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GELYDA Update Letter - January 2025
GELYDA Membership Update Letter
Dear Members, Colleagues and Friends,
Wishing our global community a joyful and inspiring New Year. May 2026 bring renewed energy, meaningful collaboration, and continued impact in advancing learning and opportunity for young people around the world.
As we launch into 2026, GELYDA has been very busy and we have many exciting updates to share with you all. Top of our mind - we are just six months away from GELYDA’s International Conference in Seoul, South Korea. Below please find highlights regarding the conference as well as other recent and upcoming GELYDA initiatives.
GELYDA’s International Conference - New Website, Call for Abstracts, Registration!!
Planning for the 2026 GELYDA International Conference is in full swing! Led by Dr. Sang Hoon Bae, his team at Sungkyunkwan University and GELYDA Steering Committee members, below are time sensitive updates regarding the new conference website, call for abstracts and event registration.
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Conference Website: A comprehensive conference website has been created and houses all key information regarding the event. Please visit the site to learn more about the June 24th-26th, 2026 event and regularly monitor for new announcements and updates, including potential virtual opportunities for individuals who are unable to attend in person. As always, the GELYDA website will house key conference information as well.
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Call For Abstracts: The call for abstracts is officially open for the conference and all submissions are due by February 28th, 2026. Below please find links and dates with all key information. We encourage all who are interested in presenting to submit!!
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Conference Registration: The Early Bird registration period is now open for the conference and will run until March 15th, 2026. Regular conference registration will run from March 16th until May 31st, 2026.
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Join Us & Spread the Word: Following the success of our 2025 Iceland conference, we are excited for members of our global community to join us in person in Seoul. Please consider presenting and/or attending the event in person. Please help others to learn about GELYDA’s international conference by sharing this information with colleagues and friends.
As always, we deeply value your thoughts, feedback, suggestions, and contributions. Please reach out anytime at gelyda.association@outlook.com — we look forward to hearing from you!
Warm regards,
Gil G. Noam, GELYDA Chair
and members of the Steering Committee of GELYDA
Sang Hoon Bae, Professor at the Department of Education and Provost in the Sungkyunkwan University
Dale Blyth, Professor Emeritus and former Howland Endowed Chair in Youth Development Leadership
Kylie Brannelly, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Children’s Activities Network (QCAN) and Chairperson of the National Outside School Hours Services Alliance (NOSHSA)
Marlene Gras, Founder and Director of TierraED, Mexico City
Fuyuko Kanefuji, Professor at the Department of Human Sciences and Director of the Institute of Living Sciences, Bunkyo University
Linda Khanyi, Chief Education Specialist. Gauteng Department of Education
Kolbrún Þorbjörg Pálsdóttir, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik
Ludwig Stecher, Professor at the University of Giessen
