We are pleased to share with you the achievements in academia of our Year 1 student, Alan Lam, who presented a research paper titled “A Return to the Relational: Promising Educational Practices and Their Underpinning Principles” with Dr. Sally Wan, Professor Suzannie Leung and other co-authors at the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Conference 2025.

Let’s hear what Alan says about the paper presentation at the BERA conference:

“In September 2025, I presented twice at the conference held by the British Educational Research Association with Dr. Sally Wan and Professor Suzannie Leung from the Faculty of Education (CUHK), after participating in workshops and global dialogues about nature conservation and sustainable development education. Through the BERA Conference 2025, not only did I share my experience and describe the research project, but I was also able to learn a lot from other researchers.

In the first presentation with Professor Leung and Dr. Wan, I shared my experience in the global dialogue session for around a minute. Global Dialogue was a collaboration between the University of Bristol and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where students engaged in discussions about climate change education, which encourages global collaboration between pre-service teachers. The second presentation was about a qualitative research project that utilises thematic analyses to find out pre-service teachers’ views on themselves and their peers in climate change education (CCE). Through my presentation with Dr. Wan, I learnt the research method of asking people to draw their metaphors to describe their feelings rather than directly asking them what they feel about the workshop. This can stimulate more detailed responses from the participants in the research.

Some presentations were very eye-opening. Another presentation by Dr. Wan led me to explore more about social network analysis. One presentation involved children, who shared with us what researchers need to do to engage students in research. Indeed, those are things that I should think about if I become an educational/linguistic researcher in the future! Do children really like to answer all our questions honestly, and how can we assist children to verbalise their thoughts? Another interesting presentation was about the self-identity of non-native English speakers. Indeed, is being a native speaker necessarily indicative of better English abilities, and does nativeness actually enhance pedagogy? In addition, a postgraduate student presented her work that combines VR technology, LEGO bricks and STEAM education, which reminded me of the importance of play in early childhood. Also, in one of the presentations, I learnt a concept called “SEND achievement gap”.

The BERA Conference experience was very fruitful, as I learnt a lot of new things. I will continue reading more about interesting topics. I am very grateful to the Faculty for covering the cost of my conference ticket. I would also express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Wan for providing me with this eye-opening opportunity. I look forward to future conferences, both in the educational field and in the linguistic field!”