Call for sessions for RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2017

The Acting Committee of the new DGWG invites proposals for sessions to be sponsored by the DGWG at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

The RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2017 will take place from 29 August to 1 September at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London. It will be chaired by Professor Sarah Radcliffe (University of Cambridge), and will have as its theme ‘Decolonising Geographical Knowledges: Opening Geography out to the World’. The call for sessions at the conference has recently opened (see below and see www.rgs.org/AC2017 for more information).

Members of the newly formed DGWG and anybody working on digital topics (including e.g. digital technologies, data, online spaces, social media), both in the geographical and related communities, are invited to propose sessions. We would welcome joint sessions with other research groups. Proposals should relate to debates, literatures or approaches around the digital, preferably linking this in some way to the 2017 conference theme, although this is not absolutely necessary.

Sessions may take the form of presented papers, panels, practitioner forums, discussions or workshops. Innovative sessions and formats are encouraged.

Proposals for, or questions about, DGWG sponsored sessions should be sent to Dorothea Kleine.

Proposals should be submitted on the RGS Session Proposal form (available here) by 6 January 2017 (note that this deadline has been extended).

They should comprise

(i) Title of session;
(ii) Name of Co-sponsoring groups, if applicable
(iii) Name and Contact Details for Session Convenors
(iv) Abstract, outlining scope of session  – 200 words max
(v) Number of session timeslots that are sought – this year session may not normally occupy more than 2 time slots.
(vi) Indication, if known, of preferred organization of session, e.g. 4 x 20min presentation, plus 20min discussion or 5 x 15min presentation, with 5min question for each, we would encourage you to be creative in your use of the format. Sessions last 1 hour 40 mins (see here for some great ideas on session formats)
(vii) Indication, if known for any non-standard arrangements.

The DGWG can sponsor a total of 12 conference sessions.

Please also note that individuals may not make more than two substantive contributions to the conference (where a substantive contribution is: organiser of a session of any number of timeslots; paper/poster presentation of any length; panel member). Acting as chair/facilitator or discussant, or being a non-presenting co-author is excluded from this limit, though multiple roles in these categories this can have a significant impact on scheduling.

As per previous years, the RGS is able to provide a limited number of passes for those who would be otherwise unable to attend due to the costs involved. As such we encourage you to think about the inclusion of international contributors and non-academics in your session.

We will confirm whether we can sponsor your session by mid-January 2017

If your session is accepted for sponsorship you must secure participants and complete the required paperwork by 17th February 2017 at the latest (preferably earlier).