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Call for proposals for 2024-25 series

Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork is a series of informal academic talks and events organised by the Fieldwork Research Group in ILCS (Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies) providing a platform for discussions on fieldwork-based research.   

The seminar series offers an online space to explore the processes we engage with on the journey towards producing our published research outputs, including all the stages involved in preparing for fieldwork in geographical, virtual or un-sited fields. From the aspirations and expectations that precede fieldwork, through the unpredictable circumstances of conducting the research, the scope of the series is wide and includes research design, funding, logistical preparations for engaging in fieldwork, dealing with the unexpected challenges, the emotional impacts of the work, the multiple rewards of fieldwork collaboration and co-production, and methods for analysing, cataloguing, and storing information during fieldwork. And, in the aftermath of fieldwork, we discuss how we select what goes into the final ‘polished’ output, which may require us to excise experiences and knowledge accumulated during fieldwork. Behind-the-Scenes is a space where we can look at all facets of fieldwork, including those which remain unpublished or unacknowledged.  

We invite proposals on any aspect - ethical, theoretical, practical, emotional, or other - of fieldwork-based research, for an online presentation of up to 30 minutes. We encourage speakers to draw from their lived experiences of navigating the spaces and situations that constitute their fieldwork universe and to discuss the relevance of these findings in fieldwork design, theory and practice. The presentation is followed by discussion and all participants are encouraged to engage actively and supportively in the week’s Conversation sharing from their own experiences, or for participants planning to undertake fieldwork-based research for the first time, from their own expectations. 

The sessions are hosted online and participants are sent a link by email to join the event after registering for the session at ILCS. Sessions last 60 minutes and are held on Wednesdays in term-time between 18:00 and 19:00 hours UK time.   

Proposals are invited from colleagues at any stage in their career, working in academic or other institutions, and doctoral candidates and early career researchers are very welcome to submit a proposal.  Please submit your proposal in the following format: 

1) speaker’s name and contact details  
2) a working title for the seminar  
3) a short summary of the presentation (200 words)  
4) a brief bio of the speaker (50-100 words).  

Details of previous series are available on the Institute’s webpages.

Please send your proposal by Friday 27 September 2024 to co-convenors Prof Claire Griffiths at c.griffiths@chester.ac.uk and Dr Kaya Davies Hayon at kaya.davies-hayon@open.ac.uk.