HomeConferences & Think Tanks2026 Conference on Engaged Learning Call for Proposals Share: Section NavigationSkip section navigationIn this section2026 Conference on Engaged Learning Keynote Speakers Call for Proposals Conference Location Registration Conference Grant Lodging Proposals due January 16, 2026 | Submit your proposal The annual Conference on Engaged Learning showcases cutting-edge research on engaged learning. Each annual conference features multi-institutional research from a specific Center for Engaged Learning research seminar, invites research updates from past seminar participants and conference presenters, and encourages contributions from other scholars and practitioners studying engaged learning practices. We invite scholars interested in engaged learning topics (particularly the themes listed below) to join the culminating conversations of the 2024-2026 CEL Research Seminar on Affirming and Inclusive Engaged Learning for Neurodivergent Students at the 2026 Conference on Engaged Learning at Elon University, June 22 – 23, 2026. We especially encourage proposals that attend to diversity, equity, and inclusion within or across these engaged learning practices. We welcome proposals from undergraduate researchers and student–faculty/staff partners. Themes For the 2026 conference, we invite proposals related to one of the following themes: Affirming and Inclusive Engaged Learning for Neurodivergent Students Mentoring Relationships Key Practices for Fostering Engaged Learning Engaging Student Voice in Engaged Learning Study and Practice Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Engaged Learning Previous Center for Engaged Learning Research Seminar and Conference Topics (see below) Cross-Cutting Questions about Engaged Learning While one theme invites a central focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), all proposals should address how the research or practices shared attend to DEI. Affirming and Inclusive Engaged Learning for Neurodivergent Students Engaged Learning experiences, including access to and participation in high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008), have been identified to be transformative as part of a student’s college journey. Much work in the past several years has focused on how to provide equitable access to these experiences for students from historically underrepresented identity populations and populations with highly demanding responsibilities (e.g., student athletes, performing arts students, non-traditional students; e.g., Finley & McNair, 2013; Kuh et al., 2017; Pascarella & Blaich, 2013; Shirley et al., 2022). Some high impact engaged learning experiences are not part of the curricular structures or occur out of a classroom experience and require students to opt-in by seeking out the opportunity (e.g., study abroad, undergraduate research, internships/work-integrated learning, on-campus employment). Additionally, these experiences may require time and commitment outside of the regular course load. These factors may be barriers for some students, including neurodivergent identified students (e.g., ADHD, Autistic, Dyslexic), who often have organization, communication, and learning differences that highlight bias in our systems and processes in higher education (Dwyer et al., 2023). The academic ‘rules’ if you will, are often unclear, ableist, and not explicitly laid out, making the pathways to these experiences complicated or unrecognizable. Furthermore, the communication style or approach of neurodivergent students may be met with resistance or misunderstanding by faculty and administrators of these experiences. The center’s 2024-2026 research seminar fostered multi-institutional research to enhance our shared, global understanding of how our systems, processes, and practices can be more affirming and inclusive to set-up neurodivergent students for meaningful and transformative engagement in experiences typically outside the classroom format. To complement research by the seminar teams, we invite proposals focusing on one of the following topics: Understanding neurodivergent students’ perspectives and experiences in engaged learning, Reimagining institutional level experiences and policies related to affirming and inclusive engaged learning for all students, and Promoting change in engaged learning to make higher education systems more inclusive of neurodivergent students. Mentoring Relationships Moore, Vandermaas-Peeler, and Peeples define mentoring relationships as: Fundamentally developmental and learner-centered, and within college and university environments, specifically, mentoring relationships are distinct from other meaningful relationships in that they: promote academic, social, personal, identity, cultural, and/or career-focused learning and development in intentional, sustained, and integrative ways; evolve over time, becoming more reciprocal and mutually beneficial; are individualized, attending to mentees’ developing strengths and shifting needs, mentors’ expertise, and all members’ identities; and function within a broader set of relationships known as a mentoring constellation. (2024; see also Vandermaas-Peeler and Moore 2022) Mentoring can lead to positive outcomes for students’ grades, persistence in higher education, development, and social responsibility (Crisp et al. 2017), among other outcomes. The significant benefits associated with mentoring relationships may signal that mentoring should be considered an additional “high-impact practice” (HIP), or even a meta-HIP (Finley et al. 2025). For this conference theme, we invite proposals that share research on: Mentoring specific high-impact practices (HIPs), Mentoring practices in higher education (more broadly) and their outcomes, and Relationship-rich environments (Felten and Lambert 2020) that contribute to facilitating relationships as a key practice for fostering engaged learning (Moore 2023), creating the potential for mentoring relationships to develop. Key Practices for Fostering Engaged Learning Work by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), their affiliated scholars (e.g., Kuh, O’Donnell, Finley, Gonyea, Kinzie, etc.), and other researchers has focused higher education’s attention on “high-impact” educational practices (HIPs) that correlate with persistence, graduation rates, and potentially, academic achievement. Over the past decade, both institutional and multi-institutional research has examined additional outcomes of HIPs, including behavioral and attitudinal outcomes, critical thinking, civic engagement, intellectual curiosity, and improved communication strategies. Given these potential outcomes, institutions increasingly are exploring how to scale-up access to HIPs to more – and more diverse – students. With the 2020-2022 Center for Engaged Learning Research Seminar and the publication of Key Practices for Fostering Engaged Learning (2023), the Center flipped the focus from outcomes of to conditions for meaningful learning. HIPs are one category of meaningful learning experiences; how do we make learning experiences meaningful for all students? For this conference theme, we invite proposals that share research on one or more of the key practices for fostering engaged learning (Moore 2021; Moore, 2023): Acknowledging and building on students’ prior knowledge and experiences; Facilitating relationships, including substantive interactions with faculty/staff mentors and peers, and development of diverse networks; Offering feedback on both students’ work-in-progress and final products; Framing connections to broader contexts, including practice in real-world applications of students’ developing knowledge and skills; Fostering reflection on learning and self; and Promoting integration and transfer of knowledge. Student Voice in Engaged Learning Study and Practice As illustrated in a growing body of partnership scholarship (e.g., Mercer-Mapstone and Abbot 2020; Cook-Sather, Bahti, and Ntem 2019; the International Journal for Students as Partners, etc.), both the study and practice of engaged learning are stronger when pursued in partnership with students. We invite proposals that share systematic inquiry about engaging in partnership to design, implement, or study engaged learning: How do partnership projects enhance engaged learning practices and outcomes? How does partnership enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning? What key characteristics or strategies contribute to more successful partnerships in engaged learning co-creation or co-inquiry? We especially welcome proposals that extend partnership to the presentation of their research, including student voices in the proposal and planned session. Student presenters and attendees will have opportunities for meetups during the conference. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Engaged Learning Diversity, equity, and inclusion must be central to the design, implementation, and study of engaged learning to counter decades of disparity for Historically Underrepresented Minority Students (HURMS) – and for Historically Excluded Minority Students (Longmire-Avital). While all proposals should address how the research or practices shared attend to diversity, equity, and inclusion (Oh my!), this theme showcases research that centers these concepts as the primary focus of engaged learning research. What curricular or cocurricular design practices lead to more equitable engaged learning? What strategies or characteristics contribute to more equitable implementation of engaged learning practices? What are the outcomes of engaged learning practices explicitly designed to center diversity, inclusion, and equity? Previous Center for Engaged Learning Research Seminar and Conference Topics We also invite scholars and practitioners studying the following engaged learning topics to submit proposals that extend our previous conference conversations on: Capstone or Culminating Experiences Global Learning, Study Abroad, and Off-Campus Domestic Study Mentored Undergraduate Research Residential/Living Learning Communities Work-Integrated Learning Writing Beyond the University Cross-Cutting Questions about Engaged Learning In addition, we invite proposals that share research on cross-cutting questions about engaged learning, including but not limited to: Scaling up access to engaged learning experiences Attending to quality in design and implementation of high-impact practices Supporting students’ integration of learning across multiple high-impact practices for engaged learning Proposal Guidelines To submit a proposal, provide the following information through the online submission form by January 16, 2026: Name, professional title, and contact information for all participants Presentation title Abstract for the conference program (75-words or less) Proposal identifying the focus of your research, its significance in relation to the extant literature, and its connection to one of the conference themes Maximum word count for poster, Ignite, and individual presentation proposals: 300 words. Maximum word count for panel presentations and workshop proposals: 500 words. Presentation types Poster Presentation: Posters offer visual conversation starters about completed research or work-in-progress. (Presented during a 60-minute poster session & reception) Ignite Presentation: Ignite presentations use 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds, resulting in a 5-minute presentation. Ignite presentations are an ideal way to share work-in-progress to spark conversation or to share research-informed practices to foster engaged learning. Ignite presentations will be combined during a 60-minute session, with time for Q & A for all speakers at the end of the session. (5 minutes per presentation, plus Q & A during a 60-minute session) Research Presentation: Short, interactive presentations by one or two speakers, sharing and discussing research. (30 minutes total, with at least 10 minutes for discussion and Q & A; 2 individual presentations will be grouped for a 60-minute time slot) Panel Presentation: Longer, interactive group presentations by three or more speakers, sharing and discussing related research projects/findings. (60 minutes total, with at least 10-15 minutes for discussion included in the 60 minutes) Pre-Conference Workshop: Extended workshops by two or more facilitators, sharing strategies for implementing evidence-/research-informed practices. Pre-conference workshops should be highly interactive. Proposals should indicate what learning outcomes the workshop will support and how facilitators will engage participants in interactive activities throughout the extended time. (2 hours total, with a 15-minute break) Concurrent Session Workshop: Workshops by two or more facilitators, sharing strategies for implementing evidence-/research-informed practices. Proposals should indicate what learning outcomes the workshop will support and how facilitators will engage participants in interactive activities. (60 minutes) Proposals are due by January 16, 2026. Submit your proposal. Following a double-masked peer review, we will send decision notifications by March 1, 2026.
