International Association for Human Rights Education
3rd International Conference: IAHRE 2026
Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent World
26-27 May 2026
Venue: Zfsl Münster
Germany
Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
Abstract Deadline Extended until 17 November 2025
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’s goal is to support the development of human rights education research, scholarship and practice. IAHRE’s scholarly journal is the award-winning Human Rights Education Review founded in 2018 and published by Taylor and 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 will submit their final revised conference papers to Human Rights Education Review.
Call for papers
We invite papers for the 2026 IAHRE Conference Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent World. IAHRE 2026 is an interdisciplinary conference, and we welcome scholars fromsociology, education, law, history, politics, geography and other relevant disciplines. 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. NGO colleagues who have case studies of campaigns are likewise invited. We welcome contributions from researchers at all stages of their careers.
IAHRE 2026 is taking place in a world that is increasingly unstable, with growing authoritarianism and challenges to human rights and democratic values in all regions. Climate change, disinformation, terrorism, war and conflict, hate speech and xenophobia confront us in the starkest terms. Educators and activists are working in an unstable world where human rights and international standards are called into question and increasingly derided by political leaders from both right and left.
In many democratic countries the public is ill-informed about human rights standards and their relevance to our daily lives. Human rights educators need to be creative in their efforts to ensure that both teachers and students know their rights and are ready to defend the rights of others. In selecting our IAHRE 2026 theme – Re-imagining Human Rights Education in a Turbulent World –we are mindful of both the challenges and the opportunities that educators in varied contexts face.
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). IAHRE 2026 invites contributions that build on these themes and includes but is not limited to papers addressing:
- Human rights curricula
- Child rights and education
- Education for peace
- Global citizenship education
- Migration, citizenship and rights
- Children’s digital worlds
- Human rights, intercultural and language learning
- Worldviews and religion
- Decolonising learning
- Teacher education and human rights
- Legal education
- Social studies (including history and geography)
Abstracts of no more than 300 words including paper title, your name, institutional affiliation and contact email should be sent, no later than Monday 3 November 2025 to: Professor Frauke Matz frauke.matz@uni-muenster.de
All abstracts will be peer reviewed by members of the IAHRE Conference Steering Committee. Please indicate whether you would prefer to give an oral or a poster presentation. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the review by the end of November 2025.
A full draft of accepted papers should be submitted by 30 March 2026. Your revised paper should be submitted to Human Rights Education Review by 6 July 2026.
Registration will open in October 2025
Conference fees:
IAHRE Annual Members should pay or renew their membership for 2026 (£65 GBP) prior to registration to benefit from IAHRE member conference rates
Earlybird rates (registration by 4 March 2026)
IAHRE members £295 (GBP)
Non-members £395
A limited number of bursaries may be available for unwaged/ low-waged PhD candidates who are IAHRE members and whose proposal (poster/oral) is accepted for presentation.
Standard rates (after 4 March 2026)
IAHRE members £395
Non-members £495
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
HRE USA 