ELMI 2026 Conference Call for Papers
April 15 2026
To celebrate its 40th anniversary the Research Centre for Education and the Labour (ROA) hosts the next yearly conference of the
BIR- and the ELMI-network.
The 2026 conference expresses our joint wish to further intensify our cooperation within the network of European Labour Market Research Institutes (ELMI), and the BIR-network of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), and the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
We are therefore happy to invite you to submit an abstract for the ELMI-BIR conference to be held in Maastricht on 12 & 13
October 2026. The conference is aimed at researchers and supporting staff working in the fields of labour, education and data management at the ELMI and BIR institutes. We will start the conference on Monday, October 12 and conclude in the evening of Tuesday, October 13. A social program will be included.
We would like to invite you to submit an extended abstract to present your work in progress, preliminary findings, research ideas, data collections, etc. Contributions may include, for example:
- ‘Traditional’ research papers
- Project or policy reports
- New data opportunities
- Funding opportunities and networks
- Research ideas
Although we particularly welcome contributions that are the result of or have the potential to result in new future collaborations, the topic of the paper or other contribution can be broad and related to any research area within our institutes. We very much welcome contributions from different disciplines, i.e., also from beyond economics and sociology. On our submission page, you will find a list of special topics, including Education Policies, Labour Policies, Digital Transformations and AI, and New Data Sources and Applications.
As a teaser, we are delighted to announce two keynote speakers on the program:
- Prof. Thomas Dohmen – University of Bonn
- Prof. Michelle Jackson – Stanford University
Submission of contributions
Please submit an extended abstract (max. 2-3 pages) in PDF format by May 15, 2026.
When submitting your proposal, also indicate the session format in which you would like to present your research.
Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that your presentation will be scheduled in the chosen session format.
- Parallel paper presentation session with discussion
- Poster session (format A0 – portrait): 1 min. pitch for full audience + discussion with poster audience
- Knowledge café: 5 min. presentation + discussion of research ideas in small groups
Further information on the program will be sent early July 2026.
Scientific committee:
Silke Anger, Thomas Breda, Frank Cörvers, Christina Gathmann, Pascal Heß,
Nikolas Mittag, Christoph Müller, Judith Offerhaus, Harald Pfeifer,
Katarina Weßling
