LIFE education conference 2026
Addressing the theme of ‘rehumanizing education’, the 2026 Annual Conference of the Liverpool Institute for Research in Education (LIFE Institute) took place on Monday 13 July in the Museum of Liverpool with academic and professional services staff from across the university in attendance.
The event included two keynote addresses by Professor Ronald Barnett from University College London (UCL) and Professor Mhairi Beaton, President of the British Educational Research Association (BERA).
Professor Barnett discussed the importance of challenging the hegemony of contemporary education based on employability, rule-governed professionalism, the attention economy, its servant role to Big tech and standardised testing, arguing that new forms of ecological thinking are required to address the challenges posed by environmental change and artificial intelligence.
Professor Beaton’s keynote explored radical collegiality as an educational approach that emphasises dialogic, democratic relationships between students and teachers, positioning them as co-learners engaged in shared inquiry and decision-making. Radical collegiality has been increasingly used as a framework for challenging the dehumanizing effects of neoliberal, data-driven schooling, offering a more humane, participatory, and socially just vision of education.
Annual awards
The event included the Institute’s annual award presentations in six categories. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners:
- Professional Services Support Award: Brittany Mason
- Research & Knowledge Exchange Award: Dr Emma Sumner
- Early Stage Researcher Award: Dr Andrew Newland
- PGR Student Award: Meraz Ahmed
- Promotion of EDI Award: Dr Lucy Matthews-Jones
- PGR Supervision and Mentoring Award: Dr Peter Wood
Professor Michael Thomas, Head of the LIFE Institute, said:
“Over the last four years, the annual LIFE Institute conference has become an important event in our calendar, raising the profile of LJMU’s national and international educational research and impact. This year’s award winners are once again testimony to the depth and breadth of our work, and to all of our staff and students often behind the scenes, who support and make it possible”.
Policy workshop
Following the conference, the LIFE Institute hosted a one-day workshop on educational policy on 14 July with invited guest speaker Huw Edwards MBE, former MP for Monmouth (1991-92 and 1997-2005).
Huw’s policy engagement training explored how university researchers can promote their work to parliament and parliament and policymakers – engaging with the parliamentary process, MPs, and Select Committees – as well as understanding the roles of civil servants and Ministers. Education impact case study authors and researchers learned how to navigate the parliamentary record and government departments to give their work a sharper policy focus.
LIFE support
Based in the School of Education, the LIFE Research Institute offers a wide range of researcher development activities and events each academic year, from writing retreats to REF and policy workshops and mentoring. The Institute encourages academic and professional services staff to explore areas of research interest across 7 research groups:
- Digital Education and Society
- Educational Psychology
- Nature-Related Pedagogies
- (Post)qualitative Research in Education
- Sustainability and Social Justice
- Teacher Education and Development
- The Absolute Chemistry Research Group
LIFE provides opportunities for academics to disseminate their research to school, further education and higher education partners nationally and internationally.
With the largest number of doctoral students in the Faculty of Society & Culture, LIFE members also support thriving Doctor of Education (EdD) and PhD programmes, offering the potential for staff from across the university to acquire supervisory experience at the doctoral level as part of interdisciplinary teams.
Contacting LIFE
For enquiries about becoming a member or collaborating with the LIFE Institute in the field of educational research, please email Professor Michael Thomas.
