Hello AIESEP Friends,
AIESEP Florida is only about 70 days away and we are excited to host you in beautiful and sunny St. Petersburg Florida! If you are presenting at the conference please check out the presentation guidelines this will give you all the pertinent directions on oral presentation length (e.g., 10min) and poster format (e.g., portrait not landscape format). You can see the full conference program here.
There is also a HUGE pre-conference program this year featuring interactive sessions from SIGs and individual presenters. Be sure to check out the details, as some sessions require pre-registration.
We are VERY close to our 25×25 campaign goal (to increase membership by 25% before our 2025 conference). If you have not yet renewed or want to become a member, you can renew here.
1. For those who enjoyed the AIESEP 2024 conference in Jyväskylä, Finland in person you may have felt something special in the air! And if you did, you will not be surprised that the city of Jyväskylä has awarded the Congress of the Year prize to the 2024 AIESEP conference. It was the largest conference organized in the city in 2024, attracting 550 participants from 52 different countries. The conference theme “Past meets Future” paid tribute to Jyväskylä as a pioneer in physical education teacher education. The highly successful conference took advantage of the spring campus in creative ways and set the stage for future conferences! We’re ready to do it again in May in Florida!
2. AIESEP is excited to announce a specialist seminar in December 2025 in Western Australia with the title “Body politics in and through movement” It will be held at Edith Cowan University, SW campus, Bunbury/Goomburrup country, Western Australia. The exact dates for the conference are: 8-10 December 2025.
Here is a brief Aim & Context of the specialist seminar: The aim of the specialist seminar is to engage AIESEP members in recognising the centrality of the body and movement to inform policy, pedagogies and professional practice across sport, physical activity, health and education communities. The event will be comprised of keynotes, interactive workshops and opportunities to share ongoing research that can support individual and collective work to extend knowledges, understandings and practices related to equitable embodied movement. An outcome of the specialist seminar is exploring what people can learn from others across higher education, agencies, schools and industry contexts, locally, nationally and internationally. A call for abstracts will follow.
3. The fourth keynote speaker we are highlighting for the 2025 conference is Dr. Jennifer Walton-Fisette who is a professor at Kent State University (USA). This is a special keynote in AIESEP history, as it will be given as a team-keynote! The other half of the keynote, Dr. Sue Sutherland will be highlighted in the April newsletter. We feel this keynote will be especially interesting considering all that is going on in the USA currently. This keynote will focus on the political landscape of the U.S., both current and past, that has influenced the field of physical education broadly and the lack of social justice and equity more specifically. The keynote will interweave the presenters’ social justice journeys through their collaborative research on policies, standards, curricula and pedagogical practices at the national, state, and university levels. Considering the political landscape and the limited number of scholars engaging in social justice work, the presenters argue that a social justice imperative is needed.
Here is a brief bio about Dr. Jennifer Walton-Fisette. Jennifer L. Walton-Fisette is a white, cisgender gay female with physical limitations. She is a professor of Physical Education Teacher Education and is the Director of Educator Preparation at Kent State University. Her research has centered on social justice and equity work in physical education/physical education teacher education with a specific emphasis on policy, standards, and pedagogical practices. She has served on numerous national and state-wide committees and initiatives arguing for and working towards fostering a more just and equitable physical education. Yet despite her publication record and advocacy work, social justice continues to have limited emphasis in physical education in the U.S. As the U.S. and Ohio political landscapes have direct implications on higher education, P-12 and physical education, her career goal is to continue working with her students, colleagues, and P-12 teachers on pedagogies and strategies that directly takes action towards a more inclusive and equitable physical education while simultaneously advocating and fighting against oppressive legislation.
4. Please join us for our upcoming AIESEP Connects in 2025
The next AIESEP connect will highlight our specialist seminar in Australia in December 2025. It will be held on the 4th of April at 10am (GMT). Also, the newly formed SIG on Technology in Physical Education will host an AIESEO connect on the 2nd of May at 11am (GMT). Finally on the 9th of May the Phys Ed Academy will host their Connect at 11am (GMT). You can always find our past AIESEP Connects on our website https://aiesep.org/aiesep-connect/ The February AIESEP connect hosted by the Social Justice SIG can be found as an audio version on the Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education Podcast Ep. 359 and the TGfU SIG Connect audio will be up shortly!
5. A Pre-Conference Soccer Game in Florida and More!
AIESEP has secured a block of 50 tickets for the Tampa Bay Rowdies Game on May 17th at 7:30 PM. The Tampa Bay Rowdies are a professional soccer team in Saint Petersburg that play in the USL, which is the 2nd tier of American soccer. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary this season. On the 17th, they also have one of their four fireworks nights during the season. The stadium is located directly across from the conference hotel along the waterfront and used to be a spring training baseball stadium, so it is one of the more unique soccer venues you will find. You can buy a ticket for $19 here.
Other paid excursions during the conference include: (1) Mural Trolley Tour; and (2) a Brewery Hop on the Speakeasy Bus. You can reserve your spot on these extra tours here.
6. ‘Research Committee Updates’ AIESEP has made some big moves to start partnering with grants and other partnerships. AIESEP is proud to announce it is now an associated partner on the Phys-Ed Academy: Collaborative redesign of physical education and physical education teacher education. This project is organized by Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. In addition, AIESEP is an Institutional partner with the WORLD TEACHER GAMES. The World Teacher Games is the largest event for teachers promoting physical education. You can find more information on all our partnerships here https://aiesep.org/publications/projects/
7. 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 awesome talk. 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.
8. There are many resources to help you plan your travel and understand what to expect when you get to Florida. Here is a link to a podcast about what to expect when you arrive in St. Pete! (it’s episode 349 in the Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education Podcast) Here is a link on how to get to St. Petersburg and what to do when you get there and a second blog about what to expect in St. Petersburg. All announcements of acceptance/rejection of abstracts have been sent out for AIESEP 2025.
9. The 2026 AIESEP World Congress will be held in Taipei, Taiwan. This joint bid from National Taiwan Normal University and the University of Melbourne, Australia is set to bring scholars from across the globe together June 15th to 19th, 2026. AIESEP also plans to host its second PhD summer school in Taipeiwhich will be combined with the main conference. There will be more information to follow. For now, save the date and start planning!
10. AIESEP is now accepting donations to support future developing country scholars as well as for the PhD Summer School. 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
