Candidates for the period 2024-2027

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Claudio Fazio is full professor in Physics Education and History of Physics at the University of Palermo, Italy. His main research interests range from the study of the effect of active learning methodologies to improve learning in Physics, to the use of technologies in physics laboratory and of modelling environments for learning, to the study and use of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods in Physics Education Research.
He has been a member of GIREP since 2000, and has served as treasurer and media officer in the GIREP Board since 2020. He was co-organizer of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference and invited keynote speaker of the GIREP-MPTL 2018 International Conference in San Sebastian.
Over the last five years he has been responsible of the GIREP Strategies for Active Learning (SAL) Thematic Group, organizing symposia on the SAL theme. He had the role of co-leader of the Workgroup “Pre-service Physics Teacher Education” during the GIREP 2020 and 2021 Webinars hosted by Malta.

Statement in support of candidature

Over the last 3 years I have been GIREP treasurer and responsible of the GIREP website and social channels, and I continued my previous engagement as the responsible of the GIREP Strategies for Active Learning (SAL) Thematic Group.
I am interested in promoting among the GIREP members the importance of communication and of the interaction of research and practice in Physics Education and between university and school teachers. Moreover, I am passionate in promoting among the GIREP community an informed use of both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis in Physics Education Research and a wider view of the learning/teaching processes, that takes into account not only cognitive aspects, but also motivational and affective ones.
If honored by a re-election, I will continue to give my contribution to the GIREP Board, also with the aim to improve the role and voice of GIREP in physics and science education research.

Name of Proposer: Marián Kireš

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Paul Logman has been a secondary school physics teacher for 23 years. During his years of teaching he has designed new science laboratories in two schools and introduced completely open experiments for pupils at every level in the Dutch school system.
In 2007 he shifted from the secondary level to the academic level by working as a teacher-researcher in the extreme ultraviolet group (XUV) at AMOLF. In 2009 he started his PhD-research in physics education at the University of Amsterdam resulting in a thesis called ‘Students Reinventing the General Law of Energy Conservation’. After that, Paul did a postdoc on ‘Internships to motivate pupils for STEM-education’ at the VU university of Amsterdam.
Since 2017 he has two functions at Leiden university: teacher trainer for physics for one day a week and director of practicals and lecturer at the physics institute for the rest of the week. In the latter function he has innovated and modernized all Bachelor physics labs.
For the various academic functions mentioned above Paul has presented his educational research at various conferences among which various GIREP conferences. From 2015 onwards Paul has been a member of the editorial board of several physics education journals. His interest mostly lies in promoting the various purposes of practicals from the primary to the academic level for which he has received a Dutch grant.

Statement in support of candidature

Paul served on the last GIREP board as the responsible for GIREP members. Our number of members has grown and also the percentage of members that have registered on our website has grown. This has made it easier to reach the right person for specific messages.
He has also helped to introduce the use of Indico for our conferences and has helped all local organizing committees with the use of it for the conferences from WCPE III onwards. Indico helps us to organize our conference quality control.
He is an active member of the GIREP Thematic Group called Laboratory Based Teaching in Physics (LabTiP) and helps to promote open inquiry lab work wherever he can.
He will organize the GIREP conference in Leiden in 2025 and will make sure that in that conference all stakeholders (e.g. physics staff, education research staff, teacher trainers, and high school teachers) will be heavily involved.

Name of Proposer: Wim Peeters

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Dr Eilish McLoughlin is an Associate Professor and Head of the School of Physical Sciences at Dublin City University (DCU). Dr McLoughlin has been a leader of physics education research and physics teacher education at DCU since 2000. She is a member of DCU’s Research Centre for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning (CASTeL) and served as Centre Director from 2008-2021. Dr. McLoughlin has led several national programmes aimed at improving in-service teachers’ competence and confidence to teach physics at early childhood, primary and secondary level. In 2016, she founded the STEM Teacher Internship Programme to provide pre-service physics teachers with the unique opportunity to complete paid internships in a STEM role in industry. She leads the national upskilling programme for Teaching Physics since 2020. This programme aims to develop teachers’ content knowledge and experimental skills alongside their pedagogical knowledge for teaching physics, funded by the Department of Education. Dr. McLoughlin has also initiated and led several European projects focused on supporting pre-service and in-service teachers’ understanding and use of inquiry approaches in physics/STEM education. She has facilitated physics/STEM teachers to carry out their own practitioner inquiry (RISE, STAMPEd, 3DIPhE), conduct remote inquiries (STEM Digitalis), foster open school and community partnerships (OSOS), and use inquiry-based learning and assessment approaches (ESTABLISH, SAILS). She has served as a member of IUPAP C14 Commission for Physics Education 2014-2021 and as Executive Secretary of GIREP vzw (International Research Group on Physics Teaching) Board since 2020.

Statement in support of candidature

I am an active member of the international GIREP community and have served as Executive Secretary of GIREP Board since 2020. It is an honour for me to stand for election as GIREP board member during 2024-2027 and contribute my expertise to advancing research, teaching and learning physics, and involving all members of the physics education community. I am passionate about sharing my research, teaching and learning experiences with the physics education community across the globe through invited talks, conference presentations and publications. I am an author and section leader for Physics Teacher Professional Learning in the International Handbook of Physics Education Research (Eds. Tasar & Heron) (2023). I co-edited the handbook “Connecting Research in Physics Education with Teacher Education” published by IUPAP Commission for Physics Education (2022). I was an invited author in the EPS Grand Challenges: Physics for Society at the Horizon 2050 publication to share my vision for the “Future of Physics Education” (2021). I have contributed to all GIREP conferences since 2014, as an author, reviewer and organiser. I was Chair of the International Conference in Physics Education (GIREP-ICPE-EPEC) in 2017 in Dublin. I was an invited keynote speaker of the GIREP-MPTL 2014 International Conference in Palermo and the GIREP 2023 Conference in Kosice. I have been a Work Package leader for Physics Teacher Professional Learning for the GIREP 2020 and 2021 Webinar hosted by Malta. I have published my contributions to these conferences in the Springer Book of Selected papers and in IOP proceedings.

Name of Proposer: Dagmara Sokolowska

Wim Peeters: The candidate withdrew his candidacy.

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

I have specialized since 2004 on the cognitive basis of physics education and in particular, the development of approaches to mathematical modelling based on the cognitive psychology of problem solving and thinking and reasoning. Alongside, I have maintained an interest in physics research, especially on the foundations of thermodynamics. I have agreed to lead, in conjunction with Yaron Lehavi, a GIREP Thematic Group on thermodynamics and energy.
As well as research in physics education, I have worked extensively with the IOP in the UK to support the community by promoting conferences and meetings, serving on education-related committees, and accrediting physics degrees. I chaired the IOP accreditation committee and led a substantial review of accreditation that means universities will now have to focus on the skills and attainments of graduates rather than the content of a degree programme. Internationally, I chaired the Physics Education Division of the European Physical Society (EPS-PED) for eight years until July 2023 and I also represented the UK on IUPAP’s C14 (ICPE) for six years.
As chair of the EPS-PED, I worked closely with GIREP. The two organizations usually hold a joint conference every two years, but I have also contributed extensively to other GIREP conferences, both as a presenter and as a member of the scientific organizing committee. I have chaired numerous sessions at conferences and most recently, in 2020 and 2021, co-chaired working groups at the GIREP seminars in Malta on Teacher Education. I helped to co-edit the proceedings for the 2020 seminar.

Statement in support of candidature

Physics education has been one of my great passions over the last twenty years: not only understanding the basis of learning and reasoning in physics, but also promoting opportunities for students to achieve their best. I attended my first GIREP conference in 2006 and most conferences since then. Over much of this period I have worked with GIREP as much as my commitments to IOP, EPS-PED and ICPE would allow, but I feel that the time is now right to be more deeply involved with GIREP.
There is still so much to be done in physics education and I am keen to use my knowledge and experience within GIREP to advance the physics education agenda across Europe and beyond. For example, we are only now just beginning to put physics education on a sound theoretical footing, but we still don’t fully understand the nature of concepts and conceptual understanding, let alone how to assess the latter effectively. There is such a broad range of knowledge, experience and skills among the GIREP membership that it should be possible to establish research-based positions on a range of topics, including assessment, to the benefit of the whole physics education community.
I no longer work full time. I have no career to think of, just a passion for physics and physics education. I hope you will support me to work within the GIREP Board to support and promote physics education and to serve both the GIREP membership and the wider physics education community.

Name of Proposer: Eilish McLoughlin

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Dagmara Sokołowska works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University. She did her PhD in physics, condensed matter.
She is involved in physics and science education research in Inquiry-based Learning and Practitioner Inquiry at all levels of schooling – from primary to higher education. She presented her work in more than 30 international conferences and more than 15 national conferences on physics and science education. For the last 13 years, Dagmara has participated in eight EU projects on education (in the 7thFP and ERASMUS+) on enhancing students’ and in-service teachers’ competencies in active learning and teaching. Since 2019 she has organized three International Teachers Seminars in Poland. Since 2003, as part of her academic teaching duty, she has been teaching talented high school students in the academic physics program. Since 2005, she has served as a member of the editorial board of Foton and Neutrino – two quarterlies popularizing physics in Poland, published by the Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, in collaboration with the Polish Physical Society. Dagmara is an author and organizer of the National Contest in Science for K1-K8 (Swietlik, eng. Firefly) in Poland, promoting doing simple science experiments and gathering each year 35 000 – 50 000 students from all over the country.

Statement in support of candidature

Dagmara Sokołowska has been a member of the GIREP Board since 2014, t as a GIREP Board secretary, and during the last term (2020-2023) – being a vice-president in charge of activities aimed at universities and research. Since then she has been responsible for the coordination of the GIREP Thematic Groups (GTGs). In 2016 Dagmara held the GIREP Seminar in Kraków, partially devoted to the GIREP 50th Anniversary. In 2024 she will organize the 4th World Conference in Physics Education in collaboration with GIREP vzw and ICPE. The conference’s aim is to bring together all players in physics education with special emphasis on physics teachers. Dagmara would like to promote the idea of higher education institutions taking full and common responsibility not only for the preparation of the prospective physics teachers but also for the constant support of in-service teachers in their Continuous Professional Development, promoting the XXI century competencies in teaching physics and teachers’ collaborative and reflective attitude towards their teaching practice.

Name of Proposer: Ana Blagotinsek

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Stamatis Vokos is Professor of Physics at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), where he co-directs the STEM Teacher and Researcher Program. Although his Ph.D. and postdoc work was in theoretical physics, he realized that physics education research was his calling. After ten years at the University of Washington and fourteen years at Seattle Pacific University, he joined Cal Poly in 2016. He is currently involved in efforts to improve student learning in physics and engineering courses and investigates impacts of placing prospective STEM teachers in summer research experiences at US national labs. He is also the Cal Poly PI on a multi-institutional curriculum development project involving dozens of US-based faculty and more than 200 Egyptian faculty, which is creating an international model for project-based teacher education. Vokos, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, has helped organize two Gordon Conferences on Physics Research and Education and has co-edited Theme Issues of the American Journal of Physics. He was member and two-term chair of the AAPT Committee on Research in Physics Education, member of the AAPT Committee on Graduate Education, and chair of the AAPT Physics Education Research Elections Organizing Committee. Vokos chaired the National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, sponsored by the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics, and was vice-chair of the AAPT Teacher Preparation Committee. He has served on the APS Forum on Education and the AAPT Physics Education Research Leadership Organizing Council.

Statement in support of candidature

GIREP provides a powerful voice for physics education research at the international level. As co-chair (with Dr. Federico Corni) of the GIREP Thematic Group on Physics Preparation of Teachers at Grades K-6, I have seen in action the benefits of GIREP convening researchers from all over the world, and the important role GIREP plays as an advocate for changing the physics enterprise so that it incorporates results of research on the teaching and learning of physics in all aspects. In the last several years, GIREP leadership has significantly elevated the stature of the association, working tirelessly to forge authentic connections with other professional societies and smartly leveraging international efforts on physics education research. This will be a hard act to follow for the new Board. If elected, I will work to bring even more voices to GIREP activities and help to ensure that GIREP is at the table whenever initiatives that influence physics at the local, national, or international levels are planned and implemented. I have a lot to continue to learn from my GIREP colleagues. I also believe that I have a lot to contribute. Thank you for your consideration.

Name of Proposer: David Sokoloff

Biographical profile and scientific activity 

Edit Yerushalmi heads the Physics Education Research Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The group aims to strengthen the experience of doing physics in school classrooms – constructing explanations to real-world phenomena in a model-making process of trial, error and learning. To that end the group is involved in curricular design for secondary school physics, operation of nation-wide professional-development frameworks for physics teachers, and physics education research.
Recent projects include the research based design of:
• “Gateway to Physics”, inquiry oriented curricular units for middle school physics students, and accompanying professional development workshops for out-of-field teachers;
• The introduction of Deliberation-Labs and of learning analytic tools for personalized instruction in the national network of Physics Professional Learning Communities;
• The “Research Projects in High School Physics” teacher preparation program;
• “Interdisciplinary Computational Science” – a novel curriculum equipping students with the modeling practices and conceptual tools that are fundamental to understanding from a physics perspective, phenomena that are at the heart of chemistry and biology.
Prof. Yerushalmi serves as the principal investigator for the National Physics Teacher Center and the Rothschild-Weizmann MSc Program for Excellence in Science Teaching. She holds an MSc in physics from the Technion, a PhD in science education from the Weizmann Institute of Science and did her Post-doctorate at the University of Minnesota. Since joining GIREP in 2000, she has attended seven meetings and has her students attend the conferences regularly, as she believes that GIREP is the optimal framework for the development of research students in physics teaching.

Statement in support of candidature

GIREP’s mode of operation interconnects research and practice to elevate the quality of physics education across various contexts. Research into learning and teaching is anchored in a disciplinary perspective, reflecting the conceptual frameworks and scientific practices intrinsic to physics. Physics educators face a myriad of demands from various communities of stakeholders: students, parents, school administrators, regional and national policymakers, higher education departments, and the general public. As GIREP members, we need to navigate these demands while maintaining our commitment to our students, helping them construct the conceptual framework of the field, and develop their agency as future learners in a scientific society. We bear the responsibility to harness the expertise of the above-mentioned communities, establishing Research–Practice Partnerships that identify actionable learning objectives while resonating with contemporary scientific and technological trends. We also aim to share evidence-based teaching methods emphasizing close teacher-student interaction, which is attentive to students’ experiences and difficulties, to enhance inclusive and effective physics education.
GIREP utilizes a variety of platforms to foster dialogue within and among communities. Enhancing Research-Practice Partnerships through conferences, seminars, workshops, and publications necessitates explicit guidance to align instructional methods with existing research. Advancing international collaboration between disciplinary-based education research organizations calls for comparative analysis of structural constraints and educational responses in local settings. Recognizing and understanding the nuanced, local perspectives can facilitate the transferability and adaptation of educational approaches, as well as the channeling of respective strengths to address mutual challenges.
I hope to play a significant role in driving these endeavors forward.

Name of Proposer: Yaron Lehavi