●    Early bird registration:  30 June – 15 July 2026
●    Basic registration: 16 – 30 July 2026
●    PEA conference: 3-4-5 September 2026
●    Submission of complete contributions for publication: 15 December 2026

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS
1.    The deadline for submissions is JUNE 15, 2026
2.    Abstract(s) may only be submitted via this form.
3.    Abstract(s) must include:
○    a title, limited to 20 words
○    full name, institution and email address of all authors
○    3 to 5 keywords
○    a text not exceeding 400 words, excluding title and references
○    references
4. Acceptance will be notified via email by 30 June. Upon notification of acceptance, lead authors will be invited to pay their conference fee and register on the conference platform. Co-authors of accepted abstracts attending the conference are also required to pay the conference fee.
5. Abstracts must be in English. PPT/PDF presentations must also be in English. Multilingual options may be accepted for the oral presentationmay be admitted for the oral presentation, according to convenors’ preferences.
6. All abstracts will be published in the PEA – Conference Book of Abstracts prior to the conference.
7. Participants will have the opportunity to develop their accepted abstracts into full papers if they pass the review process. The book, edited by the conference organisers, will be published in Open Access (ISNB and DOI). Contributions must be submitted in Italian, German or English, the languages of the conference.

 

Fees for participation in the conference (including coffee breaks, snacks, lunches and social dinner)

●   Academics, school teachers, educators, artists, civil society, free researchers (speakers)    

Early bird (from 16 – 30 June 2025): 190 €

Basic (from 1 – 30 July 2025): 240 €
●   Students, school teachers, educators… (listeners only, non-presenting attendees, not listed as authors or contributors in conference publications): free participation (except meals and coffee breaks)
subject to registration confirmed by the organisers (info@peaconference.org)    

Location and Organization
The venues for the PEA conference: Villa San Marco at 1 Innerhofer Street in Meran-o, which has been home to the Academy of Italian-German Studies since 1949 and to EUPHUR – Euregio Platform for Human Dignity and Human Rights since 2016. Another venue for workshops and events is the nearby Centre for the Culture at 1 Cavour Street, which has been home to the Centre for Research in Arts and Theater CRAT since 2010.
Other events and presentations may take place at different locations in the city of Meran-o and will be announced in the final programme.
 
Further information can be obtained via the conference website: www.peaconference.org

For all other questions, please contact info@peaconference.org