Critical University Studies Conference 2024, Call for submissions

We welcome submissions on a wide variety of topics – or ways of apprehending/studying the university – and we are especially interested in those that ask critical questions of their material.

More traditional themes might include academic capitalism, academic work and practice, curriculum, doctoral education, internationalisation/globalisation, leadership and management, and performativity. Newer themes might include affect and bodies, ecologies of knowledges, neo-nationalism and the university, relationality and mattering, studying, teaching the university, temporality and spatiality.

We welcome submissions from researchers across the board (doctoral, early-career, established) in a range of different styles including:

Papers (30 mins) – abstract of no more than 350 words

Single paper presentations explore one or more dimensions of the conference themes. The goal of these sessions is to share work-in-progress and engage in dialogue with conference participants, so timing should be balanced between presentation and discussion (20m+10m is optimal). You should also aim to demonstrate how your paper contributes (or is likely to contribute) to the existing body of scholarly research.

Symposia (90 mins) – abstract of no more than 1000 words

Where presenters have 3-4 thematically linked papers, you may propose a symposium with a maximum time of 90 mins. Provide an overarching abstract for the symposium as a whole as well as titles and reduced abstracts for each paper within the symposium. Please nominate a contact person for the symposium.

Roundtable (60 mins) – abstract of no more than 350 words

Roundtable discussions provide the opportunity for a lively discussion around a particular topic or area of research. They are an ideal opportunity for networking and for building collaborations. If you wish to propose a roundtable, the submission should include an overview of the topic, and pose some critical questions that the roundtable discussion will explore. These sessions will be chaired by the person who proposes the roundtable.

Performance and/or Creative Presentation (30 or 60 mins) – abstract of no more than 350 words

Performance-based presentations provide an opportunity for presenters to invent or draw on new forms and expressions as well as traditions of arts-based inquiry for exploring the conference themes. We welcome performance in all its variety. Some possibilities include: readers’ theatre, performance ethnography, and poetic representations of research. If you wish to propose a performance, your submission will need to be strong in both the idea (related to the conference themes), and in the description of the type of performance. If the performance involves audience participation, you need to indicate that in your submission.

Ensure your submission includes:

Submission type
Title of submission
Presenters and their institutional affiliations
Name and email address of the key contact person
Abstract (noting the maximum word count)
Up to 5 scholarly references.

Review Criteria

Every submission to the conference will be double-blind peer reviewed according to the following criteria:

It responds and contributes to the conference theme
It is connected to, and in conversation with, appropriate scholarly literature
It demonstrates how and why it is of interest to the intended audience
It is well written.

Note: This conference will be held in English and is an in-person event only.