2024 WACE International Research Symposium (IRS)

Theme: Work-integrated learning and the sustainable knowledge society

Between June 12 - 14, 2024 University West will host the WACE International Research Symposium. Join us at our centrally located campus in Trollhättan, Sweden for inspirational keynotes, parallel sessions, networking and exciting social events.

Many changes in the contextual frameworks have reshaped the learning and educational landscapes of both individuals and institutions in society for centuries. This is driven by everyday people demanding access, equality, equity, inclusion, democracy, empowerment, leadership, courage, etc.

The education society should recognize the power everyday people have on the transformation of society, in particular education institutions. The education society is about the individuals and how we change our ways of acquiring knowledge and learning.

We welcome papers/presentations that develop and engage us in building a sustainable societal development in an inclusive manner. Learning theories and educational practices should meet different perspectives and groups to innovate together for an inclusive learning environment of the future.  Our society requires that we collaborate across different research focuses and educational systems and learn from each other.

Please join us at the WACE International Research Symposium 2024!

Timeline:

• 1^st Nov, 2023 - submission opens for paper, poster, and workshop abstracts
• Abstract acceptance, rolling acceptance, early submission encouraged
• 2^nd Feb, 2024 - submissions closes for paper abstracts
• 15^th Jan, 2024 - paper submissions open
• 23^rd Feb, 2024 - paper submissions close
• 11^th March, 2024 - reviews returned to authors
• 15^th April, 2024 - amended paper to be submitted
• 15^th April, 2024 - submissions closes for workshop and poster abstracts
• 15^th of April, 2024 – presenters must be registered
• 12^th-14^th June, 2024 - Symposium

General Information

• WACE IRS is accepting the following presentation formats:

o  Oral presentation with refereed conference proceedings (20 minutes, including 5 minutes question time)

o  Poster presentation without refereed conference proceedings

o   Workshops (one hour)

• All presentations, posters, and workshops require an abstract submission for review.
• All presentations and posters must be research.  These can be empirical work and may be either Quantitative, Qualitative, or Mixed Methods research.
• Proceedings papers:

o All oral presentations must include a refereed proceedings paper.

o Once a paper has been presented at the Symposium, the proceedings paper cannot be withdrawn from the proceedings

o The full proceedings publication will be a formal publication, double-blind reviewed, published with an ISBN number, and with full pagination details.

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts

Submit a title and 200-word description of your research. Use this link WACE IRS 2024 Abstract submission to submit by the February 2, 2024 deadline. Abstract acceptance will be by rolling review, you are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts early to receive early acceptance. If you have any issues with the link to submit your abstract, please contact jenny.fleming@aut.ac.nz

Posters

Those who would like to present a poster will submit an abstract describing their research no later than April 15, 2024. All Academic Posters should focus on the International Research Symposium theme. Structure of the poster should include:  Introduction with Rationale, Methods, Results, Discussion, Implications, and References. Posters will be displayed during the symposium. In addition, there will be a designated Academic Poster Session to allow conference delegates to ask author questions. At least one author must attend and stand near their poster during this session. 

Workshops

For those who want to run a workshop, an abstract must be submitted no later than April 15, 2024.  The abstract needs to explain the focus and planned activities for the workshop.  The workshop are of 1 hour duration, must be focused on aspects related to WIL and be activity-based.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

If the abstract is accepted, a full paper must be submitted no later than February 16, 2024, for double blind-review.  The paper will be reviewed by a team of international reviewers who will submit completed evaluation forms, which may contain recommendations for improvements.

Full Refereed Paper Requirements:

• Papers must have a MINIMUM of 1,500 words and a MAXIMUM of 2,000 words. This word limit includes tables but excludes the reference list.
• There should be NO abstract in the proceedings paper.
• APA 7.0 format must be used. Please carefully check the reference list for appropriate APA formatting.
• Paper should be formatted to the WACE Proceedings Style. Style guidelines can be downloaded here.
• Paper must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file document only.

We will be using the review platform Scholastica to coordinate the review and revision process. When you receive notification that your abstract has been accepted, you will receive instructions on how to submit your conference paper to Scholastica.

Developing a Journal Article from the Conference Proceedings

Authors may want to develop a journal article from the same work presented in the IRS proceedings. The word limit for the proceedings papers is purposely to avoid too much overlap with a subsequent journal article.

As a general guide for proceedings papers, authors should only present a facet of the data and the analysis rather than all the findings, limit or avoid implications arising from the work (but authors may want to discuss these during the oral presentation), limit the scope of the literature review, and focus more on describing the findings rather than critically discussing the findings. The proceedings paper should be a snapshot of what work the authors are currently undertaking. A journal article should be the full, comprehensive, and final product of a completed work.

For transparency, the subsequent journal article should include an acknowledgement that “an earlier version of this work was presented in YEAR at the NAME conference”.

About WACE

WACE is the only international professional organization dedicated to developing, expanding, branding and advocating for cooperative & work-integrated education programs within industry and educational institutions.

Cooperative & Work-Integrated Education (CWIE) is a term created by WACE to acknowledge and embrace all forms of experiential learning utilized by industry and educational institutions to prepare the next generation of global professionals. CWIE is an encompassing term that includes: cooperative education, internships, semester in industry, international co-op exchanges, study abroad, research, clinical rotations, service learning and community service.

WACE strives to create, implement and maintain events, programs and services geared to the support and expansion of the Global Industry and Institutional Partners network and the entire CWIE community.