Conference Theme: Caring About and For Others: Teaching and Learning to Care
August 7-9th, 2025
Tampere, Finland
Deadline for Submissions 31st of January, 2025
The theme of this conference is “Caring About and For Others: Teaching and Learning to Care.” Indeed, care is part of what we do in our everyday lives: care is practiced both professionally (e.g., teachers, doctors, nurses, domestic workers) and informally (e.g., parents, grandparents, neighbors). Care is central as a professional ethic and a personal one. Caring for and about others occurs at various levels: individual, relational, familial, school, neighborhood, communities, societies, and globally. Without a focus on care (e.g., who does the caring, why, and what makes it valuable), we cannot have a just global society. This conference will serve as a unique opportunity for transdisciplinary discussions about care as an ethic, theory, a practice, a developmental orientation, and an educational outcome. We call scholars who often focus on care in adulthood (e.g., care ethicists, sociologists of the family) and those who study elements of care earlier in development (e.g., helping behaviors, prosociality, empathy) to submit their work. We also encourage submissions that include considerations of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, class, culture, nationality, immigration, indigeneity, religion, different abilities, and intersectionality.
Submissions are welcome in various topics but also encouraged to be revolving the following four topics:
1) Caring About & For Others: how can and do individuals learn and think about both about caring about our fellow human beings (empathy, sympathy, love) and/or also for them (compassion, helpfulness, support);
2) Justice & Care: How care and justice can go hand in hand in challenging injustices and inequalities in society
3) Care Ethics: How care ethics can contribute to our understanding of creating more caring citizens and societies;
4) Informal & Formal Moral Education: How morality can be learned and taught in multiple often understudied contexts (e.g., beyond the classroom in everyday helping, caring, loving);
The theme of this conference opens doors to interdisciplinary scholarship and professional practices to join together in working with theories, practices, policies and educational programs–whether informal or institutional– to support and encourage academic advances and educational practice that focus on care as a fundamental, central moral element of a just, ethical and morally connected world. We also encourage submissions that include considerations of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, class, nationality, immigration, religion, different abilities, and intersectionality.
Submissions may describe research projects and other scholarly works that have not reached their final stages. However, submitters must be able to include enough information (e.g., preliminary data and analysis) for reviewers to assess the quality and potential contribution of the proposal submissions from a range of disciplines in a variety of formats. Submissions that bridge positive youth development and moral education are especially encouraged and will be given priority in the review process. However, proposals broadly addressing positive youth development and moral education and development are also welcome and encouraged.
SUBMISSION TYPES
Individual paper presentation
Symposium
Poster presentation
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS
Avoid providing identifying information about authors in abstracts. Tables and figures are not supported in the submission process. Only standard projection equipment is available for conference presentations. Internet access is free in the conference meeting rooms.
We assume that the first author is the corresponding/presenting author. If not, please email the conference. First authors must register for the conference before 20 May 2025, or the paper will be dropped from the program.
Proposals will be accepted in English only.
Acknowledgements and further information will be sent to the first author of papers and posters, to the organizer and chair of symposia, and to the first author of each paper included in the symposia. The first author of each paper is asked to be in touch with all co-authors. The organizer and chair of each symposium are asked to be in touch with the first authors of each paper in the symposium.
An individual can submit no more than two conference proposals as a first author but may be part of the group in other proposals.
In addition, for each submission, the submission page asks:
● Three Key Words
● Proposal Discipline (e.g., education, psychology, philosophy)
● Primary Form of Contribution (e.g., Theory, Research, Program Development/Application, Education/Policy)
GUIDELINES FOR PAPER PRESENTATION
Presentations by one or several authors should be submitted as papers or Posters; i.e., they are not symposiums. These are usually empirical, theoretical, or applied presentations. For paper presentations, the conference program committee combines three or four similar topics into a 90-minute session. For poster presentations, see the guidelines below.
● Title (up to 12 words; sentence case, i.e., first word capitalized)
● Shorter Abstract for the program (100 words). This abstract will be available in the program.
● Longer Abstract for the reviewing committee (300-500 words). This abstract will be reviewed by AME board members before proposal acceptance but will not be included in the program. In this abstract, state the purpose of the paper, define the concepts at its center, discuss the significance of the study or work, address its social context or/and theoretical framework, consider methodological issues, and reflect on the practical implications of your study. This abstract should be done in the form of a complete narrative paper.
● First/Corresponding Author First Name, Last Name, Institutional Affiliation, and Email Address.
● Each Co-Author’s First Name, Last Name, Institutional Affiliation, and Email Address
● For paper presentations, we ask whether you would be willing to present this paper as a poster.
GUIDELINES FOR SYMPOSIUM
A Symposium session is a self-coordinated topic or theme typically consisting of 3 to 4 paper presentations or other innovative and/or media-based work.
● Title for the Symposium (up to 12 words; sentence case, i.e., first word capitalized)
● Shorter Abstract for the Program (100 words). This abstract will be available in the program. Be sure that it is clear that this is a series of papers that describe the topic.
● Longer Symposium Abstract for the Reviewing Committee (100 words + title for each paper). This abstract will be reviewed by AME board members before acceptance of the proposal and will be included in the program. In this abstract, for each paper, state the title (maximum 12 words, sentence case) and additional information (e.g., the purpose of the paper, the concepts at its center, the significance of the study or work, its social context or/and theoretical framework, and practical implications), as able in the word space. Reviewers will need this information to make acceptance decisions. Each paper in this abstract should be described in narrative form.
● First and Last Names of the Organizer and Chair for your Symposium, and of the Title for each paper, with their first Author.
Example: Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro (Organizer and Chair). Applied Moral Problems Across the Globe: The importance of Justice.
Andrea Bustamante Torres, Marvin Berkowitz. Teacher Education and SEL and the Cycle of Violence in Colombia.
● First/Corresponding Author First Name, Last Name, Institutional Affiliation, and Email Address: This is the convener and chair of the symposium.
● Additional Author(s) Names, Affiliation(s) and Email Address(s). Please provide the names, affiliations, and email addresses of all co-authors in the symposium. In the example above, you will have already provided information for Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro, Andrea Bustamante Torres, and Wiel Veugelers. Here provide information for Marvin Berkowitz, John Gomez Varon, Isolde De Groot, and Vincent Stolk.
GUIDELINES FOR POSTER PRESENTATION
Poster presentations are self‐contained and self‐explanatory, textual and graphic displays with the opportunity for individualized, informal conversation about the topic. The poster (3’ wide x 4’ high or 4’ wide x 3’ high) should include the essential elements of the study or program with written text kept to a minimum.
● Title (up to 12 words)
● Conference Program Abstract (100 words) This abstract will appear in the program
● Summary or Description (300-500 words) must include: Research question(s) or program addressed, Context of the study or program, Significance, Study implications; theoretical, practical and/or policy contributions.
● Author(s) affiliation
● Contact information
Acceptance decisions will be communicated by March.
Additional Information may be found at https://amenetwork.org.
Submit your abstract here!
Travel grant decisions cannot be made until proposals are reviewed (see more information on Registration and fees). If you have questions, please email the conference: ameconference2025@gmail.com