Bookings are now open
The IOL International Conference Online took place on November 21st to 22nd
Were you a participant? Revisit anytime.
Delegates can now travel back in time and watch the Conference sessions again or actually catch those that you missed. Just log back in (using the same email as you used on the day). Log in here!
Did you miss it?
If you couldn’t be there you can ‘back-book’ to have access to all the Conference sessions.
*Only £10 for IOL Members / £20 for non IOL Members.
Log in/pay here. Once you’ve paid and logged in you can go back to it any time for the next 2 years (using the same registration).
A write-up by Jo Barnett, IOL CEO.
'I haven't quite absorbed it all...what a fantastic experience!'
Back in March I asked the IOL Round Table members if anyone would be interested in helping plan an international online conference for Global Outdoor Learning Day 2025, and with some extra volunteers coming in, the planning committee was formed. Somehow, we managed to meet with time zones of -5 hours and + 10 hours GMT. and this is my chance to publicly thank them - they are Dave Brooks. David Addis, Dave Harvey, David Hills, Bob Larcher, Pat Maher, Nick Stubbs, Richard Retallick. Mike Thomas and Colin Wood.
The Conference was planned to be inspiring and relevant to practitioners. The presentations were themed according to continents, moving eastwards over the two half days and our ambition was to have outstanding contributors from every continent with a balance of diversity across the breadth of Outdoor Learning. Everyone in the committee used their local knowledge and contacts and gradually the conference took shape.
We also did not want to just talk ABOUT young people; we wanted to hear FROM young people. Friday finished with first hand stories about mountain expeditions and ocean tall ship races, while Saturday a group of young people asked to us to provide more Outdoor Learning, help with equality of access and ensure sufficient time to develop personal skills and confidence through these experiences.
Zoom Events proved an effective platform - both familiar and relatively easy to use. The IOL Team led by Richard worked behind the scenes getting things set up and troubleshooting on the two days, and have upskilled so we can run other events this way in the future.
For the next two years , it will be possible to access the complete conference including contributor submissions and biographies, recordings of the presentations and uploaded resources. The recordings will also be available via the IOL's video library and we begin with Naila Kiani, Pakistan's leading high altitude female mountaineer who describes the cultural barriers she has had to overcome before even stepping foot onto a mountain.
The conference is a research resource and may be cited in academic work - and indeed the themes and content will become the focus of a piece of academic research in global Outdoor Learning, - look out for an article in Horizons in February 2026.
By connecting with practitioners internationally we can all be part of and enjoy a new Outdoor Learning global community.
'The strength of this conference is the scope of the international audience with the low cost nature of the way it has bought experience from across the World together 🙂' Stuart Fraser
'Last weekend I attended the Institute for Outdoor Learning's first international online conference. Workshop presenters and guest speakers included professionals and practitioners from Kenya, Jamaica, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond. While I didn't get to catch all sessions in real-time (it was hard to stay awake on the first night), I was able to catch up over the past few days by watching recordings of the sessions I missed. There were many highlights for me, personally, as I reconnected with people who have impacted my life and career in Outdoor Learning.'
Download the Conference How To Guide.
Download the (high res) brochure to read and share or (low res)
Bookings open now via the link box below!
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