February 2026 AIESEP Newsletter

Hello AIESEP Friends, 

It’s that time of year to RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP! If you have an annual membership, it expired Dec 31^st. You can renew here. Not sure if you have a multi-year membership? To check membership status go to “Login” at the top right corner of the AIESEP website, and click on “Orders” then “View” and you can see the last purchase you made for a membership.

You can follow all AIESEP updates on our LinkedIn, this is also where you can find AIESEP Connect event links.

We have a lot of updates this month. We just finished our specialist seminar in Lausanne, Switzerland and we’re gearing up for the 2026 World Congress in Taipei.

Here are the updates:

1. Registration for AIESEP 2026 is OPEN! The Early Bird Registration ends February 25^th. The conference will run June 15^th to 19^th, 2026. The conference website is live https://2026aiesep.org/ and will continue being updated! Basic travel information can be found here, and visa information can be found here . A podcast about Taiwan can be found here (episode 384 in Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education Podcast), and the companion blog, with hyperlinks to all the recommendations can be found here. Everyone is urged to book hotels early before they fill up. There are 13 hotels listed as options with varying distances by foot, metro, and taxi here. Finally, in addition to checking if you need a VISA!! Everyone needs to submit a Taiwan Arrival Card before you travel to Taipei in June (must be completed a minimum 3 days before arrival): https://twac.immigration.gov.tw/

2. The AIESEP Early Career Scholar Awards have been announced. The intent of the award is to recognise early career scholars within the field who have made an outstanding contribution to the field and demonstrate scholarly promise. The awards in 2026 go to: Dr. Craig Nieman (University of South Florida, USA), Dr. Carla Valerio (Southern Cross University, Australia) and Dr. Taemin Ha (City University of New York-Queens College, USA). You can see past award recipients here.

3. The Developing Country Scholar Awards have also been announced. The AIESEP Developing Country Scholar Award is designed to support scholars based in developing countriesto attend the AIESEP Conference. The award aims to recognize outstanding scholarly contributions and foster stronger connections between AIESEP and the academic communities in developing countries. The 2026 awards go to: Dr. Emmanuel Aboagye (Akrokerri College of Education, Ghana,) and Dr. Pedro Danilo Poncaino Nuñez (Universidad del Valle de Guatemala | Universidad Da Vinci, Guatemala). You can see past award recipients here.

4. Elections for the 2026-2030 AIESEP Board of Directors will occur in Taiwan this summer. Nominations will open March 1^st and close May 1^st. Voting will be conducted online synchronously during the general assembly, and all members will get a personal link via email to vote. In March, members will get an email outlining the requirements for nominations (click here to see if you’re eligible). You will be asked to make a 2min video introducing yourself and your vision for the future board. This video will be uploaded to the member corner of the website and will be available for members to view leading up to the voting. Six institutional and six individual board positions will be open. In addition, the President and Secretary General positions will be open to candidates who have completed at least one term of service on the Board of Directors.

5. The third keynote at AIESEP 2026 will be delivered by Professor Hsiao-Lan Sharon Chen (National Taiwan Normal University). The title of Dr. Chen’s keynote is: Rethinking Physical Literacy for Physical Education Mapping in 21^st Century: From Deconstruction to Reconstruction

Here is Dr. Chen’s bio:

Hsiao-Lan Sharon Chen is Professor of Education at the National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, where she was the former Director of the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation, the Head of the Department of Education and concurrently the Director of both the Graduate Institute of Curriculum and Instruction and the Graduate Institute of Educational Policy and Administration. She also served as the President of the China Education Society-Taipei, the Convener of the Discipline of Education of the Department of Humanity and Social Science, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Convener of the Curriculum Implementation Task Force of the Secondary Education Administration, Ministry of Education.  

Professor Chen actively participates in many academic activities and has served as the editor-in-chief of several TSSCI academic journals. She gets research funding from the National Science and Technology Council (formerly the Ministry of Science and Technology) every year and has received numerous NSTC annual research awards. In recent years, she has also been in charge of several nationwide curriculum implementation and instructional enhancement projects funded by the Ministry of Education. She has studied, taught, and written widely in three principal areas: curriculum reform issues, qualitative research methodology, and teacher professional development. Over the past years, she has conducted several cross-national studies and served as a visiting scholar at universities such as Stanford University, Oxford University, the Freie Universitaet Berlin, the University of Melbourne, and the University of British Columbia. In 2009 she received the NTNU Outstanding Teacher Award, in 2012 the NTNU Distinguished Professorship Award, in 2018 the “National Teacher of the Year” Award.

6. An update from the Spectrum Institute: The Spectrum of Teaching Styles will once again be hosting a Spring Workshop. There will be presentations by four (4) Spectrum Colleagues hosted on March 23rd via zoom. Admission details will be released through our mailing list and on social media. If you would like to be added to the mailing list or get a link to the meeting, send us a request at spectruminstituteboard@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

7. The AIESEP 2027 conference has released dates and a theme. The conference will run July 12-16^th, 2027 and will be hosted by Fontys University in Eindhoven, Netherlands! The theme of the conference is: “Bridging the gap from theory to everyday practice in physical education” More information to follow.

8. Dear Early Years Trailblazers, do you have a passion for redefining the landscape of early childhood physical activity, health, and education? The Early Career Researcher SIG is growing, and we want you to help lead the charge. As we look toward 2026, our leadership is evolving. While Boris steps into the role of Chair and Kristy moves to Past Chair, we are opening the floor for a new Chair-Elect for the ECR SIG to join the team.

This isn’t just a title, it’s an opportunity to:

• Influence the direction of global Early Years research.
• Connect with an active, international network of academics and practitioners.
• Drive innovation within the AIESEP community.

The Journey: You will start as Chair-Elect, progressing to Chair and then Past Chair, ensuring you have the support and mentorship to make a lasting impact. See the link for more: https://aiesep.org/aiesep-sig-for-early-years/

9. If you are an early career researcher (or can send this survey to one) we ask that you take a few moments to take this survey about a new mentoring program AIESEP is launching. It will help AIESEP build out a future mentoring program through the voices of current early career researchers. https://gmucehd.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8Hc3M74JUJBZaWq

10. AIESEP is on LinkedIn. You can find the most up to date postings on our LinkedIn profile as well as by following the AIESEP Blog. LinkedIn is also the best place to find links to our AIESEP connect session registrations.

11. Make your AIESEP Member Profile: As an AIESEP member you can now create your own personal member profile! You can use it to connect with other members, read or post articles, blogs and recorded presentations, or maybe to provide updates on projects or look for that person during the last AIESEP conference who gave that inspiring paper. Make your AIESEP member profile NOW. Go to the Member’s Corner on the AIESEP website and click on Community or directly by clicking here.

12. AIESEP is now accepting donations to support future developing country scholars. We have created a page on the website that shares information about how to donate and how your donation makes a difference https://aiesep.org/donation/

Finally, as we build out our new website, emails and newsletters will come from info@aiesep.org so please add this to your “safe sender list” and check your filters for past messages. And, finally, if you’re still reading and enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sending this to a colleague and tell them about our association!

Sincerely,

Risto Marttinen

Secretary General AIESEP

Associate Professor 

George Mason University

rmarttin@gmu.edu