Nordic-Baltic Iscar 2025
Trollhättan

We are happy to announce that the Nordic ISCAR Conference will be hosted by University West, Trollhättan, Sweden, 17-19 June 2025. The International Society for Cultural-historical Activity Research (ISCAR) is a scientific association that aims at developing multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical research on societal, cultural and historical dimensions of human practices.

We want to co-create a unique arena for enhancing and sharing both research and practice on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and related topics. This year’s theme is “Working and learning with CHAT-driven research”.

The recent global developments remind us of the importance of working and learning in a life-long perspective for transforming human activities to sustain lives and the planet. Because of its focus on societal dynamics within and across scenes of collective labor, cultural-historical activity theory has often been applied in studies of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), which is the overall profile as well as the area of strength of University. University West also hosts the Center for Activity Theory (CAT), where we arrange events and disseminate publications that apply activity theory to work-integrated learning, strengthening the global research community of CHAT. 

The ambition of the Nordic ISCAR Conference is to reframe the roots of working and learning, to make them simultaneously relevant in the context of the current global challenges. In this spirit, the conference will offer a forum for further development and productive discussion on principles and applications of the fourth generation of CHAT.