02/10/2026
Three members of Stranmillis University College’s Early Childhood Research and Innovation Hub (ECRI Hub) recently travelled to Madeira, Portugal, to present their research and strengthen international partnerships at the 34th European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Annual Conference.
The conference, held in Funchal, brought together researchers, educators and early childhood specialists from across Europe and beyond to share research, exchange ideas and explore opportunities for collaboration.
Representing Stranmillis University College, Dr Jill Magennis, Dr Andrea Doherty and Professor Glenda Walsh contributed presentations highlighting different aspects of the Hub’s research.
Dr Magennis presented findings from her recent doctoral research, ‘Relational and Everyday Peacebuilding in the Early Years: Educators’ Agency in Divided Societies’, exploring how early years educators can contribute to peacebuilding in communities affected by division.
Dr Doherty shared research from the Playful Primary Classrooms project, examining how playfulness can be understood and embedded within primary education to support children’s learning experiences.
Professor Walsh presented ‘Beyond Protection: Co-Creating Ethical Research with Babies, Children, Young People and Adults’, exploring approaches to research ethics that recognise children and young people as active participants and contributors to knowledge.
Professor Walsh also contributed to the self-organised symposium ‘It Is Rocket Science: Agency, Participation and Democracy for Effective Early Years Workforce Policy’, presenting ‘Political Inertia or an Act of Genius? Early Childhood Workforce Futures in Northern Ireland’, alongside the Professors Verity Campbell-Barr and Aline-Wendy Dunlop.
Beyond the formal conference programme, the event provided valuable opportunities to strengthen existing research relationships and develop new connections with colleagues from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the UK, Europe and further afield, including Kazakhstan. And there was, of course, some time for a little fun too – including a suitably playful photograph with EECERA President, Professor Christine Pascal!
Attendance at the conference was supported and funded by Stranmillis University College and Queen’s University Belfast.
The ECRI Hub researchers returned with new insights, professional connections and opportunities for future collaboration, and look forward to continuing these conversations at the next EECERA Annual Conference in Zagreb, Croatia.
