University of Nairobi · Nairobi, Kenya · Venue 2027
Global Forum 2027
Re-Humanizing Education in the Face of the Global Crisis of Humanity
The Second Global Forum for Re-humanizing Education invites scholars, educators, and practitioners from around the world to contribute to a landmark gathering on the future of human-centred education.
About the Forum
The idea of human education that has inspired generations of educators who, for centuries, have sought to realize this ideal through various school models and pedagogical approaches worldwide is being challenged today by multiple global crises.
Recognizing the urgent need to find convincing answers to how education should respond to these crises, and so to develop a new self-understanding of human beings in education and a conception of education of humanity, an international group of educators convened a conference in 2019 in Dharamsala, India, which resulted in the book Humanizing Education in the 3rd Millennium (Springer, 2022). This event inspired subsequent dialogues across Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America, and Oceania. These exchanges led to a Global Declaration entitled Educating Humanity in the Third Millennium. The Declaration — which calls for nothing less than a new sense of becoming human, rooted in civic friendship, solidarity, democracy, and care for non-human nature — was the focus of the First Global Forum Bangalore 2025. The great success of that gathering motivated us to institutionalize our movement under the title The Global Forum for Re-humanizing Education (rehumanisingeducation.org).
Global Crises Challenging Education
The idea of human education is being challenged today by multiple global crises:
- 01The climate crisis, which calls into question the classical humanistic notion of the human person as the center of the universe and as the only agency entitled to dominate and exploit non-human nature.
- 02The marketization and commercialization of all spheres of social life, including education, processes that reduce human beings to units of labor and consumers of material goods.
- 03The digitalization of life through the widespread use of social media and AI, which threatens to impoverish interpersonal relationships and undermine the authorship of knowledge and of its acquisition.
- 04The rapid increase in social inequalities, including inequalities in access to education of good quality.
- 05The global rise of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes that instrumentalize education for anti-democratic indoctrination of the youth and suppress independent and critical thinking.
Seven Key Topics
Based on the Declaration, the following seven key topics of the movement have been identified:
What does it mean to be human today, and how should education be redefined to accommodate the diversity of human condition?
How can education cultivate responsible human beings living between Earth’s systems and the artificial/technological world?
How can education rehumanize societies and keep them solidaric and sustainably humane? How can education prevent the exclusion, discrimination, and marginalization of persons and groups?
How can education systems support the agency of learners and educators and honor their dignity? How can educators listen to children and young people in schools and colleges so they can understand their worlds and meet their needs empathetically?
What knowledge is worth teaching, and how should it be taught, by whom, and where so that a whole-person growth of students is realized, especially growth in outlook and motivation to care for society and the world?
How must educational stages and forms evolve toward a humane society and multispecies flourishing?
Exploring the possibilities and limits of humanistic education within competence-based curriculum frameworks.
Presentation Formats
To explore these themes, the Second Global Forum 2027 will take place from 17 to 19 February 2027 at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Diversity of voices and perspectives will be a guiding principle of the Forum. The program will include several formats:
In addition, the program will include cultural events and visits to schools in Nairobi.
Submission Guidelines
What to Submit
- A 150-word abstract addressing one or more of the seven key topics listed above
- A 300–500-word proposal (excluding references)
- Submit via the official Proposal Form (link below)
- Proposals not in English must include a 150-word abstract in English
Language Policy
We appreciate lingual diversity. At the same time, we aim to establish an inclusive discourse at the Forum, a discourse that presupposes a lingua franca. That is why we welcome proposals not only in English, but also in French, Spanish, and Swahili; however, proposals that are not written in English should include a 150-word abstract also in English. The major language of communication at the Global Forum 2027 will be English.
Key Dates
Helpful Links
Program Committee: [email protected]
Proposal Form: Submit your proposal here →
University of Nairobi: uonbi.ac.ke/about-us →
Forum Website: rehumanisingeducation.org →
Be Part of This Global Conversation
Diversity of voices and perspectives is a guiding principle of the Forum. We welcome scholars, educators, and practitioners from across the world.