The 2026 Research & Inquiry (R&I) Conference brought together 22 doctoral students to share their work and celebrate an important milestone in their Ph.D. journeys. Through thoughtful and compelling presentations, students explored topics ranging from data-informed policy to critically sustaining teacher identity in hegemonic spaces, as well as themes of agency, resistance and collective action.

UW College of Education alumna Dr. Britney Holmes (MIT ’14) has spent nearly two decades working to create schools where every child — and every adult — can belong. After serving as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Seattle Public Schools, Holmes now partners with districts and organizations nationwide through And Still We Rise to help leaders build more equitable and inclusive systems.

In his work, Malcom L. King invites us to reconsider one of education’s simplest, most radical acts: listening. A doctoral student at the University of Washington College of Education, King studies how young Black children express agency and shape relationships in school. His research challenges adults to move beyond managing children toward truly learning from them. At the heart of his work is a belief that when children are treated as meaningful partners, not passive participants, schools become more just, humane and connected places for everyone.