Application to present at the 2025 AJEC Research Symposium has closed.
An in-person event to bring together early childhood practitioners, researchers, leaders and academics.
The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest-running major journal within the early childhood field. Published quarterly, AJEC offers research-based articles that are designed to impart new information and encourage the critical exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, academics and students.
The 2025 AJEC Research Symposium, Leading research; leading practice, will be held in-person on 1 October 2025 at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. Its main objective is to encourage early childhood researchers, policy makers and workforce professionals engaging with young children, their families, communities, educators and allied professionals to share innovative research methodologies and findings through partnerships and collaborations. It also aims to strengthen the research networks in Australasia and beyond.
Theme and streams
Theme: Leading research; leading practice
Contributions to the 2025 AJEC Research Symposium are invited that address two overarching research questions focusing on leading research leading practice:
- How does research support the development of evidence-based practices that lead to improved outcomes for children and families?
- What strategies support sustained implementation fidelity of evidence-based practice in early childhood settings?
Through the theme of ‘Leading research; leading practice’, we invite researchers, policymakers and early years professionals to consider how research, theories, practices and methodologies are designed and enacted to address these questions within the following streams.
Streams
- Innovating to lead and leading to innovate: Drawing on evidence from initial teacher education to leadership within organisations, this stream investigates the dynamic relationship between innovation and leadership in early childhood education and the conditions that shape leadership.
- Advancing equity within programs and practice: Focusing on equity in early childhood education and care, this stream considers how equity can be achieved, sustained and championed. It also investigates the role of technology in promoting equity across programs and practices.
- Strength in unity; power in collaboration: Examining inclusion for children, families, educators and services, this stream highlights the importance of transitions in early childhood education. It explores how transitions empower children and the role of educators in facilitating transitions into, within and beyond early childhood settings.
- Policy: This stream focuses on policy directions and priorities and questions how policy and strategy developments lead and respond to workforce priorities, and how children’s voices are incorporated and reflected in policy development.
The aim of the research symposium is to provide a platform for participants to explore current research, theoretical and methodological perspectives, and agendas and policy initiatives from within the early childhood sector. We ask presenters to address one or more of the streams, which are broadly framed to enable participants to explore multiple perspectives in research and practice.
Key dates*
| Item | Deadline |
| Application to present opens | 5 February 2025 |
| Application to present closes | 23.59 pm AEDT, 26 March 2025 |
| Abstract reviews completed and authors notified of outcomes | 9 May 2025 |
| Program at a glance published on ECA website | June 2025 |
| Presenter registration deadline | 9 June 2025 |
| Final program published on website | July 2025 |
*Please note: dates are subject to change. Candidates will be informed of changes to the schedule.
Application process
Applications are now open for potential presenters. To apply, please submit an abstract of your research paper that is relevant to the overall theme and one or more of the four streams. Successful applicants will be asked either to present, or present and publish in the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.
Please note: While authors may be named on up to three papers, they will only be able to present on a maximum of two papers.
Submission requirements
Abstracts and biographies
Abstracts and presenter biographies are to be submitted during the application process. Abstracts for Roundtable discussions should be no more than 500 words per paper (including references), and for Provocations, no more than 250 words (including references). At the end of the abstract, presenters must offer two or three questions that can be used as provocations for researchers and interested stakeholders to discuss (questions are also included in the word limit).
Please highlight which stream/s you wish to address and format preference (see below). Abstracts will be put through a blind peer review process conducted by AJEC reviewers.
Biographies must be no more than 150 words (for individuals) or 350 words (for groups).
Please read the terms and conditions below for more details on the application requirements.
Format preference
Applicants must identify their preferred presentation format: Roundtable discussion or Provocation (see guidelines below). Please note: The final formats will be decided through the review process.
Roundtable discussion
This will be an oral presentation of 25 minutes, including a five-minute Q&A segment, based on an individual paper. It will be given by a single presenter or a team of presenters and designed to promote discussion.
Roundtable presentations will not have access to audio–visual equipment and should prepare for a discussion format. A facilitator will be assigned to each themed group to assist in a group discussion once all papers have been presented.
Provocation
Rather than reporting on research that is complete or in the process of being completed, this format is an opportunity to present new ideas, including (but not limited to) new methods and ways of thinking about research and/or impact. Presenters will share their provocation for seven minutes, and then pose three questions for participants to discuss. The goal is a rich discussion of new ideas and points of view. There will be a competitive review process as places are limited; preference will be given to thought-provoking contemporary perspectives.
Presenters will be allowed to share up to two (2) PPT slides without any animations during their presentation, limited to one content slide and one question slide.
Review process
- All proposals submitted for presentation at the symposium will go through a blind peer review process conducted by the AJEC reviewers.
- All applications to present will be assessed to ensure the quality and relevance of the presentations in accordance with the AJEC Reviewer Guidelines and ECA selection criteria.
- Once the blind peer review is completed, all applicants will be notified of the outcome.
Selection criteria
Roundtable discussions will be selected on the basis of the:
- relevance to the symposium theme and streams
- treatment of theoretical or methodological perspectives
- congruence between aims of the project or research questions and/or focus of inquiry
- clarity of explanation of research methods and/or analytical and/or theoretical framework, in brief
- strength of emphasis on research findings and/or translation to practice and contribution to the sector
- abstract of no more than 500 words (including references and questions).
Provocations will be selected on the basis of the:
- relevance to the symposium theme and streams
- provocative nature of the abstract
- questions for discussion
- abstract of no more than 250 words (including references and questions).
Free of commercial interest
Any paper that is selling or promoting a particular product or commercial service will be rejected.
For more information, please contact:Early Childhood AustraliaP: (02) 6242 1800 |
Outcome/Final selection
Categories
Abstracts will be assessed and classified under two categories:
- Accepted: selected delegates will get the opportunity to present at the AJEC Research Symposium.*
- Unsuccessful: no further information or submissions will be required.
Publication of papers
*Please note: there is no publication guarantee. This means papers may still be rejected or held for later publication. Authors selected for publication must be in attendance and present at the symposium.
Authors who do not present will lose the opportunity to have their papers published in the special edition of AJEC.
Invitation to present at the ECA National Conference
Some presenters may be invited to present their research, and its implications for practitioners, at the ECA National Conference in 2026 or 2027. Further instructions will be provided by the ECA Events team, as required.
Terms and conditions
Application requirements
- Applications must be submitted online no later than 19 March 2025. Applications received in any other way, including hard copy, or after the due date, will not be accepted.
- Individual applicants must include a 150-word biography and groups must include a 350-word biography when submitting their abstracts.
- Abstracts must be no more than 500 words and must be submitted electronically via the specified portal. (All selected presentation abstracts and biographies will undergo copyediting before being printed in the symposium program.)
- Applications must address the selection criteria.
- Abstracts will go through a review process to ensure quality and diversity.
Presentation requirements
Successful applicants must:
- be available to speak at any time during the symposium
- register by 9 June 2025.**
** Presenter registration
A condition of being able to present is that all presenters must register for the symposium. Only three (3) presenters per paper will receive the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) member discount rate for full event registration. Abstracts will be withdrawn from the program if registration and payment have not been received by 9 June 2025.
Audio-visual requirements
- Roundtable presentations will not have access to audio–visual equipment and should prepare for a discussion format. A facilitator will be assigned to each themed group to assist in a group discussion once all papers have been presented.
- Provocation presenters will be allowed to share up to two (2) PPT slides without any animations during their presentation, limited to one content slide and one question slide.
Before you apply online, please ensure that you have read and understood this information.If you have any questions, please contact the AJEC Research Symposium office for more information: |
