Call for Proposals

• Papers
  Presenters who submit a paper to the Symposium will be allotted 10-20 minutes for an oral presentation of their research. Paper presentations will be grouped together by theme, creating one 50-minute session of 2-4 individuals. Sessions will be moderated by a faculty member. You may choose to have a moderator assigned to you, or you may suggest a moderator for your panel. 
• Posters
  Students may choose to present their research in a visual format during a poster presentation session in person or virtually. In-person posters will be physically printed and displayed. Poster presentations typically last between 2-5 minutes while attendees circulate between posters. If poster abstracts are accepted, the author(s) must be willing to design and present a visual poster based on their accepted abstract. Funding may be available for the printing of designed posters.
  
  For poster design guidance, once accepted, see GSE Research Poster Templates.

• Roundtables, Panels, & Workshops
  Roundtables, panels, and workshops allow for more interaction and discussion, with options as follows:    

1. Roundtables Students are encouraged to consider presenting a short roundtable talk on their individual research project (e.g., theses or dissertations). Roundtable presentations report on the early stages of research projects through brief talks of 5-10 minutes. Roundtables will be assigned a moderator. 
2. Pre-Assembled Panel We encourage students with similar research projects to submit their proposal jointly as a panel featuring three to four student panelists. Students may request a faculty member to moderate the panel or be assigned a moderator at the Symposium Committee’s discretion. In total, these sessions typically run for 60 minutes, with each student presenting for approximately 10-15 minutes, leaving time for discussion with the audience thereafter. Proposal abstracts for panels should include an overview of the panel topic and issues (e.g., research methodology, theory, or challenges and opportunities, etc.) to be discussed. 
3. Workshops should be designed as active sessions on a focused issue for 1 to 2 hours, co-organized by a group of students. Workshops should include interactive engagement with attendees. Example topics that fit within the Symposium theme may include the ethical use of AI in information, communication, or education spaces, the agency of humans when evaluating AI outputs, and the environmental impacts of AI. Groups of students should lead workshops with limited faculty support. Proposal abstracts for workshops should include an overview of objectives, activities, and time and any space or technology setup required for the session. 

Presentations should report on original research. For example, students may present empirical studies, theoretical position papers, evidence-based assessments of interventions such as professional development programs, explorations of a model, methodological reflections, students’ research component or dissertation, or other scholarly work. A wide variety of research approaches and multi-disciplinary audiences are invited, representing the diversity of GSE scholarship. The presenter(s) should have played a key role in the research.

Online students are invited to submit virtual presentation proposals in any format described below. Student presenters must be currently enrolled as full- or part-time students at the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education. Proposals may be sole-authored, co-authored by students, or co-authored by students and faculty. Lead authors should seek permission from all members of their team prior to submitting a proposal and must establish clear agreement on authorship order to be reflected in the submission.

Proposals must be submitted by February 6, 2026, 11:59 PM EST for consideration. Proposals will be reviewed as they are received, allowing for early acceptance. Unfortunately, late submissions won't be accepted.

Presenters will be notified of their acceptance by February 27, 2026.

The deadline for Symposium registration is March 9, 2026; early registration is highly encouraged (details forthcoming). All presenters must be registered by this date to present their work at the Symposium. Please keep in mind that if your proposal is accepted, you may be asked to change the presentation format type or the length of the presentation, depending on the submissions that are received.

Proposals for all formats will be submitted as a 500-word text abstract. The abstract may describe the research project’s aims, in addition to relevant details of the theoretical framework, methodology, and any preliminary findings or expected contributions.

You will submit your proposal abstract as a .PDF file named the same as your proposal title. The proposal title and presentation format must be indicated at the top of the abstract document.

To facilitate the review process, please do not include author names anywhere in the abstract or file name. References for any materials cited in the abstract are required in APA style or another recognized style. References do not contribute to the 500-word limit.

Please submit your proposal information, including the required abstract as a *.PDF file of no more than 500 words.

Unfortunately, late submissions will not be accepted.

• Abstracts for all submission types should be no more than 500 words 
• Submissions are invited on any topic of research and at any stage

For questions about the symposium please contact:

• Sasha Naples - sashanap@buffalo.edu 
• Ava Cohen - avacohen8@buffalo.edu 
• Saguna Shankar, PhD - sagunash@buffalo.edu