Call for Proposals

The call for proposals is now closed. 

 

Proposal Submission Deadline: January 31, 2017

Join us at the inaugural conference of North American Center for Collaborative Development (NACCD), Connecting Indigenous Peoples in North America: Crafting a Community of Shared Knowledge, graciously hosted by First Nations University of Canada in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada from June 12th to 13th, 2017.

The NACCD has been created by the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration’s (CONAHEC) and the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States of America to address issues of regional importance.

This meeting will enable members of Indigenous communities and those working in, or in partnership with, Indigenous higher education, to share their experiences, challenges, good practices and aspirations”. There are two desired outcomes:  1) to create an inclusive community of interest offering resources, connections and ever widening opportunities to members for success through an international network; and 2) to explore how this network’s knowledge can be shared most productively while identifying the issues and challenges that are most pressing as well as providing strong examples of successful practice.

Indigenous communities have developed a repertoire of specialized knowledge through their close relationships with their ancestral territories, other living entities and the world around them. Creating a community of interest where Indigenous educators and thought leaders can share their knowledge of effective educational practices not only amongst themselves, but also with non-Indigenous educators, provides a unique opportunity for courageous innovation in pedagogical practices based on this knowledge acquired over millennia.

We invite those working with Indigenous communities in higher education to share successful practices, innovative models and lessons learned by submitting an idea of a presentation or discussion for the conference.

Call for Proposals

Scholars, practitioners and other stakeholders engaged in preparing future leaders of Indigenous communities in North America are invited to submit presentation proposals.  Some possible topics include:

  • Reconciliation and intergovernmental relations

    • Building relationships with Indigenous communities

  • Governance

    • Economic and community development

    • Natural resource/environmental stewardship

  • Education

    • Recreating educational institutions to better serve Indigenous communities

    • Successful modes of student recruitment and retention

    • Capacity building

  • Promoting Indigenous scholarship and research

    • Research and data sovereignty

    • Indigenous research methodologies

  • Indigenous identity and language

In the spirit of international collaboration, individual presentations will likely be placed in a shared session with other presenters. We welcome proposals which include multiple speakers offering perspectives from more than one country/cultural context. If you have colleagues with whom you can submit a joint proposal, we encourage you to do so (please verify their interest and availability to attend and present before submitting). Preference will be given to coordinated group presentations involving representatives from multiple institutions and countries.

Session duration is one hour and fifteen minutes. Given that each session contains an average of 3 presenters plus a moderator, each presenter must agree to equitably share the time with the other presenters allocated to the session (regardless of format). Presentations should allow at least 15 minutes for audience interaction. Those listed as "co-presenters" are expected to attend the conference. Those who do not attend will not be mentioned in the conference program, unless referred to in the "Description" section.

Other important information:

  • If the proposal is accepted, space will be set aside for your presentation in the conference program.  Please be considerate and make plans to attend, or let us know as soon as possible if you or your co-presenters will be unable to participate since it is a selective process and there are often other excellent proposals which we’d like to accommodate.

  • Papers selected by the editorial committee may be published after the conference.

  • Previously published work can be submitted for presentation, however, only original articles are eligible for publication.

  • To minimize conference costs, regretfully, presenters will not receive any compensation. Travel, lodging, conference registration fees and all other expenses will be the presenter's sole responsibility.

The inaugural Conference of the North American Center for Collaborative Development is jointly organized by First Nations University of Canada and the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC).

First Nations University of Canada has a mission to enhance the quality of life, and to preserve, protect and interpret the history, language, culture and artistic heritage of First Nations. CONAHEC links higher education institutions, government agencies and partners in industry from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, and from the rest of the world, in collaboration and cooperation. We look forward to welcoming you in Regina, Canada!