Calls for Papers, Conferences, and Events

If you wish to have a conference announcement posted, please send an email to ssspgra@utk.edu (Microsoft Word files and PDFs preferred). Please include a URL for more information, if available.

There is no charge to place an announcement on this website. Calls for papers will be posted until the submission deadline. Conference announcements will be posted until the date of the conference has passed.   

Calls for Papers
Call for Participants
Call for Articles
Ongoing Calls
Conferences and Events
Virtual Events
Other Opportunities
Fellowships and Scholarships

Calls for Papers

Sixteenth International Conference on Food Studies
University of Osaka, Osaka, Japan, 10-12 October 2026 and Online
Submission Deadline: 10 December 2025
 

The Sixteenth International Conference on Food Studies will be held in Osaka, Japan—a city whose identity, culture, and cuisine have been shaped by water for centuries. Known historically as the “Kitchen of the Nation,” Osaka flourished as a hub of trade and food distribution, made possible by its extensive river and canal networks. Today, this rich heritage offers a powerful context for exploring the conference’s special theme: Living with Water: Food and Life.

In Osaka, water is more than a resource—it is a foundation for food culture, daily life, and ecological understanding. From the soft water used to make dashi, to the thriving markets that once received goods from across Japan, the city embodies a deep connection between water systems and sustainable food traditions. As global food and water crises intensify, Osaka offers a compelling site to examine how local knowledge, urban infrastructure, and culinary heritage can inform more resilient and equitable food futures.

Along with our papers that speak to our annual themes, we invite proposals that explore food sustainability, water security, health and nutrition, and the politics of food systems, especially about urban ecologies and historic foodways. Join us in Osaka to reflect on the past and reimagine the future of food in a world increasingly defined by its relationship to water. Learn more about registration and submission.

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Aging & Social Change: Sixteenth Interdisciplinary Conference
Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey, 15-16 October 2026

Submission Deadline: 15 December 2025

Care environments for aging populations must move toward more individualized, person-centered models. Yet across diverse national contexts, many systems remain fragmented or under-resourced, with gaps at the intersections of medical, social, and familial care arrangements. At the same time, promising new approaches are emerging around the world—ranging from dementia care innovations and age-friendly community programs to lifelong learning institutions for older adults.

This international dialogue will be hosted in Turkey, a country that both reflects these global challenges and serves as a site of experimentation in gerontological practice and policy. The conference offers an opportunity to exchange cross-national insights, share institutional innovations, and collaboratively reimagine the social contract across generations. Learn more about registration and submission. 

2026 Special Focus—Demographic Futures: Political and Social Transformations

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Twenty-First International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
University of Galway, Galway, Ireland + Online, 15-17 July 2026

Submission Deadline: 15 January 2026

In an era defined by globalization, transnational interdependencies, and rapid change, the importance of cooperation across academic, civic, and community spheres has never been more urgent. Bridging Boundaries— Collaborative Solutions to Complex Social Issues in an Interconnected World invites perspectives on how social scientists, policymakers, practitioners, and community members can work together across borders to address today’s most pressing global challenges. As economic, political, and technological forces reshape societies, how can we develop solutions that transcend national and disciplinary silos to confront systemic inequality, climate change, political polarization, digital transformation, and the evolving nature of work on a global scale?

We seek papers investigating how interdisciplinary research, participatory engagement, and policy development can align to foster lasting and inclusive approaches to complex global issues and societal well-being. Contributions from scholars in sociology, psychology, political science, anthropology, economics, law, education, international relations, global studies, and related fields are encouraged, with an emphasis on fresh insights and tangible examples of transnational and globally networked approaches. We welcome both empirical studies and theoretical reflections that push the boundaries of conventional thinking. By bridging boundaries—between disciplines, nations, and sectors—this conference aims to set an agenda to advance our collective understanding of today’s urgent social problems and illuminate pathways to transformative solutions that promise lasting, positive impacts on communities worldwide. Learn more.

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"The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism" 
Special Issue of the Journal of Right-Wing Studies

Submission Deadline: 15 January 2026

This special issue of the Journal of Right-Wing Studies will explore the intersection of technology, politics, power, and space in the twenty-first century. We aim to better understand the contemporary resurgence of the (far) right via its connections with cyberlibertarianism, venture-capital extremism, secessionism, and techno-authoritarianism. We ask how the internet’s early promises of leftist counterculture, democratization, and utopian freedom were absorbed by Silicon Valley capitalist development and refashioned into a right-libertarian ethos. And we question why some tech venture capitalists—with roots in Silicon Valley’s “build fast and break things” culture—now see democracy as an outdated technology to be replaced with algorithmic decision-making and private technological governance. These accelerationist logics are poised to concentrate power for venture capitalists and tech elites, threatening the freedoms, lands, and lives of all, especially marginalized populations. In raising such issues, we draw from work on algorithmic radicalization, on technological accelerationism, and on the technological determinism of Peter Thiel’s and Curtis Yarvin’s neoreactionary and “Dark Enlightenment” ideologies.
Read the full call for papers. 

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2026 Conference on Discrimination in the 21st Century: Fostering Conversations Across Fields
Chicago, IL, 28-29 April 2026

Submission Deadline: 16 January 2026

The 2026 Conference on Discrimination in the 21st Century: Fostering Conversations Across Fields welcomes submissions. This year’s conference will be held April 28–29, in Chicago, Illinois.This conference will bring together researchers from different fields to discuss crucial themes around discrimination. Experts from economics, sociology, law, behavioral sciences, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and more will interact with each other through presentations and open panel discussions. The organizing committee welcomes submissions on the broadest range of themes. All interested researchers are invited to send submissions for consideration by January 16, 2026, using the link below.
If you have any questions, please contact bfi-events@uchicago.edu. Learn more.

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Subjugated Knowledges, Secrecy and Society Volume 4, Issue 1

Submission Deadline: 15 March 2026

Since January 2025, the Trump administration has undertaken a large-scale purge of federal data and information. For example, more than 8,000 web pages and approximately 3,000 datasets from US government websites are impacted. This purge targeted public health, education, and climate change data and resources such as the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, EPA's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and HIV surveillance tools. In this special issue of Secrecy and Society we invite researchers, journalists, those in the non-profit policy sector, and others working in the area of history, policy, ethics, sociology, and politics to explore the disappearance of facts and data and their replacement by the superficial. We also encourage contributors to delve into how the removal of data, information, and knowledge as a form of ungoverning leads to a “dumbing” down – indeed “gaslighting” – where false or distorted narratives overturn historical understanding, and with it, diminished trust and veracity and encourage submissions from scholars and other researchers considering comparative approaches and all national contexts. We term this special issue “subjugated knowledges” as it has much in common with concealment, censorship, and power that maintain certain perspectives as superior by excluding other accounts. Read the CFP. Email secrecyandsociety@gmail.com for further information. 

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Sixteenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society
University of Guadalajara, Mexico + Online, 9-11 September 2026

Submission Deadline: 9 June 2026

Founded in 2011, the Health, Wellness, & Society Research Network is brought together by a common concern in the fields of human health and wellness, and in particular their social interconnections and implications. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tension. Learn more about registration and submission. 

2026 Special Focus—Nourishing Societies: Bridging Nutrition, Wellness, and Sustainability for a Healthier Future

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Calls for Articles

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
The New Asylum Seekers: Subnational Dynamics of Migraton Governance in the United States

Submission Deadline: 7 January 2026

Asylum-seeking is a long-standing legal pathway enshrined in international law through which migrants flee home-country persecution, arrive in another country, and pursue refugee status there. Yet unlike resettled refugees, who receive the refugee designation overseas and arrive in the US with legal status and dedicated services, asylum seekers come directly to the US without express invitation. This contributes to their conflation with unauthorized entrants and "illegality" in the political and public sphere. Contemporary asylum seekers are often framed by politicians as motivated by experiences—such as economic deprivation—that fall outside the scope of the refugee definition and thus make them unlikely to advance successful legal claims. Moreover, because asylum seekers arrive without invitation, they may resemble long-term unauthorized residents in their challenges accessing work and public services. At the same time, their formal pursuit of refugee status through legal channels differentiates them from both resettled refugees (who enter through pre-authorized programs) and undocumented migrants (who lack a pending legal claim). In highlighting these contrasts, this issue of RSF underscores how in-land asylum seekers occupy a distinctive position at the intersection of legality and illegality. As they increasingly concentrate in US cities, subnational governments and institutions face urgent practical and political challenges that have become central to the national immigration debate.

In the US context, scholars, policymakers, and the public have not fully grappled with the distinctions between asylum seekers and other categories of legally vulnerable immigrants. Given their pending legal petition, for example, asylum seekers and their identities are fully visible to government. They thus have a different orientation to the state than many long-term undocumented immigrants, who manage decisions to engage or avoid government institutions from an alternative set of circumstances. Despite these and other differences, we know little about the implications of such distinctions for migration governance or for the broader "ecosystems" of institutions that shape migrants' lives—including not only state and local governments but also schools, police, employers, landlords, NGOs, and even anti-immigrant organizations. Given that related work is more prevalent in the European context, this issue of RSF will focus on the US case to highlight both what is distinctive and what lessons might travel across other nation-states.

Accordingly, this issue examines the ways in which contemporary asylum seekers to the US resemble and differ from other immigrants, past and present; it considers how rising asylum-seeking shapes subnational responses among diverse state and non-state actors; it compares the experiences of asylum-seeking newcomers with long-term unauthorized immigrants; it analyzes the relationships of these groups with the US-born population; and, in turn, it assesses their influence on broader US immigration policies.

Click here for a complete description of the topics to be covered in this issue.

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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study: 25th Anniversary

Submission Deadline: 7 January 2026

In celebration of the landmark Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study's 25th anniversary, we are soliciting proposals for an issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, situating the study in the larger literature, engaging with key questions using the most recent wave of survey data, inviting comparisons using other data sources, and identifying areas for future research. The issue will provide a lens into how today's heterogenous families form, grow, change, and thrive, using data within and across generations.

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) was initially designed to provide data on an understudied (at the time) and substantial portion, of American children: those born to unmarried parents. Births to unmarried parents in the United States had increased from 15% in 1975 to 34% in 20001 but there was no data source that would allow researchers to understand how these children and their families would fare over time. FFCWS founders, Sara McLanahan, Irv Garfinkel, and Ron Mincy, created FFCWS to fill that gap, meeting families in the hospital when their child was born and capitalizing on the "magic moment" of birth to interview the new mothers and fathers. The study has collected data on a sample of about 5,000 children born in large US cities between 1998 and 2000 at seven time periods: birth and ages 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22. Data have been collected through interviews with parents, the focal child, childcare providers, teachers, in-home interviewer observations, saliva samples, brain scans, and genetic data. Contextual (e.g., census tract characteristics, exposure to gun violence, and school characteristics) and administrative data have been appended to the survey data. Beginning in 2026, an eighth wave of data will be collected on the focal children when they are age 27, and data are currently being collected on children born to original FFCWS focal children. Thus, the breadth of the study allows for intergenerational comparisons between the parents, most of whom were first interviewed in their mid-20s, the young adults, and now the young adults' children, highlighting the diversity of 21st century families.

As the U.S.'s longest-running birth cohort study, and only contemporary birth cohort study of young adults, FFCWS is an unparalleled resource. It offers a unique opportunity to explore intergenerational mobility among today's young adults and to answer key questions about how children have made the transition to adulthood. Further, the cohort has been shaped by a series of significant events (e.g., the Great Recession and COVID-19) and seismic technological and social shifts (e.g., the prevalence of high-speed internet, smartphones, and social media), the impacts of which can be examined to move beyond a groundbreaking study of "fragile families" to encompass how contemporary families fare, function, and thrive within and across generations.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for papers.

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Call for Participants

O*NET Data Collection Program Volunteers

Submission Deadline: 19 December 2025

The O*NET Data Collection Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, is seeking your input as a potential expert for Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary. We believe that this is an important project and encourage our members to participate. As the nation's most comprehensive source of occupational data, O*NET is a free resource and provides instant access to detailed descriptions on more than 900 occupations that drive the U.S. economy. Visitors include counselors, human resource professionals, researchers, developers, and students, to name a few. Visit O*NET Data Collection to learn more.

  • Occupation: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
  • Description: Teach courses in sociology. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research..

A random sample of experts responding to this request will be invited to complete a set of questionnaires. Experts who are selected and agree to participate will receive a $40 VISA gift code and a certificate of appreciation from the U.S. Department of Labor.

If you are interested in learning more and potentially volunteering, please visit the ONET Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary Volunteer Information Page. Please reach out to Joann Ochoa at jochoa@onet.rti.org if you have any questions.

Teaching About Race
Dr. Sarah Friedman, Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Georgia State University, is recruiting participants for a study about experiences instructors have when they teach about race in Introduction to Sociology classes to gain information about teaching challenges to better understand pedagogical needs.
 
If you have taught an introductory sociology course at a US college or university within the past 5 years, and are at least 18 years old, you are eligible to participate. Participants will complete an online anonymous survey that asks about your teaching background, classroom environment, and bigger institutional context. The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes.
 
If you are interested in participating, please use this link to learn more and to begin the survey.
 

Ongoing Calls

Spark Magazine

Spark Magazine is now accepting pitches for essay ideas on a rolling basis. Spark offers essays grounded in research that can inform readers to make decisions for themselves, their families, and communities. The essays are meant to spark curiosity — whether by encouraging deeper questions about society, challenging taken-for-granted ideas, or inspiring greater empathy and support for marginalized communities. Submit a pitch.

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity series provides a venue for international, pioneering scholarship that moves our understanding of race, racism, ethnicity, and ethnic oppression forward. The series features books that engage in contemporary social issues in a meaningful way, advocating intervention and action in social justice and social transformation. While theoretically and empirically grounded in sociology, books in this series intersect a wide array of social sciences (geography, history, political science, anthropology, philosophy). We seek book proposals that accomplish the dual goals of speaking to the public square and pushing the intellectual conversation forward. To inquire about publishing in the series, please contact Mick Gusinde-Duffy at mickgd@uga.edu.

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Conferences and Events

Diversity Scholars Network Lunch and Learn
Sessions will be small with ample time for questions and individual attention. This professional development opportunity is perfect for scholars pursuing grants and other funding opportunities as well as those currently working toward tenure. Seating is limited, so we encourage you to register early. Lunch will be provided. Click here to register.
 
Save the date for future Lunch and Learns:
  • Thursday, February 12, 2026 -- Noon to 1:30pm.
    • Advocating for your project - In person
  • Tuesday, April 7, 2026 -- Noon to 1:30pm.
    • Crafting Research Impact Statements - Hybrid

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Media Trainings
The Diversity Scholars Network is hosting three Faculty Media Trainings in October and three Advanced Media Trainings in March.

The media trainings held in October are designed to help faculty prepare for and feel confident conducting print and broadcast interviews. While the media trainings offered in March build on our previous sessions and will include mock interviews. Each of these trainings will be led by Fernanda Pires of Michigan News at U-M. Click here for more information on these training sessions. 
  • Advanced Media training 
    • March 10th, 11th, and 12th from 12:00pm - 1:30pm. 
    • 412 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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Twentieth International Conference on Design Principles and Practices
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy + Online
25-27 February 2026

The Twentieth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices offers an interdisciplinary forum to explore the meaning and purpose of design. Our aim is to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. The 20th anniversary of DPP provides a valuable opportunity to assess how well our principles and practices have performed and to envision how Design must adapt to meet the challenges of the near future. This moment invites us to reinforce Design’s cultural role as a catalyst for meaningful, lasting change. We call on researchers across all domains of Design to explore the concept of Time, reflecting on its influence in any aspect of Design practice or research. What changes would you advocate for in the next 20 years? Learn more about registration.

2025 Special Focus—Design Across Time

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Southern Sociological Society (SSS) Annual Meeting
Jacksonville, FL, 8-11 March 2026

The SSS annual meeting is constructed entirely out of member submissions. Submissions are considered from the breadth and depth of the discipline, regardless of the theme of the 2026 Annual Conference. There are six submission types: individual papers, poster presentations, full session proposals, flash talks, roundtables, and special sessions. To submit to SSS 2026, please visit our membership portal. The 2026 Annual theme, Empowered Sociologists: Agency and Action towards Social Change, is a call to action for empowered thought leaders to uphold the ethical mission of the Southern Sociological Society. Sociologists are well-positioned to lead through times of rapid social change with our collective action. In an era when many feel disempowered, this call serves as a reminder of the strength of sociology and the contributions of sociologists. It is also a reminder of the Society’s mission to apply our knowledge and training to address and resolve societal problems. Learn more about registration.

2026 Special Focus—Empowered Sociologists: Agency and Action Towards Social Change

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Applied Anthropology (SfAA) 86th Annual Meeting
Alburquerque, New Mexico, 17-21 March 2026

The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) invites abstracts (sessions, papers, posters, and videos) for the Program of the 86th Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, March 17-21, 2026. The theme of the Program is “Everyday Practice of Applied Anthropology.”

The 2026 SfAA Annual Meeting offers researchers, practitioners, and students from diverse disciplines and organizations the opportunity to discuss their work and consider how it can contribute to a better future. SfAA members come from a host of disciplines -- anthropology, geography, sociology, economics, business, planning, medicine, nursing, law, and more. The annual meeting provides a fertile venue in which to trade ideas, methods, and practical solutions, as well as an opportunity to enter the lifeworlds of other professionals. The deadline for abstract submission is October 15, 2025. For additional information on the theme, abstract size/format, and the meeting, please visit our web page and click on annual meeting. 

Theme-Everday Practice of Applied Anthropology

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Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting
Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta in St. Louis, Missouri, 26-29 March 2026

The MSS invites submissions for the 2026 Annual Meeting beginning August 1, 2025. MSS Program Chair Michael Haedicke has selected an important theme for reflection for this year's conference: "Care and the Sociological Vocation: Learning About, Through, and With Care." More information can be found at the conference website.

2026 Special Focus—Care the the Sociological Vocation

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CfP: 16th International Conference on the Constructed Environment
Universidad de Navarra
Pamplona, Spain
14-15 May 2026

The Sixteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment invites participants to explore the intersections between spatial design, human experiences, and contemporary global challenges. Under the theme From the Home to the City: Designing Spatial Experiences, this conference addresses how thoughtfully designed environments—from intimate domestic interiors to expansive urban landscapes—can foster human well-being, community connection, and environmental sustainability.

At the domestic scale, we examine how homes shape daily routines, emotional health, and social interactions, highlighting the critical role of design in creating spaces of care, comfort, and dignity. Amidst ongoing global shifts such as remote work, aging populations, and housing crises, we invite research to consider both technical dimensions—including sustainability, adaptability, and healthy materials—and sensory experiences involving spatial form, natural light, and tactile qualities. Echoing architect Kazuo Shinohara, we reflect on how domestic spaces are deeply embedded in human identity and cultural expression.

At the urban scale, we aim to understand how cities can cultivate inclusive, resilient, and engaging environments amidst rapid urbanization, climate change, and socio-economic disparities. We invite contributions investigating participatory urban planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and empathetic design practices that foster safety, accessibility, and belonging. As urbanist Jan Gehl observed, thriving cities are spaces of joyful human interaction designed for lingering, sharing, and meaningful connection.

Additionally, we welcome research on intermediate scales—such as shared community spaces, transitional interiors, neighborhoods, and collective housing—that bridge private and public realms. These environments represent thresholds of care and encounter, requiring responsive design strategies that address complex and overlapping needs.

Proposals are invited across disciplines including architecture, urban planning, interior design, engineering, environmental psychology, and interdisciplinary fields. We particularly encourage submissions aligned with the following four thematic areas:

1. The Design of Space and Place: Exploring how spaces are defined not only by physical boundaries but by rituals, memory, and emotional connections, emphasizing the choreographic role of design in fostering meaningful inhabitation.
2. Constructing the Environment: Examining the role of everyday objects and material systems in shaping human experiences, from small-scale domestic artifacts to flexible, adaptive structures that support both rootedness and mobility.
3. Environmental Impacts: Investigating how the built environment mirrors and influences our ecological relationships, emphasizing aesthetics and sustainability as interlinked values guiding ethical design practices.
4. Social Impacts: Reflecting on how spatial design can promote inclusivity, equity, and social justice, addressing critical questions of belonging, care infrastructures, and community visibility in built environments.

We invite innovative, multidisciplinary contributions that critically engage with these themes, advancing the discourse on designing resilient, empathetic, and sustainable spaces for contemporary life.

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Twenty-First International Conference on the Arts in Society
Department of Theatre Studies, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, 10-12 June 2026

We are pleased to share with you the Call for Papers for the Twenty-First International Conference on the Arts in Society, to be hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, 10-12 June 2026.

All presenters are also encouraged to submit their paper to the companion journal collection The Arts in Society Journal Collection. Find out more about the journal collection.

2026 Special Focus—Modeling Life Systems: Art, Algorithms, Ecologies

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Seventeenth International Conference on Sport & Society
University of Inland, Norawy, 11-12 June 2026

As societies confront accelerating crises such as ecological instability and political fragmentation, sport stands at a critical juncture. Can it remain a progressive force, or is it increasingly outpaced by societal transformation? We invited contributors to the conference to explore how the future of sport hinges on its ability to confront tensions between innovation and control, inclusion and exclusion, care and commerce. More information can be found at the conference website.

2026 Special Focus—Innovation, Transformation, Contestation: Can Sport Keep Up with Society’s Future?

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Eleventh International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies
Department of Tourism Management, University of Patras, Greece, 15-17 June 2026

The tourism and leisure sector, a vital part of global economies and cultural exchange, faces rapidly evolving challenges. The conference, "Pathways to Resilience: Sustainable Practices in Tourism and Leisure," will highlight the need for transformative, resilient approaches to address emerging mega-trends in tourism. Climate change, geopolitical instability, and shifting traveler expectations—particularly the demand for responsible experiences—call for a shift beyond mass tourism. This shift involves embracing alternative models, such as ecotourism and community-based tourism, emphasizing environmental protection, local empowerment, and cultural preservation.

The conference will examine the social dimensions of sustainable tourism, exploring ways to foster inclusive growth and community well-being. In addition, it will address the role of technology, including AI, in shaping tourism’s future through personalized experiences and sustainable resource management. The conference aims to bring together academics, industry professionals, policymakers, and local communities to showcase innovative strategies that minimize environmental impact, maximize socio-economic benefits, and enhance the visitor experience. Participants will discuss cutting-edge research, best practices, and emerging trends, contributing to a more resilient and responsible future. This global forum will tackle critical issues such as overtourism, resource depletion, cultural commodification, equitable benefit distribution, and the ethical implications of AI. By integrating sustainable practices and transitioning toward alternative tourism models, the sector can navigate uncertainties, enhance long-term viability, and contribute to a more equitable, environmentally conscious society. Learn more. 

2026 Special Focus—Pathways to Resilience; Sustainable Practices in Tourism and Leisure

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Work and Family Researchers Network
Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, 17-20 June 2026

The next Work and Family Researchers Network Conference will be held June 17-20, 2026 at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. The conference theme is Centering Care Across the Life Course. More than 500 stakeholders in the work-family field are anticipated to attend, with a dynamic program focused on meaningful exchanges. Submissions open in July and close November 1, 2025. More information can be found at the conference website.

2026 Special Focus—Centering Care Across the Life Course

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Sixteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society
Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, Lima, Peru and Online, 22-23 June 2026

Founded in 2011, the Religion in Society Research Network explores the relationship between religion in society and the changing nature of spirituality. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tensions. Learn more about submission and registration.

2026 Special Focus—Indigenous Spiritualities in Global Perspective

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Criminal Justice Association of Georgia (CJAG) Annual Conference
Albany State University, Albany, Georgia, 25-26 September 2026

We welcome proposals for research presentations, roundtables, panels, workshops, and student-led sessions.
Submit your abstract here. CJAG’s official peer-reviewed journal, The Pursuit, is currently accepting manuscript submissions. Presenters and non-presenters alike are encouraged to submit original research, practice-based articles, and scholarly essays related to criminal justice, criminology, or public safety. More information found on the website.

2026 Special Focus—The Future of Criminal Justice: Navigating the New Normal

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Seventeenth International Conference on the Image
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore + Online, 1-2 October 2026

This year’s special focus examines how visual media serve as agents of cultural dialogue, activism, and change, particularly within complex and pluralistic societies. Images do more than reflect the world; they intervene in it. Whether mobilised to document injustice, amplify marginalised voices, reframe dominant narratives, or inspire solidarity, images hold or possess the capacity to advocate. As technologies evolve and the circulation of images intensifies, so too does the need to critically assess how they shape public consciousness and cultural meaning. This conference invites an exploration of how visual forms, across analogue, digital, and emerging mediums, operate as tools of advocacy within their own cultural contexts and in dialogue with others, placing an emphasis on practices that are situated, responsive, and ethically engaged. We ask: What are the possibilities and limits of the image as advocate? How does visual advocacy operate across linguistic, societal and cultural thresholds? And what pedagogies, platforms, or ethics are needed to support such work? In gathering diverse voices, we aim to cultivate a conversation on how images not only represent but also actively shape the cultures from which they emerge. More information can be found at the conference website.

2026 Special Focus—The Image as Advocate: Shaping Cultural Conversations

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Virtual Events

Virtual Writing Retreats
The Diversity Scholars Network is hosting monthly writing retreats via Zoom. These events are co-sponsored by the Anti-Racism Collaborative and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Writing retreats are scheduled throughout each month on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We are offering writing sessions designed for faculty, staff, and graduate students. We hope you drop in for silent writing with optional breakout rooms for discussion and feedback.
 

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Other Opportunites

Call for Work and Family Researchers Network Predoctoral Preconference Applications

On June 17, 2026, the Work and Family Researchers Network will hold a Pre-Doctoral Preconference at Concordia University in Montreal Canada during its 8th Biennial Conference. The Predoctoral Preconference will provide workshops intended to help graduate students form meaningful connections with diverse scholars, learn about publication strategies, as well as how to engage with stakeholders such as organizational leaders or policy advocates. Questions can be directed to organizers Wen Fan (wen.fan@bc.edu) and Jaeseung Kim (jkim1203@o365.skku.edu). Space is limited. Applications close January 15, 2026. Those selected to attend the preconference will be notified in February 2026. Information about the 2026 WFRN conference and the preconference application can be found on the website. 

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Book Drive in collaboration with the Trotter Multicultural Center
NCID is conducting a book drive in collaboration with the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center. We are asking members of the DSN to donate books (new and gently used) to assist in creating an independent in-house library at Trotter, which will center books addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility topics and/or banned books. We would welcome, and are especially interested in, books that you have authored or edited. 

We see this book drive as an opportunity to extend your reach as scholars and to place your books directly in the hands of students interested in the topics you research. In addition, we would like to use this book drive to offer the students who frequent the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center with words of inspiration, affirmation, and guidance. 

To that end, we invite those who donate to write a note of inspiration to the students inside the cover of your donated text… to say the words that you would have loved to hear as a student, to present students with messages of hope, to explain what you got out of reading the book to persuade someone to read it as well, or to offer what you (as the author of the text) hope a reader would gain from reading it.

Anyone interested in donating can bring their books to the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center front desk or send their books to Trotter, which is located at 428 S. State Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and closed on the weekends through the summer. You can find continued communication about this event here.