The ECER (European Conference for Educational Research) is the annual research conference of the European Research Association (ERA), and it takes place in a different European city each year. It is a very well regarded conference, and also one of the largest educational conferences, attracting approximately 3,000 delegates each year. I have attended this conference for the last three years (2013 being my third year), and am also involved with two of its networks, these being the learning, teaching and assessment, and (new) sustainability based networks. This year, the event was held at a private university in the city of Istanbul, and, for the first time, I presented twice. My first paper (with colleagues Arwen Raddon and Corinne Boz) reported the outcomes of a small-scale research project the three of us have undertaken based on experiences of newer researchers in higher education, following their winning of a professional prize. It asks what impact the prize had on their own careers. This project was made possible thanks to the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Donald Bligh fund. My second paper was based on my own project about the relationship between the two fields of educational development and sustainable development. It poses the question: should educational developers have more formal involvement in sustainability activities? The project was based on nine interviews. Some of the outcomes were surprising. Overall, my papers went well, and this is a conference that fits my own research (and v-v). I have recommended that others consider submitting a paper for a future ECER Conference. More information about either of my papers, or ECER, or ERA, can be provided on request.
