UKIE2025: UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association 2025 Annual Event Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow & Online Glasgow, UK, June 17-18, 2025

The UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association is pleased to announce the call for proposals for the 2025 Annual Event, to be held at University of Glasgow from 17-18 June 2025 with selected sessions streamed online.The theme for this year’s event is Collaboration beyond Boundaries.

Key Information:

• Abstract submission deadline: 15 January 2025
• Notification of acceptance: 7 March 2025
• Conference dates: 17-18 June 2025
• Location: University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

The last decade has seen a push towards collaborative working across the arts and humanities, with a number of large-scale digital projects tackling increasingly ambitious research agendas. These collaborations have unlocked exciting opportunities for researchers and practitioners, bringing together communities of practice to develop new methodologies, tools, and knowledge. Universities and cultural heritage organisations have invested in centres or spaces to encourage collaborative approaches, including the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow where the 2025 Annual Event will be hosted.

At the same time, this increased emphasis on collaborative working has highlighted persistent questions for the field including how credit is distributed within teams, what the appropriate career incentives are for all staff working on projects, the continued reliance on fixed-term contracts, and the challenges of communicating between disciplines. As institutions grapple with developments in AI, questions about collaboration with non-human agents have also come to the forefront. When we talk about collaboration then, whose voices are heard and whose are left out?

This year’s event invites contributors to reflect on the theme of Collaboration, and to consider how we understand this core value of the Association. We encourage contributions that address practices that bring together resources, skills and people interested in the digital humanities across and beyond disciplinary boundaries. Our aim is to promote interdisciplinary conversations that foster broader understandings of digital methods, practices and technologies and enable critical reflections about the collaborative approaches to cultural heritage and  arts & humanities research and practice.

The Association is working to develop an approach to collaboration that supports partnerships, networking and creative practice across the humanities, cultural heritage, and cultural & creative industries. As such, we especially encourage submissions that consider collaborations across disciplinary bounds - where research software engineers, computer and data scientists, cultural heritage professionals, designers, artists and other practitioners form a key part of the research team. We welcome contributions that reflect on positive collaboration strategies and outcomes. At the same time, we invite submissions that consider both the challenges and affordances of interdisciplinary collaboration in the digital humanities, for example in terms of languages, outcome expectations and working cultures. 

We invite all those using digital methods and strategies in the arts, humanities, cultural heritage sector, and creative & cultural industries to submit a proposal. We particularly welcome proposals from students and early-career researchers and professionals.

In addition to proposals in any of the formats outlined below, we also encourage submissions that take a creative-critical approach or don’t fit in ‘traditional’ conference formats. This includes proposals that make use of eXtended reality (XR), virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR).

The event will also provide an opportunity for researchers, professionals, practitioners and students from Ireland and the United Kingdom to deepen existing relationships and create new pathways for collaboration. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the Community Interest Groups. 

The Association plans to award a number of bursaries to support in-person attendance at the Annual Event. The bursaries are to make the event more accessible to those who would otherwise be unable to attend, with preference given to those who will be presenting at the event. Affordable accommodation will also be available to attendees. Further details to be announced via the Association website.

The programme will be announced and registration for both in-person and online attendees will open later in the spring. 

Submission Guidelines

For the Annual Event, we welcome four types of proposals: talks, panel or roundtable sessions, posters or demos, and provocations or pitches. We also welcome proposals for sessions that don’t fit neatly into a traditional format. Please indicate which category of presentation you are submitting in your proposal. Proposals should adhere to the word count indicated and be submitted in PDF format via EasyChair. References and/or bibliography are excluded from the word counts. 

1. Talks (200 - 300 words)
   1. Talks are traditional presentations, often with slides or similar, lasting 20 minutes. 
   2. Submissions will be grouped with others on similar subjects or themes to form a complete session. There will be time allotted at the end of each session for questions and discussion.
2. Panel or roundtable session (300 - 500 words, plus 150 words per presentation)
   1. We welcome either panels with 3-4 presentations or roundtable discussions where a small group of panellists discuss a specific theme. Both panels and roundtables should last 75 minutes. 
   2. The proposal should have 300-500 words explaining the session topic, as well as 150 words describing each presentation. If proposing a roundtable, please instead include a brief biography for each participant. 
3. Poster/Demo (200 - 300 words)
   1. We welcome proposals for posters or demos. These can take the form of traditional printed posters, digital-only posters, digital tool showcases, or software demonstrations. Please indicate the form your presentation will take in your submission and whether you would like to do a short 1- or 2-minute introduction at the start of the poster/demo session.
   2. If you propose a tool showcase or software demonstration, please include details of the technical equipment required. There will be some desktop computers (likely PCs, with internet connection) available for use in the venue, but participants will be expected to provide any other equipment for their proposed demonstration.
   3. If you propose a demonstration that involves virtual reality (VR) headsets or similar technology that would require floor space to use, please include details of the amount of space required. We hope to be able to use the ARC-XR Lab at the University of Glasgow for VR demonstrations and so would welcome submissions that would be able to utilise this space.
4. Provocations & Pitches (200 - 300 words)
   1. ‘Pitches’ are an opportunity to share a project idea you are working on. Are you looking for feedback before submitting an application? Interested in finding project partners? 
   2. ‘Provocations’ are an opportunity to jump-start a conversation or test out a new idea. 
   3. Proposals should indicate whether it is a pitch or provocation. Each person will have 5 minutes to present. There will be time for questions & discussion at the end of the session.
5. Other session (no longer than 750 words)
   1. Do you have an idea for a session that doesn’t fit in one of the other formats? We’re interested in hearing about it!
   2. Proposals should describe the session format, content, and any technical or logistical needs. Sessions should be no more than 90 minutes. If you have questions about what might be feasible, please get in touch at uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk.

Proposals will be reviewed by members of the programme committee. The peer review process will be double-blind, so we ask that no names appear on the submitted PDFs. The one exception is proposals for roundtable sessions, which should include the names of proposed participants.

The Association welcomes proposals in English and Gaelic, with presentations to be made in either language. A Gaelic version of the CFP is also available here. We plan to offer a portion of the conference in Gaelic, with live English subtitles.

The Association recognises the importance of multilingualism in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. With the event being hosted in Scotland this year, and taking advantage of the expertise available at the University of Glasgow we are focusing on ensuring we can dedicate appropriate resources to effectively support participation in both Gaelic and English during the event. Our hope is that in future years we can offer opportunities for participation in other languages. We warmly welcome any suggestions or feedback on how the process goes this year and how to better incorporate multilingualism into the Association’s events.

Organising Committee

• Francesca Benatti (The Open University)
• Michael Donnay (School of Advanced Study)
• Tim Duguid (University of Glasgow)
• Jennifer Edmond (Trinity College Dublin)
• Pedro Fernandez (University College Cork)
• Paul Gooding (University of Glasgow)
• Andrew Johnstone (King's College London)
• Erin McCarthy (University of Galway)
• Kristen Schuster (University of Southampton)
• Chen Qu (University of Cambridge)

Venue

The event will be held at University of Glasgow from 17-18 June 2025 with selected sessions streamed online.

The conference will primarily be an in-person event. However, we recognise the importance of remote participation to support inclusive access and so we plan to livestream the main elements of the programme for attendees to view online. We will do our best to ensure that both in-person and virtual participants will have a rewarding and valuable experience. We may not be able to livestream breakout sessions, working meetings, or other portions of the event, such as the posters/demos session. If you have specific questions about accessibility and inclusion, please contact the Programme Committee at uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk.

If your proposal is accepted for inclusion in the conference, but you are not able to travel to Glasgow, we are happy to discuss arrangements for making a virtual presentation on a case-by-case basis. There will be a place in the submission portal to indicate whether you can attend in-person. If you have any questions, please contact the Programme Committee at uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk.

Contact

If you have any questions, please email uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk.