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.

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

TBA

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.