Panel sessions on education for sustainability and global citizenship were held at two major international education conferences in Europe in 2026: the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) in Tampere, Finland; and the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL) conference in Bologna, Italy.
ECER 2026 — Tampere, Finland
ECER, the annual meeting of the European Educational Research Association (EERA), took place from 18 to 21 August 2026 at Tampere University. Around 3,800 academics and educators from more than 80 countries and regions attended.
The panel drew on the Japanese educator, Daisaku Ikeda’s value-creating educational philosophy to explore the social responsibility of education and its contribution to peace. It was the third such session at ECER, following panels in 2023 and 2024.
The session was featured in the Seikyo Shimbun (in Japanese).
ANGEL 2026 — Bologna, Italy
The sixth international ANGEL conference was held on 10–11 September 2026 at the University of Bologna, bringing together more than 200 researchers, practitioners and policymakers from 37 countries across five continents. It was organised in partnership with the University of Bologna, the Global Education Network Europe (GENE) and the UCL Institute of Education.
A parallel symposium presented findings from the volume Education for Sustainable Futures: Global Citizenship and the Earth Charter (Bourn, Sharma and Vilela, 2025), which examines the Earth Charter and the Sustainable Development Goals as global ethical frameworks. All panelists are contributors to the book and drew on its section on Value-Creating (Soka) Education.
The session was featured in the Seikyo Shimbun (in Japanese) and on the Earth Charter International website.
Further reading
Readers interested in these themes can explore the books: Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship (Open Access), and Education for Sustainable Futures: Global Citizenship and the Earth Charter, which brings together perspectives on global citizenship, the Earth Charter and value-creating education.
