Overview

The Gender and Education Association (GEA) is a volunteer-led international intersectional feminist charity. Since 1997, our community of educators, researchers, activists, leaders, artists, and more have been working to challenge and eradicate gender stereotyping, sexism, and gender inequality within and through education. UK charity number: 1159145

We are seeking proposals to host the International Gender and Education Association Conferences in 2025 (in the UK) and 2026 (anywhere in the world).

As a charity, the conference is the main source of income to enable the continued work of the Gender and Education Association, through membership income and the funding generated through the conference. It is our primary opportunity to grow our membership base. We will therefore work closely with the organising team to ensure that the conference is well-attended and that GEA is well- represented at the conference.

An edited version of the submitted proposal to host the 2019 GEA conference and the programme from the conference can be viewed as examples. You can learn more about the current 2024 conference and the previous conferences.

Timeline

• 9 September 2024: Deadline for proposal submissions 
• 11 October 2024: Decisions shared with applicants
• June or July 2025: GEA Conference 2025 in the UK
• June or July 2026: GEA Conference 2026 anywhere in the world

Expectations

Key requirements for organising teams to consider include:

• We will accept proposals to host the GEA conference in June or July 2025 in the UK or June or July 2026 anywhere in the world.
• Average attendance is approximately 150-200 participants.
• GEA sessions should be built into the programme, including Annual General Meeting, an Executive Committee meeting, and member sessions e.g. publishing for early career researchers
• An early career researchers/postgraduate workshop and/or teacher symposium preceding the conference is expected
• The usual format for main GEA conference is for paper presentations to last 20 minutes (including discussion) with parallel sessions running simultaneously (allowing three-four papers in each session)
• The conference budget must ensure a minimum surplus of £2000 to be paid to GEA following the conference
• The conference budget must include a registration fee and hotel/accommodation waiver for THREE (3) executive members, usually the co/chair(s) and conference lead
• The organising team will liaise with Taylor and Francis about hosting a wine reception at the conference (a usual contribution of £2000). This has often been combined with a book launch/celebration of books published by GEA members since the last conference.
• Attendance at the conference is tied to membership of GEA. Attendees who are not yet members of GEA will be required to join in order to register. Existing members will need to prove their membership (e.g. by entering their membership number). The GEA conference host team will be supported by the GEA co-chairs: Jessica Gagnon and Vanita Sundaram.

They will work closely with the organising team and the team can expect that:

• the co-chairs will liaise with them regularly and at least on a monthly basis to receive updates about the conference organisation
• the co-chairs will represent the organising team at executive meetings and ensure an early flow of information about key information, decisions and requirements
• the co-chairs will provide the organising team with a checklist of practical issues to consider, as well as a timeline outlining key milestones in the conference preparation
• the co-chairs will communicate about GEA sessions/workshops to the organising team
• the organising team will liaise with the GEA executive board, in particular our social media/publicity lead, to review the publicity strategy and to build a collaborative approach to ensure that publicity about the conference is active and ongoing

Guidance for conference proposals

• Conference proposals should be a maximum of 12 pages in length (not including title page, table of contents, or appendices) and should aim to describe the planned conference as fully as possible (in terms of academic content as well as budget).
• Clear links to the remit of GEA should be made.

Background to the proposing institution

• Key information about the city/location
• Information about the institutional strengths in relation to gender/feminist research and teaching

Background to the organising team

• Information about the key strengths of the individual members of the proposed team (including relevant gender/feminist educational research undertaken)
• Information about the strength of the team overall (e.g. representing different streams within gender and education research)

Proposed conference theme

• Justification for the choice of theme and relation to national/international debates in gender and education
• Justification of theme in relation to GEA remit (see website)
• Fit with the equality and diversity remit of GEA (see website)
• Fit with the internationalisation priorities of GEA, including how to attract applicants from low-income countries

Provisional programme for the conference
This should include:

• Early career researcher workshop and/or teachers’ symposium
• Registration
• Keynote sessions (with suggested speakers indicated)
• Parallel sessions
• Social activities/meals
• Any additional events pre/post conference

Proposed EDI (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) strategy This should include:

• Proposed approach for inclusion of historically underrepresented/excluded groups
• An outline of the ways the minimum of 8 bursaries will enable greater inclusion (see budget guidance below)
• Proposed ways of engaging/including GEA members unable to travel/attend in person (for any reason, including but not limited to financial, health/disability, or caring responsibilities).

Travel to conference location

• By air
• By train/bus/other public transportation
• By car from nearest airport(s)

Local information

• Hotels near the conference venue (with indication of possibility of favourable rates for conference attendees if relevant)
• Historical sites of interest, local culture or heritage

Conference preparation

• Proposed date for conference
• Timeline for call for papers
• Timeline for registration, including Early Bird registration
• Provisional publicity plans (ideas for social media engagement; methods for promoting the conference; plans for leveraging networks to build interest in the conference)

Funding/Income and Budget

• The organising team will liaise with Taylor and Francis about hosting a wine reception at the conference (a usual contribution of £2000).
• Additional sources of funding (examples: sponsorships, publishers/exhibitors’ tables, departmental/faculty/university funding support)
• Estimated income from conference registration and membership fees (split into Early Bird full conference; Early Bird daily rate; standard conference attendance; standard attendance daily rate).
• Fixed costs (including speaker fees, travel and accommodation; administrative costs; venue costs; social activities)
• Cost per participant (including split of fixed costs, meals)
• Inclusion of a minimum of 8 full bursaries
• The conference budget must include a fee and hotel/accommodation waiver for three (3) executive members, usually the co/chair(s) and conference lead
• Estimated profit
• Indication of how many participants are needed to break even
• Please note, a third of the surplus income generated by the conference or £2000 (whichever is the greater) will be claimed by GEA.

Letter of support

● Letter of support from the Head of Department/School at the organising institution