Call for papers: Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial 12th annual workshop

This 12th annual CPD workshop will be a one-day in-person event focussing on the ethical commitments of academic research, scholarship and teaching in International Studies, a theme that emerged from our annual meeting. It will be held on 1 December 2025, at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

The workshop will invite ECRs, established researchers, teachers and organisers engaged in public and political education within and beyond universities to discuss: the role of scholarly research in driving socio-political transformation; the necessity of collaborating beyond the academy – with organising groups, grassroots communities and people most affected by global imperialism; the ethical, methodological and political commitments that must inform our research focus and practices; the balance between publishing and organising within the academy; the responsibility of academic associations in collectively holding power to account; and how do we research, teach and write in times of climate crisis, wars and genocides.

This workshop follows a realisation within our discipline(s) that knowledge about political crises, about harm, about histories of colonialism and racism, about global warming and ecological disasters is not enough. While knowing and producing knowledge remains integral to social transformation, this workshop encourages us to think expansively and creatively, beyond our role as knowledge producers.

We want to think collectively on the following themes, and what our collective responsibilities are during these times. While physical and temporal distance may separate us from our (research) communities, how do we continue to care from afar? Do we need new or to renew methodological and pedagogical tools to foster this care? How do different modes of care enact certain resonances for transformation? But also, what are the humble and honest limitations of the capacity for transformation from within the university/academy?

Themes:

• Coming back to the roots of the anticolonial and social justice
• The role of academic research in driving transformation (if any?)
• Collaborations beyond the academy, and ones that disrupt it

•  Methodological and ethical principles of doing research; our ethical commitments to our

  research communities, our students, and to each other

The planned output from this workshop will be a shared publication on contemporary methodological guidelines for research and teaching, which summarises the conclusions of the workshop.

• Pedagogy and teaching in times when the world is burning

For participation:

For this workshop, participants will be asked to prepare a short piece of reflective writing (200- 500 words) in advance of the workshop. CPD members who cannot come will also be invited to submit pieces of writing even if they cannot attend, and they will be able to contribute to the publication. We plan to have an art-group join us during the day, and provide illustrations for the publication. We will send further instructions, alongside 2-3 guiding readings, to confirmed participants.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please share a brief statement of how your research, teaching or organising speaks to the workshop themes, along with a short bio. Please indicate your interest in attending no later than 5 November 2025 to: cpd.group@bisa.ac.uk.

We will try to accommodate as many of those interested as possible, and we will have a few bursaries available for our early-career and student participants.

The CPD Working Group has become an established community of scholars drawn from within and beyond IR – this interdisciplinarity has enriched the work and activities of the community as a whole. Our annual workshop is our most important event and provides a vital space for early career scholars to connect with more established academics working through the colonial question in their research. As in previous years, this will be an innovative and participatory event with a range of heterodox sessions.

• How do we prevent co-optation within the academy?
• What does it mean to be serious about our commitments?

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash