NNRME 2027

Call for papers

Space and place in music education research

Music is practiced, experienced, learned and conveyed in a vast number of spaces and places. It is central to how people make sense of their everyday surroundings, and plays an important role in shaping and defining identity and belonging. 

Coined by Yi-Fu Tuan (1977), space is the abstract realm of openness, potential and freedom; while place denotes a concrete, stable and secure center, filled with personal value and meaning and emotional attachment. At a time marked by migration, digitalisation and AI, ecological concerns, inequalities, and changing understandings of community, participation and democracy, questions of space and place have gained renewed significance for music education. Music is often an inherent marker of territory and of processes of inclusion or exclusion. Further, music education not only takes place in particular spaces and places but may also create, sustain, challenge and transform them, and open up new spaces towards the yet unknown.

For the NNRME conference 2027, we invite music education researchers and doctoral candidates to reflect on potential links between their research and all aspects of music education in terms of the dialectics between space and place. 

Themes may be related, but not limited, to issues such as 

• local and global perspectives, place attachment and social sustainability, center and periphery, learning in physical, digital and hybrid places, equity and safe learning spaces, migration and mobility, location of power
• the meaning of space and place in questions of identity and belonging, cultural heritage and canon, ownership and appropriation
• how music educational practices create, maintain, challenge or transform spaces for learning, participation and artistic expression

We welcome a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches within the formats listed below.

Formats

Paper presentation with commentator

• Time frame: 20 minutes presentation, 10 minutes for the commentator

Paper presentation without commentator

• Time frame: 20 minutes presentation, 10 minutes for Q&A from the audience

Symposium/panel

• Time frame: Appr. 50 minutes depending on the number of panellists, 10 minutes Q&A from the audience

Poster presentations

”Elevator pitch”

• Time frame: 7 minutes

Submissions must contain an anonymised abstract of maximum 350 words for paper presentations, posters and “elevator pitches”, and maximum 500 words for symposia. The maximum word count includes potential references. 

In the submission form, please make sure to provide information about the following: Title of presentation, author(s)/presenter(s) (including chair/corresponding author in the case of a symposium), presentation format, and technical requirements.

Note that each individual presenter can only submit or be part of max two proposals. This is regardless of whether you are the sole/corresponding author or participant in a submission where someone else is the corresponding author.

Submission link

Timeline

Submission proposals opens: 7. September 2026

Deadline for submission proposals: 1. November 2026

Notification of acceptance to authors: 27. November 2026

Conference registration opens: 27. November 2026

Registration closes: 1. February 2027

Full paper submission (papers with commentator): 1. February 2027

Program and keynote speakers

Ailbhe Kenny, Professor in Education, PhD, Maynooth University, Ireland
Title: TBA

Markus Tullberg, Senior Lecturer in Music Education, PhD, Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University, Sweden
Title: TBA

Guro Gravem Johansen, Professor in Music Education, PhD, Ingesund School of Music, Karlstad University, Sweden
Title: TBA

PHD PRE-CONFERENCE

The PhD pre-conference welcomes PhD students at all stages of their projects. The pre-conference provides a space for networking and collaboration between PhD students oriented towards music education research in the Nordic countries. Together with fellow students and experienced researchers within the NNRME the aim is to collectively inspire, explore, support and challenge emerging research projects.  

The pre-conference runs from 10:00-18:00 on 15 March 2027 at Ingesund School of Music in Arvika. Within the seminar format, it includes presentations, dialogic discussions, workshops and social gatherings. Students are encouraged to contribute in various and optional ways during the program, and for some parts preparation is required. The PhD pre-conference will be chaired by experienced members of the network.   

Submission information

For participation in the PhD pre-conference, we kindly ask you to follow this procedure. 

Send an email with your submission to nnrme2027@kau.se, with the text “PhD Pre-conference” in the subject line, within 1 November 2026. 

Attached in the email, please submit an abstract of maximum 350 words. The document should also contain the following information: 

Title of presentation, your name, institution/programme, presentation formats (see below), and technical requirements for your presentation. 

Please specify in the abstract at what stage your project is in. You are welcome either to give an outline of your PhD project or to focus on a specific topic or question that you would like to explore during our time together. 

Format options

• Oral presentation: max 15 minutes presentation followed by a discussion in the group
• Written paper presentation: max 5 minutes presentation of a full paper of max 2000 words, followed by a discussion in the group.

If you select the written paper presentation, you will be asked to submit the full paper prior to the conference, so that the organisers can distribute this to the rest of the participants and the chairs.

All participants are expected to read the submitted papers in advance to participate in joint discussions. 

Practical information for the PhD pre-conference

There is no conference fee for the PhD pre-conference. 

Participants will need to book their own accommodation in Arvika. On the evening of the PhD pre-conference day, all participants are invited to a joint dinner at Scandic hotel. All meals and transportation (an 8 minutes public bus ride) from the center of Arvika to Ingesund are at participants’ own cost. Lunch and fika can be bought at Ingesund. 

For PhD-pre-conference participants who are also participating in the main conference in Karlstad, we recommend traveling by train, which is an hour ride. Further information about public transport in Arvika and Karlstad will be provided later. 

Contact

For questions regarding the academic content and program: 

nnrme2027@kau.se

Practical information

Information about hotels, travel details and conference fee: TBA

For practical questions:

konferens@kau.se

The Conference host

Karlstad is the biggest city in the county of Värmland, a county with a rich culture and strong folk music tradition. One hour from Karlstad, Arvika is situated, known for its famous Swedish artist collective called Rackstadkolonin established around 1889. To its members, music played a major role and was central in shaping the deeply rooted cultural life in Arvika. In 1923 Folkliga musikskolan was founded, which later became Ingesund School of Music, now part of Karlstad University. 

The city of Karlstad and the university campus offer good facilities for conference activities as well as social gatherings and cultural experiences. Arvika and Karlstad are easy to reach by train from either Oslo or Stockholm. 

The hosting group at Ingesund School of Music wishes everybody a warm welcome to the NNRME conference 2027.s

Reference

Tuan, Yi-Fu (1977/2001). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience.