October 15th and 16th 2021 (during Maths Week 2021) will see the next conference of the Mathematics Education in Ireland (MEI) conference series. The eighth conference on research in Mathematics Education in Ireland, MEI 8. Accessing Mathematics: Inspiring engaged communities, will be hosted by the Institute of Education, Dublin City University and is kindly supported by the Centre for Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning (CASTeL). Please see the Call for Papers page for more details.

With the continued uncertainty around restrictions on travel and gatherings we have made the decision that MEI 8 will take place fully online this year. The conference will take place, as planned, on October 15th and 16th 2021. While we are disappointed that we will not get the opportunity to meet in person, we will endeavour to provide an engaging and interactive experience for conference participants as we move to the online format.

Please join our mailing list to keep up with all of the latest updates about MEI 8.

Hamsa Venkat holds the SA Numeracy Chair at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg – now ending its second 5-year phase of research and development in primary mathematics. She leads a team of academics, postdoctoral and postgraduate students, all involved in studying and improving primary mathematics teaching and learning in government primary schools serving disadvantaged students. Her work in South Africa has been in the areas of Mathematical Literacy and Primary Mathematics. Prior to this, Hamsa was based in England, working initially as a high school mathematics teacher in London comprehensive schools, before moving into teacher education at the Institute of Education and research in mathematics education at King’s College London. Her PhD at Kings College London was awarded the 2005 British Educational Research Association dissertation award.

She has published widely, across articles and books, guest edited a range of Special Issues, and her research work continues to feed into provincial and national policy initiatives.

Mark Hoover is a research scientist at the University of Michigan. His initial training is in mathematics and computer science. He taught, co-taught, or assisted in teaching most grades, kindergarten through secondary, taught collegiate mathematics and computer science, and worked as a test developer at Educational Testing Service, before transitioning into mathematics teacher education and research.

As a citizen of the United States, he acknowledges that American society is rooted in a violent colonial history that confiscated indigenous people’s lands, enslaved Africans, and patronized women. In response, he conceptualizes public school mathematics teaching that disrupts default patterns of injustice and prepares students for civic participation. He seeks to interrogate white privilege in both personal and professional circles and to investigate teaching, with an understanding that for teaching to be educational it must be just. In particular, he investigates the work entailed in teaching, its mathematical demands, and its professionalization (while sensitive to how standards and accountability can serve as tools of privilege and power). His interests extend to teaching and teacher education across subject areas, including tasks of teaching, the subject-matter work of teaching, conceptual-analytic methods for studying teaching, and the engagement of mathematicians in mathematics education. Although his past research has only indirectly connected to social justice, current research explores explicit connections.