call for proposals: social study of microbes conference, Helsinki 19-22 Oct 2026
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Maya Hey
Dec 15, 2025, 2:32:05 PM (yesterday) Dec 15
to CANAD...@yorku.ca
Dear friends and colleagues,
We are excited to invite submissions for our conference on the social study of microbes, taking place in Helsinki, Finland, 19-22 October 2025 as an in-person gathering. Details about our conference theme, submission process, and key dates can be found below, as well as on the conference website. Please spread the word to scholars who identify with this area of research, as well as the microbially curious. The first round of submissions will close on 30 January 2026.
CONFERENCE THEME
We are excited to invite submissions for our conference on the social study of microbes, taking place in Helsinki, Finland, 19-22 October 2025 as an in-person gathering. Details about our conference theme, submission process, and key dates can be found below, as well as on the conference website. Please spread the word to scholars who identify with this area of research, as well as the microbially curious. The first round of submissions will close on 30 January 2026.
CONFERENCE THEME
Theories and Methods for the Social Study of Microbes
The last two decades have seen the formation of the social study of microbes (SSM), an area that draws on scientific, practitioner, and lay understandings of microbes beyond the pathogenic, and toward their recognition as active, lively, and agential actors that contribute to health, ecosystems, regulations, and mundane everyday practices. Understanding that all social life has a microbial element requires a more complex understanding of microbes across scientific and everyday domains. Since 2022, the Centre for the Social Study of Microbes (CSSM) has served as hub for researchers in the social sciences and humanities, and artists interested in research on human-microbial relations. Aware that there are many likeminded researchers and artists beyond CSSM who are a part of the development of SSM’s theories and methods, this conference offers a space to share tools for studying human-microbial relations. Throughout four days of activities, this conference will not only offer a space to share your work, but also opportunities to discuss your theories and methods vis-à-vis microbes and expand your research trajectory in conversation with peers in the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. We look forward to seeing familiar faces, but we are especially keen to meet new researchers in this burgeoning area of inquiry.
SUBMISSIONS
We welcome proposals from researchers in social sciences, humanities, and arts to share their work on critical and creative approaches for knowing microbes. Participants can submit their ideas in one of five formats:
Type I Presentations
1. Open panels
2. Closed panels of ~4 papers
3. Practice-based & participatory sessions, such as:
- Workshops
- Making & Doing Sessions
- Immersive and/or experiential performances
- Artistic/creative presentations that showcase a microbial method, prototype, or practice
Type II Presentations
4. Flash talks
5. Writeshops
The last two decades have seen the formation of the social study of microbes (SSM), an area that draws on scientific, practitioner, and lay understandings of microbes beyond the pathogenic, and toward their recognition as active, lively, and agential actors that contribute to health, ecosystems, regulations, and mundane everyday practices. Understanding that all social life has a microbial element requires a more complex understanding of microbes across scientific and everyday domains. Since 2022, the Centre for the Social Study of Microbes (CSSM) has served as hub for researchers in the social sciences and humanities, and artists interested in research on human-microbial relations. Aware that there are many likeminded researchers and artists beyond CSSM who are a part of the development of SSM’s theories and methods, this conference offers a space to share tools for studying human-microbial relations. Throughout four days of activities, this conference will not only offer a space to share your work, but also opportunities to discuss your theories and methods vis-à-vis microbes and expand your research trajectory in conversation with peers in the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. We look forward to seeing familiar faces, but we are especially keen to meet new researchers in this burgeoning area of inquiry.
SUBMISSIONS
We welcome proposals from researchers in social sciences, humanities, and arts to share their work on critical and creative approaches for knowing microbes. Participants can submit their ideas in one of five formats:
Type I Presentations
1. Open panels
2. Closed panels of ~4 papers
3. Practice-based & participatory sessions, such as:
- Workshops
- Making & Doing Sessions
- Immersive and/or experiential performances
- Artistic/creative presentations that showcase a microbial method, prototype, or practice
Type II Presentations
4. Flash talks
5. Writeshops
- designed to provide time and space for collaboration towards the development of methods and theory for the social study of microbes
Submit your proposal on our submission platform, using the templates provided.
KEY DATES
15 December 2025. Call for proposals in Type I presentations: open panel themes and convenors; closed panels with full papers; and practice-participatory sessions.
30 January 2026. Call for Type I presentations close with decisions in early March.
02 March 2026. Call for papers into open panels and proposals in Type II presentations: flash talks, and writeshops.
24 April 2026. Call for Type II presentations close with decisions in early June.
01 June 2026. Registration opens
15 August 2026. Registration closes.
19-22 October 2026. Conference dates.
FOR MORE INFORMATION / QUICK LINKS
Please contact our conference team at cssm...@helsinki.fi or visit the conference website.
Submit your proposal on our submission platform, using the templates provided.
KEY DATES
15 December 2025. Call for proposals in Type I presentations: open panel themes and convenors; closed panels with full papers; and practice-participatory sessions.
30 January 2026. Call for Type I presentations close with decisions in early March.
02 March 2026. Call for papers into open panels and proposals in Type II presentations: flash talks, and writeshops.
24 April 2026. Call for Type II presentations close with decisions in early June.
01 June 2026. Registration opens
15 August 2026. Registration closes.
19-22 October 2026. Conference dates.
FOR MORE INFORMATION / QUICK LINKS
Please contact our conference team at cssm...@helsinki.fi or visit the conference website.
Conference website https://blogs.helsinki.fi/cssm-conference/
Submission platform https://www.lyyti.in/CSSM_Conference_2026__call_round_1_2276
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