CIDEC Symposium 2026

Comparative, International, and Development Education at a Crossroads: Responding to Education in an Age of Crisis and Complexity

The Comparative, International, and Development Education Centre (CIDEC) invites you to its inaugural symposium, taking place April 23–24, 2026 at OISE, University of Toronto.

Education systems worldwide are confronting a convergence of crises, including conflict and displacement, democratic backsliding, climate instability, widening inequalities, and rapid digital transformation. These challenges are not new, nor are they isolated; they are deeply interconnected, persistent forces shaping and reshaping how education is imagined, governed, and experienced. At the same time, the field of Comparative, International, and Development Education (CIDE) is itself at a critical juncture, as longstanding paradigms are unsettled and new possibilities for analysis, collaboration, and action begin to take shape.

This symposium takes those tensions seriously and puts them on the table. It brings together scholars, practitioners, and community partners to engage across a range of perspectives, from decolonizing methodologies and feminist and critical policy analysis to education in contexts of displacement, global governance, and the implications of AI and digital transformation. Across sessions, participants will examine how education systems are responding to crisis and complexity, where those responses fall short, and what more just and sustainable futures might actually require. This includes a deliberate focus on how these dynamics are unfolding both globally and in local contexts, including in the Toronto area and across Canada, and on strengthening connections between research, practice, and community-based work in our own context.

The program features anchor talks by leading CIDE scholars, practitioner and community roundtables with organizations working directly in education in emergencies and community-based contexts, and paper sessions highlighting emerging research across the field. This is not just a knowledge-sharing event; it is intended as a space for collective sense-making, network-building, and forward-looking collaboration.

***This in-person symposium is now at capacity. We kindly ask that only registered participants attend.***

CIDEC Symposium 2026

CIDE at a Crossroads: Responding to Education in an Era of Crisis and Complexity

Program

DAY 1: Thursday, April 23, 2026

9:00–9:15
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Carly Manion (Director, CIDEC)

9:15–10:30
Anchor Talk
Global Governance and Educational Change: A Look Towards Education’s Futures
Speaker: Karen Mundy (OISE, CIDEC)
Respondent: Francine Menashy (OISE, CIDEC)

10:30–10:45
Break + Dialogue

10:45–11:45
Community Roundtable

Shaping Education Futures: INGOs, Partnerships, and Power
Speakers: Nancy Del Col (World Vision) • Myuri Komaragiri (Right to Play) • Peter Simms (Plan International)

Facilitator: Ruba Kallab (PhD Student, OISE, CIDE)

11:45–12:30 
Lunch 

12:30–1:30
Anchor Talk
Disrupting the Taken-For-Granted: Drawing on Knowledge Across Contexts on Path to Critical Praxis
Speaker: Ann Lopez (OISE, CIDEC)
Respondent: Vongai Changamire (OISE, CIDE Alum) 

1:30–1:40
Break

1:40–2:50
Anchor Talk
Thinking Beyond 2030: Higher Education and the Future of Sustainable Development
Speaker: Elizabeth Buckner (OISE, CIDEC)
Respondent: Melody Viczko (Western University)

2:50–3:00
Break

3:00–4:15
Paper Session 1: Educational Change and Advancing Equity and Justice
Chair: Zeenia Ahmed (PhD Candidate, OISE, CIDE)

• What Do We Mean by “Quality” in Education? From Philosophical Ideals to Global Metrics and System Realities— Sheena Bell
• Traversing the Jagged Frontier: Conceptualizing a Framework for GenAI in Education — Marc Nair
• Modeling Education Impacts of Funding Cuts on Refugee and Host Communities — Justine Bailliart, Ellinore Carroll, Peter Holland, Rebecca Telford Mansour, Fei Yuan

4:15–4:25
Break

4:25–5:25
Featured Panel
Canadian Educational Experiences of Stakeholders from Post-Soviet Independent States: A Comparative and Contextual Perspective
Sarfaroz Niezov (OISE, CIDEC) • Max Antony Newman (University of Glasgow) • Stephen Bahry (OISE, CIDEC) • Shahidul Islam (OISE, CIDEC)

5:25–5:45
Reflection • Dialogue • Day 1 Wrap-Up

DAY 2: Friday, April 24, 2026

9:00–9:15
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Carly Manion (Director, CIDEC)

9:15–10:30
Anchor Talk
Reimagining Futures in Refugee Education
Speaker: Sarah Dryden-Peterson (Harvard)
Respondent: Kathy Bickmore (OISE, CIDEC)

10:30–10:45
Break + Dialogue

10:45–11:45
Community Roundtable
Education in Canada for People with Refugee Experience: Community-Based Responses, Systemic Gaps, and Lived Realities

Speakers: Shorouk Elzayat (Afghan Women’s Organization) • Gabriel Ndayishimiye (Canadian Foundation for Refugee Education) • Arianne Maraj (Post-Doctoral Fellow, CFRE) • Fernanda Morales Rodríguez (Refugee Education Council; Canadian Council for Refugees Youth Network)

Facilitator: Tavila Haque (PhD Student, OISE, CIDE)

11:45–12:30
Lunch

12:30–1:30
Anchor Talk
Navigating the Complexities of the Education of Students with a Refugee Background: A Continuum of Adaptation
Speaker: Emmanuelle Le Pichon Vorstman (OISE, CIDEC) & community guests

Facilitator: Manita Swati (PhD Candidate, OISE, CIDE)

1:30–1:40
Break + Open Dialogue

1:40–3:20
Paper Session 2: Teachers and Teaching for Transformation
Chair: Nancy Hsiung (PhD Student, OISE, CIDE)

• Applying Complexity Thinking to Teacher Practice — Izza Tahir
• Teaching CIE: Facilitating Discussions with Diverse, International and Multidisciplinary Students — Mary Drinkwater, Dareen Fatimah, Jiyoung Kang, Irum Chorghay
• Cartographies of Resistance: Refugee-Background Teachers, Feminist Communities, and the Re-Imagining of Educational Policy — Zuhra Abawi & Nidhi Menon
• Global Ethnography and the (Digital) Archive: Qualitative Methods for Transnational Social Justice — Hayley H. Brooks 

3:20–3:25
Break

3:25–4:25
Featured Panel
Canadian Teachers and Students Co-Constructing Curricular Responses to Polarizing Issues and the Media Ecosystem in Transnational Contexts
Kathy Bickmore • Maria Paz Faundez-Bastias • Ruba Kallab • Dareen Fatimah • Adaobiagu Obiagu (OISE, CIDEC)

4:25–4:45
Closing Session
Reflection • Dialogue • Forward Planning for Action and Collaboration • Closing Remarks

Organizing Committee

• Carly Manion, Director, CIDEC
• Zeenia Ahmed (PhD Candidate)
• Tavila Haque
• Nancy Hsiung 
• Ruba Kallab 
• Manita Swati 

With deep appreciation for the work, care, and coordination of the CIDEC student organizing team.

We are grateful to the CIDEC community, including faculty, students, and partners, whose ideas, energy, and commitment helped bring this inaugural symposium to life. We also thank our presenters, community partners, and participants for contributing to the conversations that make this gathering meaningful.

Photo Credit: Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash