The Chemistry Education Research and Practice GRS provides a unique forum for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers to present their work, discuss new methods, cutting edge ideas, and pre-published data, as well as to build collaborative relationships with their peers. Experienced mentors and trainee moderators will facilitate active participation in scientific discussion to allow all attendees to be engaged participants rather than spectators.
The Chemistry Education Research and Practice (CERP) Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) is committed to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment for early-career scholars. To accompany the 2025 CERP Gordon Research Conference (GRC), the 2025 CERP GRS theme is Critiquing the Intersections of Paradigmatic and Methodological Perspectives. Over the last several decades, the field of chemistry education research has developed an international and well-established body of literature that has addressed the teaching and learning of chemistry across institutional contexts. While this knowledge has served as the foundation for our field, a budding paradigm shift has surfaced, requiring chemistry education researchers to address challenging questions that include, but are not limited to, topics around the researcher-educator divide, artificial intelligence and machine learning, asset-framed and student-centered research, and the role of equity-centered and justice-oriented research in our field.
To support the next generation of chemistry education researchers in addressing these questions, the 2025 CERP GRS aims to create space for community discussion about these critical topics, foster opportunities for professional networking, and provide opportunities for career exploration. We seek to highlight research from early career scholars that push the boundaries of established epistemologies, methodologies, and contexts in our field. To compliment the seminar talks and poster presentations, the mentorship component of this conference will allow participants to engage in small-group discussion about one of three topics: 1) Making the most of your GRS/GRC experience, 2) Non-traditional careers in chemistry education research, and 3) Unpacking the hidden norms of tenure-track careers in academia.
If you are a doctoral student or postdoctoral researcher who conducts chemistry education research, you are a good candidate for the 2025 CERP GRS. Like the GRC, the GRS is a great venue for presenting unpublished or in-progress work that may benefit from external insights and feedback.
All GRS participants will submit an abstract on their research for a poster presentation. This abstract can be the same abstract that GRS participants submit to the accompanying 2025 CERP GRC, though this is not required. Unique to Gordon Research Seminars, invited oral presentations are selected from the submitted poster presentation abstracts. While abstracts will be accepted and considered through June 1, 2025, abstract review will begin in April 2025. GRS participants wishing to be considered for an oral presentation should submit abstracts by our priority deadline of March 30, 2025. In considering invitations for oral presentations, the GRS Chairs will prioritize submissions aligned with the conference theme, Building Bridges and Embracing Dreaming: Characterizing the Future of Chemistry Education Research.
Application Instructions
The seminar will feature approximately 10 talks and 2 poster sessions. All attendees are expected to actively participate in the GRS, either by giving an oral presentation or presenting a poster. Therefore, all applications must include an abstract.
The seminar chair will select speakers from abstracts submitted by March 30, 2025. Those applicants who are not chosen for talks and those who apply after the deadline to be considered for an oral presentation will be expected to present a poster. In order to participate, you must submit an application by the date indicated in the Application Information section above.
Program Format
Gordon Research Seminars are 2-day meetings which take place on the Saturday and Sunday just prior to the start of the associated GRC. The GRS opens with a 1-hour introductory session on Saturday afternoon, followed by a poster session, dinner and a 2-hour session in the evening. Sunday morning begins with breakfast and is followed by another 2-hour session, a second poster session, and lunch. A final 1-hour session takes place just after lunch, and the associated GRC begins later that evening.
