Around 35 HLK practitioners and keynote speakers came together in mid-June 2024 for the first major conference of the HLK research profile EduCom, focusing on the four overarching key concepts of the framework. Each concept had its own international keynote speaker who introduced us to their research and how they use the concepts.

"The idea is that all research at HLK should be accommodated and fit under the Educom umbrella. We don't have to use the same research theories. Now that we have a background to the origin of the concepts and examples of how they are used, we can all break them down and make them ours. We all fit into the thinking in some way and after this conference it is up to us at HLK to define how we want to use the concepts to build HLK's research," explains Renira Gambarato, one of the EduCom project leaders.

Ole Henrik Hansen, also project manager, asked how the participants wanted to follow up the conference. Many expressed that they wanted time to continue the discussion to see what it could mean for their work and for the School.

Voices on the conference

Charlotte Öhman, PhD-student:

I gained various perspectives on how I can connect social sustainability, in terms of communication, to my ongoing dissertation work on parental involvement in preschool.

Sanna Smithberger, Adjunct/Lecturer:

The main takeaway for me is the importance of raising our eyes and never stopping to discuss 1) _why_ we work with education and training, 2) the love for what arises in interpersonal encounters.

Ingela Bergmo Prvulovic, Associate Professor:
The lectures gave a very good insight into how EduCom has developed historically, and showed how important it is to understand the context and the challenges that needed to be addressed. They also provided inspiration for how EduCom can serve as an overarching framework for us at HLK to gather around, which we can jointly explore and make relevant in relation to our research and context.

Find out more about the speakers and content of the 2024 conference

Conferences and training courses 2025-26

For researchers, lecturers and adjuncts:

Research Conference, November 25, 2025. More information to come.

For PhD-students:

  • Research Funding: From Idea To Application, prel. start in August, 2026.


Contact: Karolina Hyckenberg