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School of Human Development
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Dialogue across Education and Humanities Conference

Professor Gert Biesta and Professor Alexander SidorkinOn June 22nd the first joint conference between SPC and DCU on Dialogue across Education was held at St Patrick’s Campus, Drumcondra. This conference sought to bring together a range of voices to share their passion for dialogue, to engage with the richness and expertise of diverse perspectives, and to explore both its limits and where relevant to celebrate its creative and systematic potential. The conference aimed not only to stimulate scholarly reflection but also to promote an enriching exchange across different disciplinary domains.

The organisers (Dr Francesca Lorenzi and Dr Andrew O’Shea) were delighted to host internationally renowned experts Professor Gert Biesta and Professor Alexander Sidorkin, and a group of international scholars to discuss the significance of dialogue across education and humanities today. Over the course of three days delegates were treated to an enjoyable social experience, back-to-back panel presentations, two excellent key note speeches, a gala dinner that included live music from the Irish Harpist Deirdre Seevers.

In the words of one delegate Christian Gregory from Columbia University in New York… “I am doubtful that future conferences I shall attend this year will have the same warm, collegial elegance.”

Keynote Speakers

“To experience what it means to be human, one needs to engage in dialogical relations”

Professor Alexander Sidorkin, Institute of Education, HSE University, Russia

“The choice… is between education that contributes to immunization and education that keeps the possibility for interruption and intervention open”

Professor Gert Biesta, Department of Education, Brunel University, London, England