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Day 2 of the ������Ƶ Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC) 2026 brings together research that challenges how we think about education, equity, and representation across global and local contexts. Among the many engaging sessions, 3 presentations stand out for their timely questions and powerful perspectives.

Day 1 of the ������Ƶ Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC) 2026 is packed with innovative scholarship, critical conversations, and bold reimaginings of education’s role in an increasingly complex world. With so many compelling presentations to choose from, narrowing it down is no easy task. Still, three sessions in particular caught my eye for the urgency of their questions, the depth of their analysis, and the hope they offer for the future of education.

As we continue to reflect on this year’s conference theme, Generative Hope: Possibilities in Education Research, we sat down with faculty and staff from the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto ahead of their upcoming panel discussion to hear their thoughts. In advance of their Sustainability Thinking Exhibition themed, Navigating the Planetary Crisis through the Arts: The University and the Polycrisis, they offered reflections on sustainability and on the role of the university in a time marked by interconnected global crises.

In a time marked distinctly by disorder and disorientation, conversations about climate and sustainability can easily slip into narratives of despair or distress. Yet, as teacher educator and researcher Dr. Hilary Inwood — a faculty member in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at ������Ƶ, and Coordinator of its Sustainability & Climate Action Network suggests, hope is not something to be spoken or thought about abstractly – it is something to be practiced. Her work sits at the intersection of climate action, education, and the arts and demonstrates how creativity can cultivate that practice by linking awareness with action and by engaging learners cognitively, emotionally, and physically.

In a moment defined by global uncertainty, institutional strain, and social fragmentation, education research cannot afford to remain neutral or detached. This year’s GSRC theme, Generative Hope: Possibilities in Education Research, is a direct response to this reality.

We are living in an ever-changing world. Considering this, the 2026 ������Ƶ Graduate Student Research Conference (GSRC) theme, “Generative Hope: Possibilities in Education Research”, is situated within a context of global disorder and educational possibility.