Welcome to the 2024 Engineering, Social Justice and Peace Conference, on August 12-15.

The 2024 ESJP conference is hosted by the department of Communication and Learning in Science at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Participation will be possible both on site and online.

The theme for the conference is: Another university is possible! Theories and practices of change related to engineering education in academic institutions. The overall goal is to create a welcoming space to engage in critical conversations and experiences around Education, Engineering, Social Justice and Peace, and to exchange ideas across geographical and disciplinary borders.

The ESJP 2024 conference will be designed to stimulate collaboration, mutual learning from diverse perspectives, and peer support. Concretely, all participants (on-site and online) will collaborate throughout the conference to co-create a special issue for The International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace (IJESJP). The special issue will combine contributions submitted in advance of the conference with traditional and creative peer review activities during conference sessions. We aim to create a non-elitist, engaging and personal space, open to asking difficult questions and learning from each other. We hope that all participants will actively contribute to creating this space together. Depending on participants’ preferences and unique capabilities, contributions can include active participation in activities, traditional paper presentations, discussing each others’ work, organizing special sessions or workshops (discussions, dance, crafting things together etc.), or collaboratively creating art work or other forms of documentation during the conference that can be included in the special issue. Based on the preferences of participants, there will be a possibility to participate using multiple languages. The organizing committee, who will also serve as primary guest editors for the journal, can handle English, Swedish and German, but other languages can be accommodated.

The conference shares the general commitments of ESJP and expects participants to do the same. See: https://esjp.org/about-esjp/our-commitments

Conference schedule and organization

August 12–15, Monday–Thursday. Times in CEST.

The conference will contain four online sessions open to all (in-person or remote) participants, 16.00-18.00 CEST on all four days. The on-site conference starts with registration at 11.00 on Tuesday August 13, and finishes in the evening of Thursday August 15. On-site participants are welcome and encouraged to also attend online sessions. Sessions will offer a variety of modes for engaging with participants’ contributions (e.g., discussions, arts-based methods), and we will strive to accommodate diverse engagement preferences in all sessions.

Due to the facilities available, and with the aim to create an engaging and personal experience, the number of on-site participants will be limited. If the limit is reached, participants who cannot participate on-site in Gothenburg will be invited to participate online.

Timeline and deadlines

February 29

Deadline for registering intent to participate (includes submitting a 300 word abstract/description describing how you want to participate in the conference).

March 15

Invitations for participation sent out.

April 30

Deadline for registration and payment of possible conference fee for those participating on-site.

June 30

Deadline for submitting artifacts that will be presented and reviewed during the conference.

Contribution formats and registering intent to participate

Register your intent to participate and submit your abstract/description in this form before February 29:

We expect participants to contribute in one of three ways.

1. Artifact presentations, including any work that is representable as digital artifacts, such as research or practice papers, digital representations of art or performance work, or any other type of work which could later be published in the journal as a stand-alone contribution or along with conceptual or creative commentary from reviewers and other conference participants. All artifact contributions will be peer reviewed and receive feedback during the conference and all authors of these contributions will be expected to participate in peer review activities for their own and others’ contributions. If you choose to apply for participation with an artifact presentation, the system will ask you to provide a short (maximum 300 words) abstract/description of the artifact you plan to submit by June 30.
2. Special sessions, including workshops, outdoor activities, arts-based sessions, or any other format that engages participants in critical conversations and experiences around Engineering, Social Justice and Peace. We particularly encourage formats that provide alternatives to traditional paper presentations. If you choose to apply for participation with a special session, the system will ask you to provide a short (maximum 300 words) description of the session you plan to organize during the conference.
3. Other contributions. You are also invited to contribute to the conference experience in another way that makes sense for you. The system will ask you to briefly indicate what you think you could contribute to make this conference a safe and enriching experience for all participants. This can be anything, for example helping to arrange chairs, guiding other participants on campus, organizing a social activity, helping the organizers challenge colonial norms and practices, etc.

Costs, travel, accommodation

Participating online is without cost. We estimate the conference fee (for on-site participation) to be a maximum 2000 SEK (less than 200 EUR). The conference fee will cover food during the day, premises and material. We aim to offer the possibility of a reduced fee to ensure participants without funding available can participate.

Recommendations for travel and accommodation will be posted in the future. In general, Gothenburg is easily accessible by train and ferry from around Scandinavia and Europe, and there are multiple possibilities for accommodation in hotels and hostels.

Conference committee and contact

Jens Kabo¹,
Anders Johansson¹,
Malin Kjellberg¹,
Johanna Larsson^1,2,
Johanna Lönngren³,
Corey Bowen⁴

¹Department of Communication and Learning in Science, Chalmers University of Technology
²School of Education, Culture and Communication, Mälardalen University
³Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University
⁴Department of Civil Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles

Contact and questions: anders.l.johansson@chalmers.se