The 2026 International e-Assessment Conference

How data, explainable AI, and open methods strengthen the credibility of digital assessment

How do we make digital assessment systems understandable, auditable, and accountable? We welcome case studies and methods that improve transparency (e.g., documentation, model cards), assurance (e.g., validation, reliability, security), and accountability (governance, roles and responsibilities across regulators, awarding organisations, and technology suppliers). This includes the use of trustworthy and transparent AI, ensuring that automated processes and decisions are clear and explainable to users and stakeholders.

We are particularly keen to hear from awarding organisations and regulators on how they are monitoring developments in this area and providing guidance to assessment providers.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Practical approaches to transparency and assurance in automated scoring, item generation, or proctoring.
• Assurance frameworks: reliability, validity evidence, risk assessments, and incident response.
• Clear lines of accountability: who owns what (supplier, awarding body, institution, regulator)?
• Communicating complex methods to non-specialist audiences (students, parents, media).
• Security, integrity, and misuse prevention without creating opacity.
• Independent evaluation, transparency reporting, and public dashboards.
• How awarding organisations and regulators are overseeing and advising on responsible AI and data use in assessment.

Who should submit:

Awarding organisations, HE/FE providers, vendors, regulators, researchers, assurance/security specialists.

Ensuring that digital assessment works for everyone — from inclusive user experience and accessibility to ‘bias-aware’ algorithms and equitable access to technology.

How do we design and deliver digital assessments that are fair and inclusive for all learners? We welcome submissions exploring inclusive design, equitable access, accessibility standards, and algorithmic fairness. This theme focuses on the real-world practices and policies that make digital assessment work for all - irrespective of background, language, ability, or infrastructure.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Implementing accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG, European Accessibility Act) in assessment design.
• Mitigating bias in algorithmic scoring, proctoring, or content generation.
• Designing and delivering assessments for low-connectivity environments - including criteria and frameworks for resilience, offline functionality, and recovery when systems disconnect.
• Inclusive UX research and participatory design involving diverse learners.
• Cultural and linguistic adaptation of digital assessments.
• Data and ethics: ensuring fairness in AI-driven decision-making.
• Collaborating with EdTech charities, NGOs, and professional membership bodies to deliver equitable global access to digital assessment.

Who should submit:
Assessment designers, accessibility specialists, UX researchers, awarding organisations, technology providers, inclusion advocates, EdTech charities, professional membership bodies delivering global skills assessments, and policy makers.

How policy, regulation, and trust frameworks shape digital assessment systems - enabling innovation while protecting learners and maintaining public confidence.

As digital assessment expands globally, policy and regulation are vital in establishing trust, accountability, and interoperability. We invite contributions that examine how governments, regulators, and agencies develop frameworks that balance innovation with assurance. This theme focuses on how policy can both protect learners and enable progress in digital assessment.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Public–private partnerships in digital assessment: models of collaboration between governments, awarding organisations, and technology suppliers (e.g., co-regulation, assurance pilots, procurement frameworks).
• Comparative studies of regulatory models for digital and AI-based assessment.
• Building trust frameworks across borders: interoperability, privacy, and standards.
• How policies and ethics codes can encourage innovation without stifling it.
• Accrediting and assuring new forms of digital and remote assessment.
• Case studies of regulation in action: successes, challenges, lessons learned.

Who should submit:
Policy makers, regulators, awarding bodies, standards organisations, compliance and data-protection leads, researchers in education governance.

Understanding how digital credentials, micro-credentials, and blockchain-based systems enhance visibility, motivation, and mobility across global learning and employment pathways.

What role do digital credentials play in connecting learning, achievement, and employment? This theme explores how credentialing technologies — from digital badges and micro-assessments to blockchain verification - can improve learner motivation, recognition, and trust. We welcome evidence-based insights into interoperability, standardisation, and real-world adoption by learners, employers, and institutions, including how credentialing supports flexible, lifelong, and modular approaches to assessment.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Developing interoperable digital credentialing systems.
• Case studies of micro-credential and bite-sized assessment frameworks, and how they can aggregate into national or institutional qualifications.
• Blockchain and verification - benefits, myths, and practical realities.
• Portability of records across institutions and employment sectors.
• Recognition of prior learning and informal achievement through digital validation.
• Employer perspectives: how digital credentials inform recruitment and skills development.
• Learner perspectives: what motivates engagement with digital credentials, and what demonstrable benefits or challenges students experience.

Who should submit:
Universities, colleges, awarding bodies, blockchain vendors, edtech providers, employers, careers services, policy professionals, and researchers in credentialing and recognition.

Aligning digital assessment with the future of work - evaluating transferable skills, creativity, and critical thinking in an AI-enhanced economy where failing to build these capabilities risks major global productivity losses.

As AI transforms the world of work, assessment must evolve to reflect and reinforce the skills that matter most. This theme explores how we teach, assess, and recognise competencies such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication — the so-called “Four Cs” at the heart of lifelong learning. We invite contributions that examine AI literacy, workforce reskilling, and how human - machine collaboration is reshaping employability, productivity, and education systems worldwide.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Designing assessments for complex and transferable skills (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, communication).
• The role of AI in skills analysis, feedback, and competency mapping.
• Teaching and assessing the “Four Cs”: what works in curriculum and practice.
• Developing frameworks for digital and AI literacy.
• Workforce reskilling and continuous professional development.
• Assessing creativity and innovation in hybrid human–AI settings.
• Economic impact: the cost of failing to close global skills gaps, and the value of AI-enabled upskilling.
• Future-readiness: what competencies will define employability in 2030 and beyond.

Who should submit:
Employers, skills councils, awarding organisations, education providers (including further and higher education), workforce development agencies, researchers in AI and employability, EdTech charities, and professional membership bodies delivering global skills assessments, as well as policy specialists focused on digital skills and productivity.

Exploring what “fit-for-purpose” means in practice - designing assessments that are robust, reliable, and accessible across diverse infrastructures

What makes digital assessment delivery truly fit-for-purpose? This theme focuses on operational reliability, accessibility, security, and sustainability - across all contexts and infrastructures. We welcome submissions that showcase resilient, sustainable, and scalable assessment implementation and delivery, including hybrid or offline approaches, and creative responses to technical and environmental challenges.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Building resilient and secure assessment delivery systems.
• Hybrid, remote, and centre-based models: lessons learned.
• Designing for low-bandwidth, intermittent, or offline access.
• Cloud architecture, scalability, and data protection.
• Balancing security, privacy, and usability in proctoring and authentication.
• Operational excellence: test administration, support, and recovery planning.
• Sustainable delivery approaches: minimising environmental impact and ensuring long-term resilience.

Who should submit:
Technology providers, operations managers, assessment centres, system architects, QA teams, delivery partners, and sustainability leads involved in digital assessment operations.

An open space for contributors to share unique perspectives, lived experiences, or lessons learned that do not fit neatly within the listed sub-themes but still advance the conversation on digital assessment.

Not every important idea fits within a predefined category. The Open Call invites practitioners, researchers, and innovators to share fresh perspectives, reflective insights, and practical experiences that shed light on emerging issues in digital assessment. Whether you’ve led a transformative project, learned from a challenge, or developed a new way of thinking about assessment, this is your opportunity to contribute to the wider dialogue.
This theme is designed to surface ideas “from the field” — stories, case studies, and experiments that inspire learning and collaboration across the sector.

Prompts & example topics (guidance to authors):

• Reflections on lessons learned in assessment design, delivery, or policy implementation.
• Stories of innovation — large or small — that improved assessment quality, fairness, or accessibility.
• Candid case studies of what didn’t work, and how approaches were adapted.
• Explorations of cross-sector collaboration or partnerships that strengthened assessment practice.
• Personal or organisational reflections on evolving trust, ethics, or culture in assessment.
• Early-stage research or pilot projects seeking dialogue and feedback.

Who should submit:
Assessment professionals, charities in the EdTech space, educators, researchers, policymakers, vendors, start-ups, and anyone with a meaningful story, experiment, or reflection to share.