Global Insecurities: Emerging security challenges in a nexus between networks and remoteness. An international conference hosted by the Global Insecurities Centre, at the University of Bristol, on the 21-22 November 2014. This interdisciplinary conference invites academics and practitioners at all career stages and particularly encourages applications from postgraduate research students. Panels will be chaired by leading academics and practitioners. There will also be a series of training workshops available for postgraduate students.

Call for papers

The Global Insecurities Centre, at the University of Bristol, is delighted to invite you to a two day conference in November to explore the nexus between networks and remoteness in the second decade of the 21st century. The conference will facilitate interaction between scholars, particularly postgraduate students, career academics and those within the policy sphere, with the aim of encouraging the formation of a new and exciting research stream on global insecurities.

The study of global insecurities allows for a broader and more open-ended discussion of prevalent and diverse emerging security issues, a discussion not restricted by the intellectual territoriality that pervades both traditional and critical security studies. As NATO’s campaign in Afghanistan draws to a close and the focus of academics and practitioners alike shifts to new security challenges, one is confronted by a new environment characterised by (in)security networks on the one hand and the remoteness of engagement on the other. After the Welcome Address from Prof Timothy Edmunds, the Opening Keynote will be delivered by Prof Mark Duffield, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Global Insecurities Centre. Prof Duffield is author of Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security (2001) and Development, Security and Unending War: Governing the World of Peoples (2007). Aside from a distinguished academic career, Prof Duffield was Oxfam’s Country Representative in Sudan during the 1980s.

The Opening Keynote will be followed by Keynote Addresses from internationally-experienced critical scholars Dr Lara Coleman (University of Sussex), Dr Brad Evans (University of Bristol) and IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor Jake Lynch (University of Sydney). These Keynotes will go to the heart of what the GIC’s research philosophy is about, combining practical experience with theoretical rigour in order to analyse some of the core themes of global insecurities today.

Postgraduate research students are particularly encouraged to attend the conference. While panels will be chaired by leading academics, it is hoped that a large majority of the debate at the conference will be generated by papers presented by postgraduate students. In addition, the conference will feature skills workshops for postgraduate researchers as well as policy panels with talks from practitioners in roles related to global insecurities, allowing postgraduate students to interact with the full spectrum of actors in the global insecurities field. We welcome papers from the disciplines of International Relations, Human Rights, Politics, Anthropology, Security Studies, International Development, Sociology, Law, History, Archaeology, and related fields, with a focus upon interaction within the following themes:

Remote Peacebuilding and NGOs (Conceptions of liberal and illiberal peacebuilding; The role of local and international NGOs, donors and IOs; Post-war and post-conflict societies and positive and negative peace; The role of the UN and the EU in global governance; The interplay between development, peace and security; Problematisations of civil society)

Remote and New Forms of War (Drone warfare; Cyber warfare; Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and explosive threats; Offshore balancing)

Gender, Sexuality and Global Insecurities (Masculine and feminine imagery in militaries and other combatant; organisations; Gender and sexuality in conflict zones and post-conflict reconstruction)

Please apply by 30 September 2014 using the application form available at http://www.globalinsecurities.com/apply/speaker/.

We recommend panel submissions of up to five participants and these should be emailed directly to Mr Gilberto Algar-Faria at gic-conference@bristol.ac.uk. Panel submissions should include a panel rationale of 250 words in addition to the details requested on the application form for each paper.

A number of bursaries are available for postgraduate students demonstrating innovation and originality to contribute towards expenses. Please indicate on the application form if you would like to be considered for a bursary. We are pleased to be able to offer a prize to the best postgraduate paper of the conference. Please see the website for further details.

 Deadline for proposals: 30 September 2014

Conference fee: £5 (BISA members); £25 (all others)

Conference website: http://www.globalinsecurities.com   

Contact details: Gilberto Algar-Faria (gic-conference@bristol.ac.uk)