Announcements

CALL FOR PAPERS - CLASS AND...? - DUE 12 March 2026

2026-03-01

Guest editors Dr Jess Pilgrim-Brown, Éireann Attridge, Dr Teresa Crew and Cherie Duffy are teaming up to co-edit the next issue of ACCESS. Titled, 'Class and....? Explorations at the intersections of class and inequality in higher education'. 

Read more in the full call here. 

The deadline for abstract submissions of c.250 words is 12 March 2026, to be sent directly to the guest editors - ea394@cam.ac.uk, t.f.crew@bangor.ac.uk & jessica.pilgrim-brown@education.ox.ac.uk

You can also reach out to the ACCESS journal team via CEEHE@newcastle.edu.au. 

Special Issue Announcement: Evaluation for Equity and Justice

2026-01-13

In December 2025, editors Matt Lumb, Rhyall Gordon, Monica McKenzie and James Ballangarry published a Special Issue of ACCESS titled 'Evaluation for equity and justice’. This issue, available open access here, brings together international contributors who unearth and challenge the inequities present within evaluation practices, and offer alternative methodologies and frameworks. 

The editorial team are honoured to facilitate this platform for such an incredible group of committed colleagues and experts. The editors see this issue as the beginning of an ongoing, dynamic conversation aimed at reframing policy, program and strategy evaluation as a tool for equity and justice.

“This Special Issue invites readers to join in reimagining evaluation as care, not control, and as a collective endeavour toward equity and transformation.” (Gordon, Lumb, McKenzie & Ballangarry 2025). 

We hope you enjoy engaging with these papers and encourage you to connect with the editors and authors.

ACCESS team 

CALL FOR PAPERS - TIMEFRAME EXTENDED TO 23 March (AESDT)

2025-02-18

A call for papers is now open for a 2025 Special Issue, Evaluation for equity and justice.

The issue will be guest edited by Rhyall Gordon, Praxis Officer in the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education; Matt Lumb, Associate Director in the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education; James Ballangarry, Lecturer in Global Indigenous Studies at the Wollotuka Institute; and Monica McKenzie, Indigenous Evaluation Project Officer in the Office of Indigenous Strategy and Leadership UON. The editors invite contributions seeking to unearth inequalities present in evaluation practices. This may include, for example:

  • Research articles exploring theoretical and methodological innovations in justice-oriented evaluation. 

  • Empirical studies highlighting case studies, best practices, and lessons learned. 

  • Theoretical reflections on the politics of knowledge and the role of evaluation in challenging dominant value systems. 

  • Commentaries on emerging trends and future directions for the field of evaluation. 

  • Forms that represent marginalised or subjugated ways of knowing and/or communicating in relation to evaluation. 

  • Frameworks drawing on decolonial and feminist commitments to challenge Eurocentric and patriarchal norms, advocating for the validation of Indigenous and non-Western knowledge systems. 

The full call is available here. 

Read Hyab Yohannes' reflection on 'Refugees as questioning subjects: A critical reflection of PhD fieldworkinvolving refugees'

2023-07-04

Migration scholarship and media representation ‘construct a narrative of refugees that centres trauma and deficit, that creates a hyper-visible stereotype of an assumed collective experience while leaving individual refugees largely voiceless and invisible’ (Jarratt 2020, pp. 368–369). This leads naturally to asking how refugees can reclaim their stories, find their voices and assert their knowledge in a research culture that rendersthem invisible, inaudible and unviable.The focus of this reflection is to articulate the missing links between the real bearers of knowledge and the processes of knowledge productionin PhD studies such as mine, which focus on the realities of refugees in a carceral age. The primary objective here is to openly recognise that fieldwork is a shared enterprise, at the centre of which are the research participants such as refugees.

This reflection contains descriptions of violence.

Volume 8 Issue 1

2021-05-05

Volume 8 Issue 1 edited by Ann-Marie Priest and Jenny McDougall is out now!

'The focus of this Special Issue is educators who work in the widening participation (WP) space in higher education: their experiences, identities, histories and knowledge.'

 

SUBMISSIONS FOR 2020 CLOSED

2020-08-24

Thank you for your interest in International Studies in Widening Participation. Please note that we are not accepting anymore submissions in 2020.

Special Issue - Call for Papers Vol 7, Iss 2 2020

2019-12-10

SPECIAL ISSUE THEME

Speaking for Ourselves: Educators in Enabling and Equity in Higher Education

Submissions due 1 June 2020

Guest Editors: Dr Ann-Marie Priest and Dr Jenny McDougall (School of Access Education, CQUniversity)

Submissions are CLOSED

2019-10-08

Submissions are CLOSED. The next Issue will be Vol 7, No 1 in 2020, featuring invited papers. Thank you for your interest in International Studies in Widening Participation. For enquiries please email: ISWP@newcastle.edu.au

Volume 6 Issue 1 now available

2019-09-24

Patient praxis: A dialogue between equity practice and research

Papers from the 2018 national Writing Program for Equity and Widening Participation Practitioners convened by the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle.

Volume 5 Issue 2

2018-04-26

Submissions for Volume 5 Issue 2 are now OPEN. Deadline for submissions is 31 July 2018.

Volume 4 Issue 2

2017-11-07

Submissions for Volume 4 Issue 2 are CLOSED. Thank you for your interest in International Studies in Widening Participation.

New Issue available now

2017-08-24

Policy approaches, ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’: Working towards equity of access and widening participation in Australian higher education

This Issue presents papers that explore widening participation (WP) within Australian contexts. The contributions discuss a diversity of activities, programs, disciplinary concepts, methodological approaches, challenges and opportunities in the field. However, all explore important issues relating to the contemporary challenges that policy, educational structures and dominant conceptual assumptions pose for access, equity and WP. Whilst situated in the Australian context, all contributions provide insights about issues that are important and challenging for WP across international contexts.

Anna Bennett (Editor)

New Issue coming soon

2017-07-17

Dear readers

Thank you for your patience while we get the next issue of International Studies in Widening Participation ready for publication. Helen Cameron moved on to another position. The new journal manager, Dr Jo Hanley, started in April, 2017. Volume 4, Number 1 is almost ready.

Available now: New Issue

2015-10-20

Success and opportunity in challenging times

Guest editors

Dr Janet A Taylor (Southern Cross University, Australia)

Rationale and themes

Times are challenging for higher education practitioners. Government policies around tertiary education in many countries are changing, traditional funding models are being questioned, and government and non-government providers actively compete for students. In the middle of these discussions, the widening participation agenda has gained momentum so that in Australia and internationally increasing numbers of students from named equity groups are accessing higher education. This collection includes articles detailing initiatives being undertaken in the widening participation arena and highlights successes and opportunities amidst challenging times.