GELYDA Update Letter - January 2025

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Dear Colleagues and Friends of GELYDA,

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I hope that the New Year has been a good one for you. As we enter a changed international landscape, our work connecting continents and countries is more important than ever. Young people and the adults that surround them in family, schools and extended education settings need to have optimism in their future and GELYDA is committed to this goal as we build the organization to serve as a global community. 

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Today we want to share some timely announcements, please review and react according to your plans and priorities. 

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• Final Call For Conference Abstracts: The call for abstracts for the The Science and Practice of Extended Learning, Youth Development, and Wellbeing conference in Reykjavik Iceland from June 11–13, 2025 will be closing on January 31, 2025. We encourage you to submit your ideas and/or learn more at https://gelyda2025.hi.is, any research, policy report, practice example is welcome. You can propose a discussion, join with your work colleagues from your country, or just present individually. We are open to innovative ways of communicating ideas. 

 

• Conference Registration Opens: Registration for the Iceland conference will officially open on February 15th, 2025, with early bird registration running until March 15th, 2025. Please visit the website above to learn more and to explore information for travel and accommodations. 

 

• GELYDA Advisory Board Press Release: As you might have seen on the GELYDA webpage or social media accounts, the Association is very pleased to announce the appointment of its inaugural Advisory Board composed of global field leaders and scholars! To learn more about our Board members please visit the GELYDA webpage: https://www.gelyda.org/team-1. We are honored to have such a distinguished group of professionals to support the growth and development of the Association.

 

• Winter Webinar: To facilitate ongoing learning and engagement, we will host an online webinar series that will delve into pressing issues and innovative practices within extended education and youth development. We will begin our series with a webinar on February 24th, 2025 from 7:30 to 9:00am ET on the topic of the role of extended learning as a contributing force in stemming the worldwide mental health crisis of children and youth. Please be on the lookout for our follow-up announcement.

 

Warm regards,

 

Gil G. Noam, GELYDA Chair

 

And founding members of the Steering Committee of GELYDA

 

SangHoon Bae, Professor at the Department of Education and Provost in the Sungkyunkwan University

 

Dale Blyth, Professor Emeritus and former Howland Endowed Chair in Youth Development Leadership

 

Kylie Brannelly, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Children’s Activities Network (QCAN) and Chairperson of the National Outside School Hours Services Alliance (NOSHSA)

 

Marlene Gras, Founder and Director of TierraED, Mexico City

 

Fuyuko Kanefuji, Professor at the Department of Human Sciences and Director of the Institute of Living Sciences, Bunkyo University

 

Linda Khanyi, Manager and Content Advisor at the Parliament of South Africa (National Council of Provinces)

 

Stephan Kielblock, Postdoctoral Researcher at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Germany)

 

Kolbrún Þorbjörg Pálsdóttir, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik

Ludwig Stecher, Professor at the University of Giessen