Holly Hiscox attends History of Education Doctoral Summer School

Between 5th and 8th June I was fortunate to attend the History of Education Doctoral Summer School (HEDSS) along with eighteen other successful applicants from across the globe. The HEDSS is an annual event aimed at bringing together postgraduate researchers and established academics working in the field of history of education. It is organized by the European Educational Research Association and supported by other organizations such as the History of Education Society UK and the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE). This year’s summer school was held in Norway, and was hosted by the University of Oslo and VID Specialized University.

The summer school began on the afternoon of the 5th June with a tour of the Norwegian parliament, and then a trip back to the VID campus for the formal opening and introductions and a chance to begin getting to know the rest of the cohort. During the three days there were opportunities for other visits to sites of cultural and historical significance, such as Oslo’s City Hall, and the organizers also provided a range of stimulating and useful workshops. These included a session on ‘The travelling idea of IQ: Networks, knowledge brokers, translations and spaces of calculation’, by Christian Ydesen, University of Zürich, and Brit Marie Hovland, VID Specialized University, which was linked to a visit to the VID IQ exhibition: ‘Inside the Box. Measuring Intelligence for 100 Years’, facilitated by Jon Røyne Kyllingstad, University of Oslo. We also enjoyed a tour of VID’s Blindern campus including the library’s closed stacks, and a workshop ‘From historical sources to data: digital scholarship and historical analysis,’ led by Rakel Igland Diesen and Alexandre Simon Ekeland which demonstrated a selection of useful digital tools that can be used to search and organise a range of archival material.

However, the key aim of the summer school was to help foster the international community of emerging historians of education, and to build networks that could led to future collaborations. An important part of this dimension of the summer school was the space in the programme devoted to panels for PhD students to present their research. Papers lasted for around ten minutes, and were followed by twenty minutes of discussion, which included a peer review, feedback from a senior academic, and general questions from other researchers. This was a great opportunity to consider the international scope of work being undertaken in the field, and to consider comparisons and parallels between the different strands of research, all within a friendly and supportive environment. It was incredibly useful to hear different perspectives and to receive detailed and expert feedback on my own research from students and researchers working in other international contexts. Having the chance to provide a constructive peer review as the first post-presentation comment to a fellow student was also helpful in developing this skill.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend HEDSS 2025, and have returned to the UK with new and important insights that will be beneficial to my research. Thank you to the local organisers Brit Marie Hovland, Kristen Sivesind, Inga Bostad, Tone Kvernbekk, Cliff Chinyama, Kari Anne Ulfsnes, Maria Mathiesen, and also to the international organizing committee Sian Roberts, Ian Grosvenor, Bjorn Norlin, Angelo Van Gorp and Christian Ydesen for the interesting programme, guidance, and all the hard work behind the scenes that enabled the event to run so smoothly. My attendance at this event was also made possible by my collaborative doctoral award partner, the Schools of Empire project at Rugby School which funded my travel, and I am very grateful for their support. Lastly, a huge thanks to my PhD peers for sharing their research and for their part in creating such a supportive, collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment.