Welcome

Dear Colleague

The British Educational Research Association (BERA) would like to invite you to participate in its next Annual Conference to be held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

BERA was last in Scotland in 2003, so we are delighted to return to Edinburgh for our Annual Conference in 2008. Whilst in Scotland we hope that you will take the opportunity to visit the unique city of Edinburgh, home to the world famous Edinburgh Festival and a historical ‘gem’. No visit would be complete without a visit to the imposing Edinburgh Castle, home to Scottish monarchs since King Malcolm III and Queen Margaret first took up residence in 1093. Our conference venue is also steeped in history as Heriot-Watt is the eighth oldest higher education institution in the UK. Its name commemorates George Heriot – the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt the great 18th century inventor and engineer. The university has a strong engineering tradition. We hope that you will join us for a truly memorable Conference Dinner at ‘Dynamic Earth’, the venue for a breathtaking journey of discovery in and across our planet. The BERA Council, and in particular the Conference Committee, hope that your stay in Scotland will be both personally interesting and professionally rewarding. Enjoy BERA 2008.

We look forward to meeting up with our colleagues and friends in Scotland.

Brenda Taggart
Chair of the BERA Conference Organising Committee.

Please make a note of these important dates:

11 January 2008 is the deadline for submissions for the Keynote Symposia Competition.
25 January 2008 is the deadline for the Main and Student conference.

Organising Committee

Brenda Taggart, Institute of Education, University of London
Carole Leathwood, London Metropolitan University
Sam Twiselton, University of Cumbria
Jeremy Hoad, BERA Chief Executive

British Educational Research Association

BERA is committed to promoting high quality research and to its use in understanding and improving education. BERA, as the learned society in the field of educational research in the UK:

• seeks to promote quality in educational research;
• seeks to ensure that educational research is undertaken in concordance with the Association’s Ethical Guidelines;
• promotes independent debate about the quality, purpose and methodologies of educational research;
• provides a forum for dissemination and debate of the findings of educational research;
• supports the mediation of research findings for policy makers and practitioners;
• represents educational researchers to government, funding bodies and the public;
• provides training and development for educational researchers at all levels;
• aims to work with employers and others to improve the conditions of work and rights of educational researchers; and relates to other associations nationally and internationally which have interests and concerns in educational research.

Student Conference Key Aims

The Key Aims of the Research Student Conference are to:

• provide research students with the opportunity to present papers to an audience of fellow research students;
• offer sessions on research processes led by experienced researchers e.g. on interviewing, data analysis, writing skills, presentation techniques;
• help research students develop a network of contacts.