The European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2026) was held in Tampere, Finland, in August 2026 under the theme “Knowing and Acting: The Changing Conditions and Potentials of Education Research.” More than 3000 participants from more than 70 countries participated in the conference.
Arctic perspectives on education, sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, and art education were strongly represented throughout the conference, with several presentations connected to the international collaboration fostered through the University of the Arctic (UArctic) and its Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD) network.
Korinna and I presented the Rievdan project in an oral presentation titled “Rievdan: Reflecting Changes in Sápmi Through Art.” In our presentation, we explained how the project seeks to strengthen community resilience by supporting artistic expression as a means of articulating local perspectives. We analysed both the process and the outcomes of the project and reflected on how community-based art education can create spaces in which participants negotiate and express the meanings of their ecocultural connections through art within changing environmental and multicultural contexts.
Our presentation was well received, and it sparked a lot of discussion among the audience in a full seminar hall. We thank the communities of Kárášjohka and Vuohčču who we also gratefully acknowledge for permission to use and reproduce their art and photographs of them in this presentation. The next research conference we will attend will be on October, in Sámi allaskuvla / Sámi University of Applied Science Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Looking forward to sharing our experiences of meaningful collaboration with participants in Kárášjohka and Vuohčču, reflecting on the findings of the art-based action research project, and drawing inspiration and insights from other projects and scholars,
Mirja and Korinna