About JURE

In order to enhance the professional development of JUnior educational REsearchers, the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, the largest European educational research association and the counter part of the American AERA, established a network for Junior Researchers (JURE) in 1999. 

In close cooperation with EARLI, the JURE members organise yearly scientific events. These events consist of a biennial JURE conference, which is an event of a day and a half that is organised prior to the biennial EARLI conference (i.e. the pre-conference) and a 5-day research school in the alternating year. These events offer junior researchers the possibility to meet fellow junior researchers from all over Europe, to follow workshops conducted by experienced researchers, to exchange ideas and experiences with junior and senior researchers and to develop professional research competence in a wider European context. The overall aim of the activities is to set the stage for dialogue on state-of-the-art developments in research on learning and instruction between experts and junior researchers in order to direct more future Ph.D. student projects into promising directions in research on learning and instruction, aligning the current Ph.D. student projects with the state-of-the-art in the field, and presenting recent insights to the junior researchers. The pre-conference and the research school are different in organisation, although they aim for the same overall goal: to promote the professional development of junior educational researchers.

The biennial JURE conferences are set up around organised workshops and keynote presentations by leading scholars in the field. Practical training sessions are organised on different relevant issues like for example: the process of publishing scientific papers, the use of new quantitative and qualitative models in data-analysis, the use of new video -analysis technologies, research methodology, scientific writing, student-supervisor relations, etc. In addition, there are some sessions in which junior researchers get the opportunity to practice the competence of presenting and discussing their own work. This event provides ample opportunity for interaction between junior and senior researchers, and it promotes international networking. Furthermore, the keynote presentations, held by internationally recognised scholars, concern relevant and timely issues in the field of educational research. Every research school is organised around a central theme that is in line with current developments and challenges within the field of learning and instruction.

The biennial JURE pre-conferences, which are shorter in duration than the research schools, are aimed more towards the improvement of presentation and discussion competencies of junior researchers than the research schools. Short workshops are also organised, conducted by senior researchers. The pre-conferences provide an occasion to share research concerns with peers and with more experienced senior researchers. This event is called the pre-conference, because it precedes the biennial EARLI conference, which attracts about 1400 scholars from all parts of Europe. The theme of this pre-conference corresponds with the theme of the biennial EARLI conference.

The organisation of these yearly activities for junior researchers in education is unique; since no other international association provides similar facilities for the improvement of research skills and initiation into the profession for junior scientists in the field of learning and instruction. In certain European countries, there are national training initiatives for young educational researchers, but only EARLI promotes international involvement. The approach to organising these events that promote professional development and international networking is also original. An important aspect of professional development lies in activities that are often extraneous to one's own work. Activities such as reviewing papers, acting as chair or discussant at scientific sessions, and organising conferences, are important skills for junior researchers to acquire if they do not only want to conduct studies, but truly want to become "a researcher". Hence, EARLI creates a learning opportunity for junior researchers by encouraging them to become actively involved in the organisation of the pre-conferences and the research schools. For each event, a separate organising committee is appointed, which consists of junior researchers who volunteer for membership of the committee.