Call for panels are open from 15 September to 3 November 2025
Please read the information below and then click the button that follows to reach the proposal form.
Do panels have to be on the conference theme?
While adherence to the conference theme is NOT a criteria for panel selection, EASA encourages convenors (those proposing/organising a panel) to make an effort to address issues outlined in the theme.
Conference format
EASA2026 is a fully hybrid conference: all plenaries, lectures, panels, roundtables, network meetings, and even some of the events/workshops will be streamed on Zoom. Delegates will be able to choose between online participation and face-to-face participation when they register for the conference. Proposals should be made with this hybridity in mind.
Panel format
Convenors must also select a panel format at the beginning of the submission process. EASA encourages the submission of various panel formats:
- Panel: ‘traditional’ panel with five papers per 105-minute session (up to a maximum of two sessions) n.b that panels must have a minimum of three papers in order to be considered viable, though second sessions of multiple session panels may have two papers (e.g. 5+2, 7 paper double session).
- Roundtable: a group of scholars (no more than five) discuss themes/issues of general scholarly interest in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. While a roundtable can include short (5-10 min) provocations/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, not to focus on any one presenter. You do not need to list participants in your abstract; known participants should add themselves as contributors during the Call for Papers, or you may take in unknown ‘provocation/presentation’ proposals during the Call for Papers and subsequently choose five of those to be on the roundtable.
- Lightning panel: fast-paced presentation panel using Pecha Kucha, Ignite or Lightning Talks type formats.
The rules
- Panels should have at least two co-convenors (panel organisers) from different institutions, ideally from different countries
- At least one of the convenors must have a PhD degree.
- ‘Each conference role only once per person’: delegates (those attending the conference either online or in person) may only make one presentation each. It is allowed to be a co-author on additional papers if you are not the one presenting them. In addition, a delegate may also convene once (be that a panel, lab or roundtable) and be a discussant or a chair in one panel or roundtable.* Roundtable participation counts as being a discussant, not a presenter.
- All convenors and presenters (but not film-makers, discussants or chairs) must be members of EASA (during 2026), and pay their subscription before the conference. You need not conform to this rule yet while making a proposal, but must address it if/when a proposal has been accepted.
- EASA requires all accepted panels to be open to paper proposals through the website: panels should NOT be organised as ‘closed’ sessions, although roundtables can be.
- When proposing an EASA network panel, please inform the network convenors of your proposal before submitting it. At the bottom of the panel proposal form, you will be able to select the network name from a drop-down list. Please note that if you do not do this, we will not be aware that the panel is sponsored by a network.
- All attending the conference (whether online or f2f), including panel convenors, paper presenters, discussants and chairs, as well as listeners, will need to register and pay to attend. Information on registration fees and dates will be published later.
- Panel convenors will need to select which papers they wish to accept to their panel during the period from 20 January to 19 February 2026 – please make sure you have time during that month to dedicate to this task! Please do not mark any papers before the call for papers has closed on 19 January 2026.
- Panels should be in English language only, and accept papers in English also.
* n.b. On roles:
Convenors organise the panel and might also fill the role of chair on the day of the panel, in keeping time, moderating discussion, etc. See more about convenor responsibilities below.
Chairs make sure the panel runs smoothly. Unlike convenors they do not have to be part of the organising, paper selection, etc., they rather chair the panel discussion in the traditional sense. A panel does not have to have a chair nominated, if that is the case, the assumption is that convenors will take that role.
Authors propose a paper to a panel or lightning panel. The presenting author or authors are expected to attend and present the paper to their panel; there may also be non-attending co-authors, who are credited for their contribution to the paper, but do not attend, or present the paper.
Discussants do not have a paper to present. They can be added to panels directly by convenors, or can propose themselves to open roundtables during the call for papers. They may have a short provocation at the start, but should not have a paper to present.
On the Implementation Guidelines for the EASA Motion Concerning Collaborations with Israeli Academic Institutions
At the EASA2024 conference, a group of members presented a motion concerning collaborations with Israeli academic institutions in light of the ongoing systematic human rights violations in Palestine, Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and plausible genocide committed in the Gaza strip, calling on EASA to suspend collaborations with Israeli academic institutions, such as universities, colleges, research institutes, scholarly associations, think tanks, publications, and publishing houses. Following the public vote at EASA2024, where a high majority supported sending the motion to electoral vote, 1455 members voted in November 2024 (44.5% turnout), with 1137 (78%) voting in favour, 253 (17%) against, and 65 (4.5%) abstaining.
This means that panel proposers for EASA2026 should read and familiarise themselves with the implementation guidelines, and that selection of panels this year will take into account adherence to the guidelines.
Network Panels
If you wish to propose a panel related to an EASA network, please contact the network convenors to show them your proposal before submitting it with the network’s name attached to your panel. Please read the instructions for how to submit Network Panels at EASA2026.
The process
- All proposals must be made via the online form.
- Proposals should consist of a panel title, a short description of <300 characters, and an abstract of 250 words.
- The proposal may also include the names of any chairs or discussants, although these can be added subsequently using the login environment, Cocoa.
- On submission of the proposal, the convenors will receive an automated email confirming receipt. If you do not receive this email, please first check the login environment (click login above) to see if your proposal is there. If it is, it simply means your confirmation email got spammed/lost; and if it is not, it means you need to re-submit.
Proposals will be marked as pending until Scientific Committee decisions are published. On that date proposals will be marked as accepted/rejected and the conference administrators will inform you of the decision.
Panel selection criteria
We can host a limited number of delegates, and therefore panels, in person. Depending on space limitations, this may be about half of the number of proposals received. The Scientific Committee will decide which proposals to accept based on:
- compliance with ‘the rules’ (see above)
- on clarity, cohesion, reliability and academic rigour (quality)
The Scientific Committee will pay attention to different anthropological traditions and topics.
Useful information for Convenors
Logging in to look up the fate of your panel
We are hoping to have decisions on the panel selection to convenors by the end of November, but sometimes emails fail (or humans do), so you can check your panel acceptance status by logging into the system from the conference website (see the Log in link with the human head icon in the top right of your screen). Once logged in, click on the Logged in drop-down menu, select Conferences, select the conference from the drop-down menu called ‘current’, and find the conference panel to check its status. If it says ‘pending’, the decision is yet to be made. Accepted/rejected speak for themselves and panels cannot be set to transfer.
Convenors can use this same Log in space to edit their proposals as well as their personal details (add new institution, correct a spelling error etc.) – see next item.
Number of sessions
Each panel will be allocated a maximum of two 105 minute sessions based on how many papers it accepts (5 papers per session, a maximum of 10 over two). All roundtables will run for one session.
Distribution of papers over sessions
No panel session should include more than five papers, but can include fewer – this is a convenor decision. For example, a panel with seven accepted can be split over two sessions as 5+2 or as 3+4, etc. Convenors will be able to allocate papers in and between sessions using drag and drop when editing their panel in the system. Convenors should allot each presenter a maximum of 15+5 minutes for panels of five papers, but 20+5 minutes for panels of four papers.
Adding co-authors, co-convenors, chairs and discussants
If you did not specify colleagues when proposing the panel/paper, you can add them through the system. You can do this by clicking on the green ‘add convenor/author/discussant/chair’ button at the bottom of each list of participants and adding their name in the box that appears. Remember to click on the green ‘save’ on the right hand side, or the bottom of the page, in order to save your changes.
Participants will appear as ‘proposed’ and not be visible on the public programme until they create an account and accept their role via the email sent to them.
If you have difficulties with this, please email the conference administrators with names and email addresses and role they’ll play, and we will email them a request to add their details so we can add them to your content.
Participants will appear as ‘proposed’ and not be visible on the public programme until they create an account and accept their role via the email sent to them.
If you have difficulties with this, please email the conference administrators with names and email addresses and role they’ll play, and we will email them a request to add their details so we can add them to your content.
Convenor responsibilities
It is the convenors’ responsibility to ensure that all panel participants are well briefed and that the panel continues to meet EASA’s requirements. To that end, convenors should not only communicate their decisions over paper proposals as detailed below, but also later in the process, email the panelists to: inform them of the speaking order (albeit this is displayed on the public panel page), inform them as to how much time they have been allocated, remind them to register (each author’s registration status can be seen in the convenor’s login environment), inform them of any late changes or additional chairs/discussants, and give any other information related to the panel. If panelists withdraw convenors should mark these withdrawals in the panel edit page to inform the organisers.
Policies and guidelines
Accessibility
We’d ask participants to ensure maximum accessibility wherever possible. See our guidelines.
Anti-harassment policy and how to report harassment
Reports of harassment can be made via electronic channels or made in person at the ‘purple point’ in the NomadIT office. See Anti-harassment policy and how to report harassment.
