Call For Papers

Call (now closed, but here for reference)

Virtually undisciplined is the bi-annual conference for Women in Academia Support Network (WIASN). WIASN exists to promote gender equity in Higher Education and Research.

The theme of this conference is situated around interconnectivity and diversity; with particular regard to an intersectional approach to gender diversity that must include race, religion, sex, disability and class.

Of course this conference takes part in the context of the Covid global pandemic. The pandemic has already had a disproportionate impact on women and other marginalised and Systematically excluded groups and the fall out of this will be felt for many years to come. The Covid 19 pandemic has raised potentials and problems with regard to interconnectivity and diversity. For example, the online pivot enabled us all to work from home but also exposed ableism, where the reasonable adjustment of homeworking that was denied to many disabled academics was suddenly easily granted to all.

WIASN assert that global issues can only be properly addressed by a diverse and interconnected research culture. So how can a more interconnected (globally, digitally, interdisciplinary) research and academic community foster ways in which we value, embrace and leverage diversity (which includes the unconventional)? This conference asks what are the potential and pitfalls to achieving this?

In this conference we particularly welcome papers, performance, artistic representations, play/games/playful activities and practical workshops that address either of these strands or a combination.

Diversity of:

  • The academic/research community: Equality, diversity, inclusion and access – particularly personal stories of gender in/equity and also asking what policies, support, and culture change could or have helped.

  • Research Methods

  • Teaching

  • Impact and Engagement

  • Academic and research culture (how can we envisage Higher education and research differently?, failure as thriving, caring institutions, celebrating the unconventional)

  • Thought -Extreme interdisciplinarity (anything goes!)

Diversity through:

  • Interconnectivity /networking

  • Collaboration

  • Engagement

  • Social media (Academics on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, social media as method etc.)

*Selected papers will be included in a conference book published by Emerald Global Publishing. Timescales tbc.

Presentation formats/timings

You can present your paper/performance/playful provocation etc. in the following ways. Please indicate which in your conference submission.

  • Workshop /round table (multiple presenters) 1 hour

  • Presentation / performance / playful provocation 20 minute presentation

  • Pecha Kucha (20 images / 30 seconds) 6 mins 40 seconds

Slides change automatically and the speaker must synchronise their speech with the images. It’s sometimes also called a 20×20 presentation. So the entire presentation always lasts for exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

  • Posters, artistic renderings (photographs, drawing, sculptures etc.) must be submitted as high resolution images i.e. PDF or Jpeg.