World Congresses of Action Research

History of World Congresses, ALARPM and ALARA

The congresses were founded by Australia-based Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt and Ron Passfield, working in the higher education, managerial and organizational learning field in Brisbane in the 1980s and 1990s. They also co-founded the auspice organization the Action Learning Action Research and Process Management Association (ALARPM), renamed the Action Learning Action Research Association (ALARA) from 2008.

The precursor to the world congresses of action research was the first International Symposium on Action Research, organized by Mary Farquhar and Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt in 1988 at the then Queensland Institute of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. This led in 1990 to the inaugural World Congress of Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management. The ALARPM/ALARA World Congresses are hereafter referred to as the World Congresses.

First World Congress 1990—Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

• Partner organization: Australian Institute of Training and Development
• Convenor: Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt
• Theme: Action Learning for Improved Performance
• Keynotes: Reg Revans, John Elliott, Sheila Harri-Augstein, Laurie Thomas

Second World Congress 1992—University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

• Convenor: Patricia Weeks
• Theme: Transforming Tomorrow Today
• Keynotes: Peter Checkland, Bob Dick and Tim Dalmau, Orlando Fals Borda, Brian Hall, Robin McTaggart, Yoland Wadsworth

Third World Congress 1994—University of Bath, United Kingdom

• Convenors: Pam Lomax and Jack Whitehead
• Administrator: Moira Laidlaw
• Theme: Accounting for Ourselves
• Keynotes: Pam Lomax and Jack Whitehead, Orlando Fals Borda

Fourth World Congress 1997—Convention Centre, Cartagena, Colombia

• Partner organization: The 8th World Congress of the international Participatory Research Network
• Convenor: Orlando Fals Borda
• Theme: Convergence in Knowledge, Space and Time
• Keynotes: Immanuel Wallerstein, Manfred Max-Neef, Agnes Heller, Marja Liisa Swantz, Rajesh Tandon, Robert Chambers, Robert L. Flood, Robin McTaggart, Ted Jackson, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Anibal Quijano, Peter Reason, Budd Hall, Anisur Rahman, Eduardo Galeano. Paulo Freire was to be lead keynote but died 2 months before the World Congress.

[Page 827]Fifth World Congress 2000—University of Ballarat, Australia

• Partner organization: The 9th World Congress of the international Participatory Action Research (PAR) Network
• Congress advocate: Stephen Kemmis
• Theme: Reconciliation and Renewal—Through Collaborative Learning, Research and Action
• Keynotes: John Gaventa, Evelyn Scott, Susan Weil, Patricia Maguire, Bob Macadam, Susan Goff, Yvonna Lincoln, Martin von Hildebrand, Vijay Kanhere, Susan Noffke, Robert Flood, Mandawuy Yunupingu, Anisur Rahman, Victoria Marsick, Isaac Prilleltensky, Robert Chambers, Deborah Lange

Sixth World Congress 2003—University of Pretoria, South Africa

• Partner organization: The 10th World Congress of the international Participatory Action Research (PAR) Network and five South African technical and higher educational institutions
• Convenor: Tessie Herbst
• Theme: Learning Partners in Action
• Keynotes: Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt and Thomas Kalliath, Peter Reason, Cheryl de la Rey, Susan Weil and Danny Burns, Ineke Buskens, Richard Bawden, Tim Dalmau

Seventh World Congress 2006—University of Groningen, the Netherlands

• Convenor: Ben Boog
• Theme: Standards and Ethics in Participatory Research
• Keynotes: Ben Valkenburg, Yoland Wadsworth, Judi Marshall, Michiel Schoemaker, Øyvind Pålshaugen, Sandra Schruijer, Naomi Scheman, Julia Preece

Eighth World Congress 2010—Bayview Eden Hotel, Melbourne,

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