CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Building Bridges V(irtual) International Conference

Best Practices for the Inclusive Education of Diverse Students during Challenging Times

June 1 – 3, 2022

The University of Nicosia Department of Education and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education are pleased to announce BB-V, the Building Bridges V(irtual) International Conference, on June 1 – June 3, 2022; there will be no registration fee affiliated with this virtual event. The Building Bridges convenings have always aimed at bringing together the international community to discuss innovative solutions to complex social and educational issues our students with disabilities and their families continuously face. The ongoing worldwide pandemic has made us even more cognizant of the importance of collective work and, thus, we are excited to continue the Building Bridges long tradition by introducing the fifth (V) international conference taking place virtually. Our hope is that we create a stimulating space for focused, passionate advocates to come together and discuss new ways of ensuring the realization of our students’ highest potential.

Conference Themes

To that end, we are seeking proposals that address one of BB-V’s conference themes:

  • Culturally Sustaining Practices in Inclusive Schools and Classrooms
  • Evidence-based Practices for Academic and Social Skill Instruction through Multi-tiered Systems of Support
  • Integration of Technology in the Education of Students with Disabilities
  • Teacher Education, Mentoring, and Professional Development
  • Healing-centered Approaches for Teachers, Parents and Families, and Students

Conference sessions will feature international scholars and practitioners, whose work focuses on ensuring access, inclusion, and equity for all diverse students with disabilities. All sessions will occur synchronously via Zoom during one of two scheduled time periods – morning or late afternoon/evening. We anticipate that each session will have approximately 60 minutes for presentations (i.e., 20 minutes per paper presentation with three presenters, 60 minutes per symposium) with 20 minutes open for facilitated discussion among presenters and participants. Sessions focused on specific conference themes will be scheduled together as a cluster to support attendee planning across this virtual, three-day conference.

Session Types

We are considering three types of sessions for this call. These are:

  • Paper presentations; these proposals will be submitted by a single author or group of authors that focus on a topic aligned to one of the conference themes. The conference organizers will then group three paper presentations together and each author or group of authors will have 20 minutes to present their work.
  • Symposium presentation; these proposals will be submitted by a group of authors who are presenting on a topic aligned to one of the conference themes. These proposals should feature three to four separate papers that will be presented together within a 60-minute time frame. The authors of the proposal can organize the order and structure of the presentation and all authors will be scheduled together during the same presentation block.
  • Poster presentation; these proposals will consider the publication of digital poster presentations that can be viewed asynchronously during the conference time period.

Submission Guidelines and Deadline

As you develop your proposal, we ask that author(s) consider the following components:

  • Title of the Proposal (15 words or fewer)
  • Abstract (50 words or fewer; this will be the information that is posted in the conference schedule regarding your presentation)
  • Session Type
  • Proposal Description (limit of 350 words)
    • All proposals should include a theoretical and/or research base that supports recommended practices. Proposals should include: (a) 3-4 participant objectives. That is how the presentation content is useful for the target audience. (b) A description of the study.
      • For original research, presenters should provide a concise summary of the study’s rationale, method, results, and implications.
      • For conceptual papers, presenters should provide an overview of the topic’s importance, main arguments, and implications for practice.
    • Proposals may include up to 3 references (not included in the word limit).
    • For SYMPOSIUM, you are required to include below: (1) Symposium title, (2) Symposium overview including a summary of the theme, (3) Abstracts for each individual oral presentation.
  • Alignment to one of the five conference topics.

We strongly recommend that you prepare your proposal in Microsoft Word or other word processing software first to save it before copying and pasting the content into the proposal submission form. In the proposal submission form, we will also ask for the names, university/school/organization affiliation, and email addresses of all presenters; this information will support conference planning and communication as well as program and schedule development.

Once you have completed your proposal, you can submit the content via the Google Form found here. All proposal submissions are due by Sunday, March 13, 2022; notifications to accepted authors will be made by early April.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact the Conference Coordinators, Drs. Lefki Kourea and Joseph Morgan at [email protected].

We look forward to reviewing your submission and collaborating with you at BB-V!