Introduction
Kathmandu University School of Education (KUSOED), Nepal, hosted the first international conference on Transformative Education Research and Sustainable Development (TERSD) from 21-23 October, 2016, in close collaboration with co-organizer Murdoch University School of Education, Australia. The conference brought together practices, experiences and theoretically informed discussions on the need for transformative education and research. In doing so, it contributed to expanding awareness of our situatedness in the world; and created a harmonious space bringing together the wisdom traditions of both East and West.  It also strengthened and enlarged the network of transformative practitioners by bringing together institutional and individual partners dedicated to share, collaborate, and co-create new ideas for integrated modes of thinking in education and related fields.

Following the aspirational first conference, KUSOED is pleased to announce that it will be hosting The Second International Conference on Transformative Education Research and Sustainable Development (SIC- TERSD, 2018) from 5 – 8 October, 2018. The major theme of the conference is “Context-Responsive Wisdom and Knowledge for Sustainable Futures”. It aims to provide an opportunity for the expanding community of scholars, practitioners and researchers to share perspectives on local wisdom and knowledge in education. It also aims to build collaboration amongst teachers, teacher educators, community developers, leaders, and researchers across the globe for strengthening social justice and eco-responsive sustainable development approaches in education and educational leadership.

The theme – Context-Responsive Wisdom and Knowledge for Sustainable Futures – has been envisioned to expand conscious awareness of our situatedness (e.g., humanity’s troubled relationship with the Earth) in the context of a neoliberal hegemonized world, which may readily enable us to deeply understand who we are and who we might yet become, as individuals and as social beings. Further, the educational link between context-responsive wisdom and knowledge with sustainable development harnesses local cultural capital; fosters an ethic of planetary stewardship; challenges taken for granted dimensions of our lives; and explores how they impact our ways of knowing and behaving – in order to live more sustainably and with greater sensitivity towards our fellow creatures.

TERSD 2018 includes a series of keynote, oral, poster, and workshop sessions, where over 100 participants will engage deeply in discussions on these issues. We invite researchers, practitioners, activists, students and representatives of universities, educational and research institutions, government organizations, United Nations agencies, International/Non-Governmental Organizations and other agencies inside and outside their own disciplines to come together in our knowledge community through authentic engagement with other scholars and practitioners who believe in the potentiality of context-responsive wisdom, knowledge and research as integral to education for sustainable development.

Read more …. Concept Paper