The OISE Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC) 2021 is being organized under unprecedented conditions. The world continues to grapple with the impact of COVID-19, and we are all coming to terms with a new reality informed by the conditions of a pandemic. These conditions have highlighted what many have been experiencing, theorizing, and studying for decades – that inequity and injustice exist, and that they are experienced differently. 

Though the GSRC 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we published an abstract book of accepted papers and created a platform for accepted workshops to be presented in the Fall semester. The cancellation of the GSRC 2020 also provided us with an opportunity to pause and think through and to embrace new approaches to learning and research, and foster interdisciplinary dialogue between scholars, researchers, and practitioners. 

Now, marking the twenty-first year of the conference, and more than ever before, we feel that the conditions of the world necessitate a (re)imagining of ways to think through how we teach, how we learn, and how we organize ourselves to not only overcome, but to transform the current conditions of the world, toward one that is grounded in principles of equity, peace, justice, and sustainability. It is with this in mind that we invite you to participate in the 20th, and first-ever virtual, OISE vGSRC 2021- Taking Stock and (Re)Imagining the Futures of Education. 

The OISE GSRC is an interdisciplinary academic conference, organized with the intention of creating opportunities for graduate students to share their research/work, and network with educational leaders, the broader OISE community, peer groups, and alumni. The GSRC has historically created a space to provide an opportunity for budding researchers to share and discuss their original scholarly or research contributions while gaining experience in a formal academic conference. We remain committed to recreating this very space, in a virtual format, to provide a platform to reflect on and celebrate the progressive, innovative, and ground-breaking education related research and practice of the OISE community. 

The conference will be held virtually on March 5-7, 2021 and we are looking forward to your participation! 

Shirin Haghgou, Leping Mou, & Norin Taj 

Co-chairs GSRC 2020 & vGSRC 2021 

Please direct any questions to the following email address: oise.gsrc@utoronto.ca