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Decision making forms a key part of the research trajectory, influencing every stage of the research process from initial concept to dissemination of the findings. This conference focuses on developing criticality and confidence in decision making with the aim of supporting ECRs at all stages to further develop as independent researchers. Topics explored at this conference will include building confidence about decision making in research, presenting and justifying decisions in the Viva examination and tackling imposter syndrome.

Opening keynote lecture confirmed

We are delighted to announce Dr Louise Kay will deliver our opening keynote.

Making Sense of the Messiness: Reflexivity, Serendipity and Decision-making in Educational Research
This presentation examines how personal and professional contexts shape research decision-making for educational researchers. Working in educational settings often means navigating tensions between the messy, unpredictable realities of classroom practice and prescriptive policy frameworks. How researchers position themselves within these tensions fundamentally influences the methodological, analytical, and theoretical choices they make.
Using a reflexive approach, the keynote offers practical insights into adopting a stance that values both intentional positioning and openness to the unexpected. It provides strategies for making robust methodological decisions grounded in personal and professional experience whilst remaining open to serendipitous moments. These unexpected encounters, whether through conversations or surprising findings, can often become pivotal turning points that redirect inquiry and deepen critical perspectives. Being attuned to these moments, rather than rigidly following predetermined paths, can lead to more authentic and nuanced research.
Participants will be invited to explore how their own experience, from practitioner to researcher, becomes integral to the research process. The keynote ultimately demonstrates that acknowledging where we stand as researchers, and remaining alert to the unexpected, enables us to frame studies that capture the genuine complexity of educational contexts.

Keynote workshop confirmed

We are delighted to announce Dr Rebekah Ackroyd and Dr Pippa Leslie will be delivering a 2-part workshop:

Aligning the Puzzle Pieces: Building Coherent Research Decisions
This two-part workshop invites you to pause and critically reflect on the decisions shaping your research project(s). We’ll start by mapping and articulating your positionality: the values, assumptions, and context that underpin your work and explore how this foundation influences choices around philosophical stance, theoretical frameworks, methodology, and methods. Drawing on real-world examples from our own (sometimes messy!) research journeys, the workshop aims to create space to examine the coherence of the decisions we make in complex and evolving research projects. Through interactive activities, you’ll test the alignment of your research design, asking: Does your theoretical framework truly fit your methodology and data analysis approach? We hope that you will leave with practical tools to keep building and re-building your research puzzle, and insights which help to strengthen the integrity and impact of your research.

Keynote speaker confirmed

We are delighted to announce Dr Graham French who will be delivering a keynote on:

Accidentally Political: How My Research Escaped the University
Most early career researchers do not set out to become political actors. We set out to ask careful questions, to gather evidence responsibly, and—if we are lucky—to publish something of value. Yet, increasingly, the work we do refuses to stay safely within the university. This presentation traces how my own research, initially rooted in adventure education and outdoor learning, gradually and unintentionally “escaped” the academy—moving into community spaces, practitioner debates and eventually into the legislative arena of Senedd Cymru (the Welsh Parliament). What followed was not a planned trajectory into policy, but an evolving sense of responsibility, confidence and ethical decisiveness shaped through mentorship, critique and collaboration.
Drawing on doctoral research in adventure education and affective learning, alongside two Welsh Government–commissioned studies in outdoor learning, the presentation illustrates how research confidence developed not through certainty, but through learning to work productively with doubt, complexity and ethical responsibility. Particular attention is given to the role of mentorship in shaping ethical, co-produced approaches to research with marginalised young people through third-sector child poverty and youth participation projects, and in challenging deficit-based narratives.
The presentation also reflects on the often-unspoken transition from researcher to policy actor, tracing how commissioned outdoor learning research moved through consultation, critique and political engagement to inform a Members’ Bill in the Senedd. This moment is positioned as a critical shift in understanding the power, responsibility and vulnerability of research when it enters legislative spaces.
The presentation concludes by re-framing ‘decisiveness’ not as authority or seniority, but as a reflective practice grounded in ethical judgement, collaboration, critique and the courage to act. Listeners will leave with practical insights into building research confidence through intellectual risk-taking, policy engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration and sustained peer feedback.