IPDA International Conference
The IPDA International Conference takes place each year and brings together several keynote speakers and many presenters from across not only the UK, but much further afield. The conference is very active and prompts discussion around a wide range of issues relating to professional development.
IPDA International Conference 2027: Charting pathways for professional growth and collective impact
Save the date for our 2027 conference, which will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland at Queen Margaret University from 17-19 June 2027.
Why should you come along?
The IPDA annual conference provides a unique opportunity to engage professionally with a wide range of people who are involved in professional learning. The conference provides a supportive environment in which people can listen and talk as well as present their research and ideas.
First time researchers and presenters and researchers have a challenging yet safe environment in which they can develop their conference presentation skills and learn from more experienced researchers and presenters. The wide range of contexts from which participants come enables people to make a much broader range of contacts than they would normally be able to do, and to learn with colleagues across professions and all sectors of education.
Thinking of presenting at IPDA?
IPDA conferences are smaller and more connected than you might expect, and that makes presenting here a genuinely different experience. Sessions can be conversational rather than performative. You’ll share your work with a room of people who are curious and engaged. Whether you’re presenting completed research, work in progress, or practitioner insights, the feedback you receive is the kind that actually moves your thinking forward.
Many presenters remark on the collegiate atmosphere. You might find yourself in a session with researchers from five different countries, or alongside practitioners working in contexts very different from your own. These unexpected connections often turn out to be very valuable. IPDA is a community that takes professional learning seriously, and that shows in the quality of the conversations that happen in and around every session.
“Schoolteachers can easily imagine that people with PhDs and books to their name must look down on them… not in IPDA they don’t. If I had to single out a quality that marks out IPDA it is the willingness to learn from, engage with and respect the experience of schoolteachers.”
“From the initial correspondence, to the welcome and registration, the organisation and quality of sessions, catering and accommodation, and the overall sense of welcome and inclusion, this was a really worthwhile conference.”
