Call for Panels and Abstracts / Papers and Posters

Conference Title: Development in the Interregnum: Past, Present, and Future(s)

 

Conference Theme:

International development is at an inflection point with the current conjuncture defined by a conflation of interacting destructive forces, disruptions, uncertainties, and opportunities for change.  Geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting with new actors and institutions now influencing the postwar development cooperation regime. Multilateralism and the liberal international order are crumbling while the rise of China and South-South development cooperation is influencing a profound shift in development thinking. This coincides with a renewed role for the state, state interventionism and the increasing influence of state capitalism in development cooperation. Political convulsions in some of the longest-standing democracies are birthing discourses that actively undermine fundamental democratic principles, commitments to global cooperation and universal values, instead seeing a rise of isolationism and withdrawal from international institutions. As the impacts of climate change unfold, a series of sharp intersecting inequalities fuelled by uneven and combined development continues to accelerate. These interacting, intersecting events and transformations hold profound implications for international development cooperation governance and practices. 

This conference examines how, why, and in what ways the contemporary conjuncture can be understood, and what possibilities and future pathways exist for development cooperation. It explores discursive framings, structural features, and agent-based possibilities and mechanisms embedded within the current order that could shift the focus from conflict, crisis, and competition, toward cooperation, consensus, and community

These dynamics present both challenges and opportunities. They raise critical questions about the future of development: How are power, norms, and practices in international development shifting? What discursive and material possibilities exist to reimagine development beyond crisis? What role can cooperation, consensus, and community play in reframing the purpose and practice of development in a rapidly changing world?

We invite proposals for panels, individual papers and posters that interrogate these pressing questions through diverse disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological lenses. Contributions may address (but are not limited to) the following themes:

  • Geopolitical shifts and implications for development cooperation
  • The rise of new development actors and South-South cooperation
  • Climate change, ecological crises, and planetary futures
  • Inequality, race, and uneven development
  • The crisis of multilateralism and global governance
  • State capitalism, interventionism, and the reconfiguration of state roles
  • Rising authoritarianism, democratic backsliding, and development discourse
  • Epistemological and ontological challenges to Western-centric development paradigms
  • Futurisms, imaginaries, and alternative development trajectories

We welcome participation from scholars across disciplines including development studies, international and global studies, geography, political science, sociology, anthropology, and other cognate social sciences. Also welcome are activist and practitioner led research contributions and transdisciplinary research collaborative outputs.

 

Submission Guidelines:

All submission must be submitted electronically as a word file attachment to admin@dsaireland.org by 12 noon on Tuesday 30th September 2025.

  • Panel Proposals should include:
    • Title of the panel
    • Abstract (400-500 words) outlining the panel theme and relevance to the conference
    • Titles and abstracts (200 - 300  words) of 3–4 proposed papers
    • Four to six keywords
    • Full titles, names, and affiliations of the panel organiser(s)
    • Primary email address for all correspondence
    • Short bios of panel participants (max 100 words each)
  • Individual Abstract / Paper / Poster Proposals should include:
    • Title of the abstract / paper / poster
    • Abstract in 250 - 300 words
    • Four to six keywords
    • Full titles, names, and affiliations of the author(s)
    • Primary email address for all correspondence
    • Short bio (max 100 words)

Note: this is an in-person event however, in certain circumstances online presentations may be granted for international presenters. Please include in your submission if you are seeking to present virtually.

Deadline for submissions: midday, 30th September 2025

Notification of acceptance: 31st October 2025

Please notify us if you need to be advised earlier for visa and or funding purposes.

Conference Dates: 15th & 16th January 2026
Location: Trinity College Dublin

For inquiries, contact: admin@dsaireland.org & info@dsaireland.org