A third CFP

I promise, the last one today

Contexts, Fields, Positions: Situating Cultural Research
Postgraduate Conference, University of East London
25-26 May 2006

This conference will provide an opportunity to consider how research contexts shape our study of culture. In the humanities and social sciences researchers think about and deploy the concept of culture in different ways, and this is what we want to explore. We refer to 'research contexts' in their broadest sense, including cultural, institutional and disciplinary locations, theoretical positions and methodologies. How do the conditions created and maintained within these contexts determine or shape our object of study?

Questions central to this conference are:

* What kinds of analysis of culture are possible in different cultural, institutional and disciplinary contexts?
* How has your research situation constituted the methods and findings of your research?
* How has your theoretical framework helped you to select the subject you are researching and directed the approach you have taken?
* What concepts of culture circulate in your field? How do these relate to other concepts such society, politics, history, nation, experience, and memory? And what are the connections between these and theorisations of identity?
* Is your work part of an intellectual tradition? Has it been shaped by contemporary academic trends? Are your research interest strategic, and if so what has conditioned them?
* Are there other contexts which have shaped your research but are not widely recognised as significant?
* We expect the conference theme to be broadly interpreted. Some speakers may choose to focus on the findings of their research, while others may wish to address their methodological or theoretical approaches. Primarily, this conference presents an opportunity to reflect on the factors which have organised and shaped your research in a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment. It is open to postgraduate students from all disciplines and at all stages in their study.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Professor Derek Robbins, University of East London, 'The Conflict of the Faculties'
Dr Joanna Zylinksa, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 'Beyond Moralism: Cultural Studies, Politics, Ethics'

'Contexts, Fields, Positions' is a postgraduate conference organised by postgraduate students in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, East London. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the Collaborative Training Provision scheme. The conference will be held at the University's Docklands Campus.

To apply please submit an abstract of 300 words (for a 20 minute paper), or a panel proposal (3 papers).

By email: conference2006@uel.ac.uk or by post to: Karen Cross / Rebecca Bramall, School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, University of East London, Docklands Campus, 4-6 University Way, London E16 2RD.

More info: http://www.uel.ac.uk/ssmcs/research/cfp/index.htm

When submitting your application please include the following details:
Name:
University:
Title of paper:
Abstract:
Contact telephone number:
Postal address:
Email address:
IT/AV request:

Deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2006

The conference will be free to attend. We are also please to offer a limited number of travel bursaries for students living outside London. If you wish to be considered, please submit a brief statement outlining your reasons (maximum 50 words).

Another CFP - specially for Frances

Is it a good idea to put Calls for Papers here rather than emailing?


The History of Art Department at the University of Birmingham is organising its first one-day postgraduate-led conference on all aspects of eighteenth-century art and visual culture, and invites proposals for 20-minute student papers.

The conference will be a valuable opportunity for students of eighteenth-century art to share their research in a friendly environment, gain new ideas, prompt new directions in their studies, and to network with others.

To coincide with the conference there will be an exhibition of eighteenth-century illustrated travel literature, selected from the collections of the Barber Art Library and Birmingham University Library’s Special Collections. All speakers and delegates will have the opportunity to visit this exhibition. They will also be able to enjoy the wider collections of the Barber Institute in which the History of Art Department is situated. The Barber has particularly outstanding holdings of eighteenth-century art.

Proposals of around 300 words in length, along with your name, contact details and institutional affiliation, should be sent to Caroline Walker: caroline@glyncotts.freeserve.co.uk, by the closing date of 1 February 2006.

The conference is being held with the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and the University of Birmingham Postgraduate Centre.

Journeys Across Media: Manifestations of Media Technology

From Nathalie:

Journeys Across Media: Manifestations of Media Technology
JAM 2006 at the University of Reading
Friday 21 April 2006

CALL FOR PAPERS
Journeys Across Media (JAM) is an annual one-day conference based in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading, organised by and for postgraduate students on a national and international level, which aims to provide a discussion forum for current research in the areas of film, theatre, television and 'new media'.

Established in 2003, JAM has proven successful in providing an opportunity for postgraduate students to gain experience in presenting aspects of their research as a conference paper within a friendly environment. This is the fourth consecutive year that this highly popular event is happening, and we warmly invite postgraduates working on film, theatre, television and 'new media' to submit proposals on the theme outlined below.

Experimentation with and exploration of New Media technologies has generated a growing interest in the study of apparatus within the visual arts. New technologies often share traits with older forms and this connection has led scholars to the comparative study of technological innovations within the history of media. Whilst significant work has been produced on the use of sound and lighting, further technical aspects of theatre, the practices and possibilities of the camera, CGI, etc, there is much scope for greater exploration. Technology has been seen as essential to the study of texts and the increasingly self-reflexive character of cultural products has transformed the apparatus itself into a visual sign with further implications. The main purpose of this year's JAM conference is to bring to
the fore the uses and abuses of old and new technologies in cinema, video art, television and theatre and to situate them within critical and cultural approaches.

Technological apparatus to consider might include cameras, film stock or video formats, sound recording methods, lighting, vision mixing, chromakey or stage and studio apparatus, as well as digital and new media technologies.

Possible questions to address:

.. How are the technologies used in film, television, new media or theatre
practices encoded in the meaning, style or aesthetic of a work?
.. What are the advantages and limitations of a specific technical apparatus?
.. How does technical equipment or a technological process increase, enhance or alter the possibilities of representation? Relevant issues might include a technology's interaction with performance or its effect on visual and audio style as well as the various applications of digital compositing and animation.
.. How does the combination of different media technologies, or 'intermedialities' create new aesthetic or ontological considerations?
.. How is technology used self-reflexively in a media text?
.. How are the properties of different media formats, such as DVD and video exploited within the marketing and packaging of media works and what effect does this have on the original text?

The day is expected to run from 10am to 5pm.

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes. Please send abstracts of approximately 250 words plus a biographical note by Monday 30th January 2006

to:

Leah Panos/Kostas Kostantinidis
The Department of Film, Theatre & Television
University of Reading
Bulmershe Court
Reading, RG6 1HY
or e-mail JAM2006@hotmail.co.uk
Visit the JAM2006 website http://www.rdg.ac.uk/fd/research/jam.htm#JAM_2006
for a registration form.

Blogs for research

Hoping they inspire you to write, here are the URLS of some of the blogs Helen and I discussed on the Information Management session of the training programme.

PhD weblogs: Specially the entry entitled I did a PhD and did NOT go mad


Research Blogs: Although it is a bit out of date, I still find some of the links on this page useful


Anne Galloway's PhD blog: This is one of the examples I showed in the training session. Anne is currently very close to completion and her progress is gripping. I think she strikes a good balance between the research content and process and she has a very good writing style.

Number 73 Bus: This blog is part of a research project that takes place in the INCITE lab at the University of Surrey. Apart from thematically interesting, it is a very visual research log.

Textiles PhD

Dear all,

Following today's session on the artefact, here's are the details of the textiles research student I was talking about:

Zane Berzina, PhD
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Skin Stories: Research Using Analogies of Human Skin Tissue in Relation to Textile Practice

For an outline of her PhD, click here

Supervisor: Dr Frances Geesin. More info on Frances here

The artefact

In preparation for next week's training session (15 November) on the artefact, could you please read 2 papers of this list and be ready to introduce them (summary and critical comment) to the group next week?

Research into Practice: the role of the artefact in Art and Design research

Let me know if you have any troubles or need further guidance.

L.