Important announcement - BISA 2027 in Manchester: change of date

We have made the decision to move the dates of our 2027 annual conference in Manchester from 16–18 June to 30 June–2 July 2027.

This change follows the recent announcement of 11 Oasis concerts in Manchester during June 2027, which coincide with the original conference dates. The Etihad Stadium, where the concerts will take place, has a capacity of 60,000 people per night, so the announcement has already had a significant impact on hotel availability and prices across the city. Hotels that would normally offer more budget-friendly accommodation are currently pricing rooms at £250 or more per night, with the expectation that availability will become even more limited when tickets go on sale this Friday.

With over 1,000 delegates expected to attend the BISA conference, including many postgraduate students and early-career scholars, we are particularly conscious of the additional financial burden this would place on those attending. Accommodation is already one of the biggest costs associated with attending the conference, and we do not want delegates to be faced with significantly higher prices simply because of events taking place in the city at the same time.

Changing the dates of our annual conference is not a decision we take lightly, and we appreciate that some of you may already have started making plans. However, we believe this decision is necessary to help keep the event affordable and accessible for members and other delegates.

Moving the conference by two weeks to 30 June–2 July should give access to a wider range of accommodation at more reasonable prices, helping us to keep the overall cost of attending the conference as manageable as possible. That is particularly important to us at a time of such uncertainty in both the social sciences and the Higher Education sector as a whole.

We are sorry for any disruption this change may cause. However, we hope you’ll understand why we think it’s the right decision for our members and the wider BISA community.

The new conference dates are: Wednesday 30 June to Friday 2 July 2027.

We still expect submissions to open on Monday 28 September, and we look forward to welcoming you to Manchester in June/July 2027.