Application and registration for the SEFI 2026 Summer School on Engineering Education Research is now…
Empathy, care, and attention in engineering education: Global and multidisciplinary perspectives
Date: 20-24 April 2026 (9:00-17:30 each day)
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Local host: Diana Bairaktarova (dibairak@vt.edu)
Organising team: Diana Bairaktarova, SEFI SIG Ethics Co-chairs Diana Martin (diana.martin@ucl.ac.uk) and Mircea Toboșaru (mircea.tobosaru@upb.ro), SEFI SIG Ethics assistant Rozali Badaoui
Capacity: 50 participants maximum
You are invited to submit your expression of interest at the following link by 4 January 2026!
We are delighted to invite educators, researchers, students, and practitioners to the 2026 SEFI Spring Ethics Symposium, a week-long global gathering dedicated to exploring empathy, care, and attention as essential dimensions of engineering education. This year, we focus on nurturing and expanding a vibrant global community committed to transforming engineering through these often-overlooked ethical and relational values. This year’s Spring Ethics Symposium builds on ongoing conversations in engineering ethics education that emphasize the human, relational, and context-sensitive aspects of engineering practice and pedagogy. Empathy, care, and attention offer powerful lenses for reimagining how engineers are educated, not just as problem solvers, but as people embedded in complex social, environmental, and ethical worlds.
Together, we will explore:
* How these values are being integrated into engineering classrooms, curricula, and cultures
* Pedagogical approaches that center relational ethics, vulnerability, and attentiveness
* How to build lasting, inclusive communities of practice across disciplines and geographies
* Challenges and possibilities for institutional change and cross-sector engagement
This event welcomes a wide and diverse range of participants from all disciplines, perspectives, locations, and career stages.
Crucial Dates
4 January 2026 – expression of interest due
16 January 2026 – the symposium organizers will issue acceptance/invitations
23 January 2026 – invited participants to confirm the intention to attend
16 February 2026 – organisers issue finalized schedule
20–24 April 2026 – SEFI Ethics Spring Symposium 2026
Registration: There will be no registration fee. The host and SEFI will cover the organisational costs and daily lunches. To preserve the intimate nature of past Ethics Spring events, we will cap attendance at (max) 50 participants.
Venue: Details about the venue (hotel and meeting rooms) will be available soon. Participants will need to book and pay for their own hotel rooms.
Scholarships/bursaries: Please contact the co-chairs Diana Martin (diana.martin@ucl.ac.uk) and Mircea Toboșaru (mircea.tobosaru@upb.ro) if you need assistance. For example, the SEFI Ethics SIG may offer travel support for participants from countries underrepresented in SEFI (Eastern Europe, Balkans, Baltic area) or in situations that may make attendance difficult.
Preliminary Schedule
Monday
09:00 Welcome Plenary
09:45 Keynote 1
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Workshop/Active session 1 – Mapping our stories: empathy in our classrooms and institutions
12:15 Lunch break and optional guided reflective walk
14:00 Panel 1: Foundations & Contexts – Global and historical perspectives on relational ethics
15:15 Coffee break
16:00 Workshop/Active session 2 – Attention as pedagogical practice: slowing down, listening, noticing
17:15 Day’s wrap-up (Creative prompts for journaling)
Tuesday
09:00 Morning Circle – Check-in and reflection
09:30 Keynote 2
10:15 Coffee break
10:45 Panel 2: Multidisciplinary voices on attention, care, empathy – Insights from STS, psychology, philosophy, Indigenous knowledge, art
12:00 Lunch and walk
14:00 Co-Lab Session – Collaborative working groups co-creating pedagogical materials, case studies, syllabus design, creative practice
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Special Session with local artist
17:15 Day’s wrap-up – Dialogue and journaling circle: what stories do we carry?
Wednesday
The day is designed to create embodied space for care, connection, and mindful presence.
9:00 Travel by organized bus to Rila Monastery (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/216/)
Suggested and optional activities:
Mindfulness practice while on the bus
10:30 Visit Rila Monastery
11:30 Reflection Circles – Listening to land, stories, and each other
12:30 Shared outdoor lunch / picnic
14:00 Forest bathing or solo reflection in nature
15:30 Return travel – Mindfulness practice while on the bus
17:00 Optional informal meet-up or silent hour
Thursday
9:00 Morning Circle – Reflections from the field
9:30 Workshop/Active session 3 – Designing with care: curriculum change, student partnerships, ethical innovation
10:45 Coffee break
11:15 Keynote 3
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Co-Lab Presentations – Sharing group outputs: tools, ideas, provocations
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 Futures Forum – Open dialogue on sustaining this work: communities of practice, global partnerships, and resource-sharing
17:00 Wrap-up & Closing Circle – Celebration and gratitude
Friday
9:00 SEFI SIG Ethics activity: developing the annual SIG conference workshop
10:00 Workshop/ Active session 4: Building Sustainable Networks of Care – Infrastructure for community, collaboration, and impact
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Final Circle – Open floor for brief offerings, stories, and creative responses
12:30 End of Symposium and Farewell Lunch
Note about evening and post-program activities
In the evenings, participants are warmly encouraged to explore the city at their own pace. These informal hours are a chance to gather for dinner, conversation, or local sightseeing with fellow attendees. No official evening program is scheduled, allowing space for rest, spontaneity, and connection.
On Friday afternoon, following the close of the symposium, optional guided sightseeing opportunities in the city will be available for anyone interested. Details and sign-up information will be shared during the week.
Format
The 2026 Spring Symposium maximizes opportunities for interaction, reflection, and collaborative learning. This year’s Spring School will serve as a generative space for those invested in rethinking engineering education through the lenses of empathy, care, and attention. Together, we will explore how these values can shape teaching practices, research agendas, institutional cultures, and our relationships with students, communities, and the world.
To support this, the Symposium invites contributions and participation across the following activities and strands:
1. Thematic sessions: Empathy, Care, and Attention
The keynotes, workshops (active sessions), and panel discussions are centered on one of the core themes:
- Empathy – understanding others, emotional literacy, ethics of listening
- Care – relational responsibility, ethics of repair, social and environmental justice
- Attention – noticing, slowness, awareness of systems and silences
Each panel will bring together 3–5 contributors. Panelists will be asked to share a brief reflection, provocation, or example related to the theme, drawn from their practice, pedagogy, or research. These individual contributions will be followed by a discussion facilitated by the moderator, which will comprise comments and questions from the audience. Panels are not limited to traditional presentations; creative formats are welcome.
Workshops/Active sessions will bring a team of facilitators who will address the theme through a mix of research and practice informed content and activities for participants. These are participatory sessions intended to activate and inspire the audience.
We invite participants to propose contributions to one or more of these sessions or suggest additional questions or intersections (e.g., attention & technological design, care in AI, empathy across disciplines).
2. Co-Labs
The Co-Lab sessions will provide space for participants to engage hands-on with each other’s ideas. These may include:
- Collaborative syllabus design
- Pedagogical tool creation
- Story circles or creative practices
- Cross-disciplinary dialogue, research, and co-authorship
- Problem-mapping and critical pedagogy labs
- Grant ideas, funding sources, and partnership building
These sessions are open-ended by design, with a focus on process over polished output. Facilitators will be invited to frame participatory experiences that center empathy, care, or attention in both content and structure. Participants may bring their own work in progress, drafts, or materials they wish to further develop, get feedback, or find partners.
3. Community and Reflection Spaces
We are also designing moments for quiet, informal, and embodied participation throughout the week – walks, mindfulness sessions, guided meditation, reflection corners, and storytelling activities. These aim to balance more structured learning with the space for personal integration, relationship-building, and rest.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Diana Bairaktarova (dibairak@vt.edu); SEFI SIG Ethics Co-chairs Diana Martin (diana.martin@ucl.ac.uk) and Mircea Toboșaru (mircea.tobosaru@upb.ro).
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