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University of Rochester/United States, 16-17 April 2026 Climate Havens: Humanistic Perspectives on Resilience, Migration, and Resources Symposium

We invite papers and forums/conversations proposals for the symposium Climate Havens: Humanistic Perspectives on Resilience, Migration, Community, and Resources from scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Climate Havens: Humanistic Perspectives on Resilience, Migration, and Resources Symposium

As climate risks intensify, the idea of “climate havens”—and the identification of regions like the Great Lakes as more resilient to environmental change—raises pressing questions about space, belonging, justice, resources, and community. This symposium will explore climate havens through historical, philosophical, artistic, literary, and cultural perspectives, organized around three central themes:

1. What Is a Haven?
This theme invites scholars to explore the idea of a haven as a place of collective refuge and communal resilience in an increasingly unstable world. How have havens been imagined during times of crisis, migration, or disaster throughout history, literature, art, and philosophy? What does it mean for a place to serve as a haven not just for individuals, but for communities seeking belonging, healing, and safety? How do havens inspire new forms of care, kinship, and solidarity?

2. Whose Haven Is It?
This theme examines the ethical and social dimensions of climate havens. Who is able to seek refuge in climate-resilient regions—and who is excluded? How do race, gender, class, and histories of dispossession shape who is welcomed, who is displaced, and who gets to participate in defining community? What happens to existing communities when newcomers arrive? We invite papers that explore how places of refuge are negotiated, contested, and reconstituted in the face of migration, inequality, and climate-driven change.

3. Climate Havens and Natural Resources
This theme focuses on the role of ecosystems and natural resources in shaping climate havens, with special attention to regions like the Great Lakes. How can sustainable management of water, land, and other resources support the development of just and resilient communities? How might Indigenous, local, and historical knowledge guide community-based approaches to ecological care and governance? We invite contributions that address the balance between environmental sustainability, human experience, and resource management in climate-resilient areas.

We are particularly interested in papers focusing on the Great Lakes region and addressing (but not limited to) the following topics and themes:
- Historical perspectives on havens and migration, including climate migration
- Social and political dimensions of water resources
- Indigenous knowledge and stewardship
- Environmental ethics and justice
- Gendered perspectives on havens/climate havens
- Narratives of home, belonging, and displacement
- Urbanization, migration, and planning for climate havens
- Cultural and ecological loss in climate migration
- "Slow disaster" and its relationship to climate migration

The symposium will be held across two days, with day 1 convening at the University of Rochester and day 2 at the Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)

We welcome submissions in the form of traditional papers as well as discussant-led interactive forums or guided conversations that engage with the proposed themes

Submission deadline: August 15 (applicants will be notified by September 30th)

Please submit your questions and papers to humanities@rochester.edu.

Selected papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume with the University of Rochester Press in the “Humanities in the World” Series https://www.sas.rochester.edu/humanities/programs/humanities-in-the-world.html

Presenters whose papers are selected for the symposium will receive small travel stipends, based on need; lodging and meals will be provided.

Contact Information
Tanya Bakhmetyeva, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Humanities Center
Professor of Instruction, Department of History
Professor, Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Rochester
Co-editor, “The Humanities in the World” series, University of Rochester Press

Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague/Czech Republic, 19-20 November 2025 Migrant Work beyond Categorization: Migrants and Refugees at Work in the 20th-Century East Central Europe

This workshop seeks to extend the scholarly debates on work in various migrant and refugee contexts. It focuses on the 20th-century East Central Europe as both a region of substantial emigration and immigration.

Migrant Work beyond Categorization: Migrants and Refugees at Work in the 20th-Century East Central Europe

The workshop is organized by the project “Migration and Us: Mobility, Refugeedom and Border from the Humanities Perspective (MyGRACE)“, registration number CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008741, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the Jan Amos Komenský Operational Programme (OP JAK), and co-financed by the European Union.

The separation of refugees from other migrants into a distinct legal category manifested in the institutional and administrative practice of refugee protection and its narrative framing. Accomplished by the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and reasserted in the following decades by the growing number of signatories, thus featuring in international and national refugee law, our understanding of who refugees are has endowed them with a set of civil, social, and political rights. However, conditioning refugee protection on the grounds of persecution “for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion,” the contemporary definition of refugees also bears implications for conceptualizing other migrations, including economic migration.

This workshop seeks to extend the scholarly debates on work in various migrant and refugee contexts. It focuses on the 20th-century East Central Europe as both a region of substantial emigration and immigration, yet, until recently, evading the academic spotlight. The workshop strives to explore the various motivations of people on the move, including social and economic reasons, reflecting their more and less voluntary choices. Conceptually, it thus advocates for bringing refugee and migration studies closer together and encourages a more inclusive analysis of migrant and refugee situations. First, it recognizes the impracticability of separating economic reasons for migration from political ones. Second, it highlights the essential role of labor integration and social welfare in refugeedom, both as an initial motive and a solution to the refugee situation.

A thriving concept in economic, legal, and social sciences as well as humanities, labor migration in historical research across periods (partial research notwithstanding) has not yet been appreciated in all its meanings, particularly relating to East Central Europe. Traditionally perceived as economically underdeveloped and subject to political upheaval, the region has rarely been depicted as offering new beginnings and attractive opportunities. Still, East Central Europe has not only produced migrants and refugees, but also provided space for their settlement and integration under various conditions, less or more equal with regard to citizens and other inhabitants.

Considering diverse local, national, and transnational situations, political settings, and migration and refugee regimes, the workshop aims to investigate the meanings and value of work – economic, political, social, and ideological – in the individual and group experiences of migrants and refugees and the receiving societies. Furthermore, it strives to uncover how these were permeated with their formal and informal status, citizenship agendas, existing hierarchies of ethnicity, class, and political persuasion, and personal and collective identities, and, finally, how they were translated into political, social, and civil rights in everyday practice.
We invite papers by historians, social and political scientists, and from other disciplines, discussing their research relating to the 20th-century East Central Europe that is focused on, but not limited to, the following facets of work in the context of migration and refugeedom:

- What role did labor play in the 20th-century experiences of migration and refugeedom in this region?
- How can different sources (archives, literature, press, egodocuments, etc) and various levels of analysis (including the emphasis on personal agency) influence our perception of such labor-related migrant and refugee situations?
- What theoretical and methodological implications does the categorization of migrants and various refugee definitions bring up in historical research?
- Historically, how did such categorization influence the status and rights of migrating groups and individuals?
- Can a more integrative history of labor migration in East Central Europe challenge the Western-oriented perspective?

Paper proposals (max. 250 words) and short bios (200 words), as well as any questions, should be directed to Nikola Tohma (tohma@mua.cas.cz).

Submission deadline: 31 July 2025

The decision on acceptance will be communicated by the end of August. The organizers will offer financial support for travel and accommodation.

Kontakt

tohma@mua.cas.cz

AI and Global Challenges. Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Meet Global Challenges Organizer: Jaimee Stuart, Ronald Musizvingoza (Emerging Media (Journal)) Host: Emerging Media (Journal) Country: United States Takes place: Digital Date: 01.07.2025 Deadline: 01.07.2025 Website: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/emmed   By Connections Redaktion, Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Universität Leipzig

This special issue seeks submissions that explore the role of AI in addressing global challenges, examining its potential to drive progress and the complications it introduces in meeting complex or wicked problems. We seek submissions that not only reflect on the insights from the conference but also expand upon them, offering fresh perspectives and analyses, innovative solutions and forward-thinking strategies.

AI and Global Challenges. Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Meet Global Challenges

Emerging Media is a SAGE open access peer-reviewed scholarly journal. The journal focuses on the exploration of the emerging issues and future development in the field of media and communication, both theoretically and practically. This journal will publish interdisciplinary research articles and leading trend discussions, particularly in conjunction with the field of artificial intelligence (AI), information and communication technologies (ICTs), new media application, computer science, mobile technology, user experience design, data science, aesthetics, ethical and cultural studies, as well as social and psychological perspectives. In addition, this journal is open to a diversity of theoretical paradigms and methodologies. The Journal will include high-quality work from the international community of scholars across the domain of relevant disciplines, free from any specific schools and/or particular paradigms. The Journal will avoid bias relating to age, gender identity, race, religion, and the like. In general, the scope of the journal includes the following three intertwined aspects: (1) media and technology; (2) industry and management; and (3) society and culture.

All accepted articles will be published OnlineFirst rapidly after acceptance and final editing. All articles are published Open Access without any APCs.

Guest Editors:

Jaimee Stuart, United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau)
Ronald Musizvingoza, United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau)

Description:

Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) hold the potential to transform development and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but AI also poses novel risks in meeting global challenges. To explore these issues, the United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau) convened a conference on April 25th, 2024, on the topic of AI for All: Bridging Divides, Building a Sustainable Future. Following the UNU Macau AI Conference 2024's theme of "AI for All" we seek submissions for a special issue that reflects the conference's comprehensive discussions on creating a sustainable future by utilizing AI to bridge divides across the Global South and Global North as well as the cultural East and West.

This special issue seeks submissions that explore the role of AI in addressing global challenges, examining its potential to drive progress and the complications it introduces in meeting complex or wicked problems. We seek submissions that not only reflect on the insights from the conference but also expand upon them, offering fresh perspectives and analyses, innovative solutions and forward-thinking strategies.

Key Content:

The special issue will cover a range of topics that reflect the conference’s thematic pillars, including but not limited to:

- AI for Sustainable Development: Investigating how AI can be leveraged to address global challenges, promote sustainability, and enhance social equity in alignment with the SDGs.
- AI in Healthcare: Exploring AI’s role in advancing medical research, diagnostics and treatment, while addressing privacy and ethical concerns.
- AI and Education: Assessing AI’s potential to support teaching and learning and its implications on educational systems.
- Ethical AI: Examining ethical considerations concerning the design and deployment of AI including bias, accountability, and transparency.
- AI Governance: Analyzing how AI can enhance public services and policymaking, alongside potential risks such as surveillance and decision-making autonomy.
- AI Technologies and Innovations: Highlighting the latest advancements and real-world applications of AI in various fields, including IoT, legal systems, and complex systems modeling.
- AI and Gender Equality: Critically examining AI systems and their link to gender equality.

Submission Process:

Submissions should be original, unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Interested authors should submit their full papers directly to the journal submission website below and select the special issue "AI and Global Challenged". Full papers will be published online-first on a rolling basis soon after acceptance. The journal offers full Open Access for submissions selected to the special issue without any Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Submission website: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/emmed

Submission deadline: 1 July 2025

Articles:

The special issue welcomes:

- Original research articles up to 10,000 words (including abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables, figures, and conflict of interest statement).
- Both empirical and conceptual papers are welcomed. All original research papers will undergo a rigorous, double-blind peer-review process, ensuring the highest standards of academic excellence.
- Colloquium papers between 3000 to 5000 words that offer opinion or op-ed style contributions in an organized discussion with academic or practical insights. Colloquium articles will be reviewed by the editorial team.
- Book reviews up to 3000 words that provide a brief evaluation of a published book on emerging media and communication associated with AI, providing our readers with an engaging discussion of the work. Book reviews will be reviewed by the editorial team.

Publication on Emerging Media is free of charge, no article processing fees.

Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina/United States, 29-31 May 2026

All Men Are Created Equal: Freedom, Slavery, and Race in the American Revolution

The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invites proposals for papers to be presented at its Seventeenth Annual Conference on the American Revolution. 

The conference will examine the experiences of African American people and the ideologies of freedom, slavery, and race in the War for American Independence and the founding of the United States. The SAR, as part of its Congressional mandate to encourage historical research, is sponsoring this conference in alliance with Wake Forest University.

In his 1776 essay Liberty Further Extended, Lemuel Haynes denied that “Liberty is so contracted a principle as to be Confin’d to any nation under Heaven; nay, I think it not hyperbolical to affirm, that Even an African, has Equally as good a right to his Liberty in common with Englishmen.” This Black patriot and soldier connected freedom, citizenship, and nation. How actors in the American Revolution experienced, articulated, or contested these ideas is the question that drives this conference.

The conference intends to examine perspectives from Black and White men and women aligned with the Patriots or Loyalists. We also invite comparisons between the young United States and the broader revolutionary Atlantic World.

The SAR invites proposals based on new research from graduate students, established scholars, and public history practitioners. 

Proposals should include a 250-word abstract introducing the author’s research and how their topic advances our field. Please include a short (two-page) vita. 

Submit proposals by October 1, 2025 to John Ruddiman, Department of History, Wake Forest University at Ruddimja@wfu.edu with the subject line “2026 SAR Conference.” Acceptances will be sent by early December 2025.

The SAR anticipates publication of the accepted, revised papers in an edited volume. To facilitate that, participants will submit their papers (approximately 5,000-6,000 words) for pre-circulation by May 1, 2026.

The SAR will offer a $500 honorarium and cover presenters’ travel and lodging expenses.

The 2026 SAR Annual Conference will honor Annette Gordon-Reed, Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. The SAR recognizes her distinguished scholarship and public service in history, especially to the histories of race, slavery, and the pursuit of dignity and liberty in the Revolutionary generation.

Contact Information

John Ruddiman
Wake Forest University