These are some of our past Call for Papers - we are not currently receiving submissions for these issues. The information displayed on this page is for archive purposes only.

 

Call for Essays: (Re)Connecting Academic [for Issue 11.1: (Re)Connect]

Academics are often accused of engaging only with theoretical discussions and forgetting about "real life" applications of the very issues they are researching. This criticism has led to many researchers trying to actively engage with different communities, creating a bridge between their research and broader sectors of society. Excursions' next issue dares to (re)connect, and we would like to take this opportunity to explore the ways in which doctoral researchers are (re)connecting with the world outside of academia. This might take place in various ways, including but not limited to: talks or presentations in local communities, teaching young pupils, writing blog posts, building a community in social media, creating podcasts. Do you think researchers should be attempting to (re)connect with communities beyond academia? Have you engaged in any activities that (re)connected your research with a non-academic audience? Why? What kind of impact were you hoping to make? What has this experience meant to you?

Excursions invites doctoral researchers to write about your experiences (re)connecting academia and society in 300 to 500 words. The best essays will be featured in our upcoming issue. Please format your essays according to the guidelines found on this link and email your entry to enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk

 

Call for Papers for Issue 11.1: (Re)Connect

(Re)Connect. (Re-)Establish a bond.

To connect is an integral part of the human experience. We are social, connected, beings. The unparalleled events of 2020 have made this even more evident --- they have forced us to disconnect from life as we knew it and to (re)connect to history, nature, people, ourselves, and forgotten practices. This has weakened and strengthened our established bonds, while creating new ones. Ultimately, it revealed how dependent we are on our connections.

Researchers and scientists are constantly trying to understand the ways in which different phenomena connect with one another --- this is the ultimate goal of research. More than that, we long to find ways to understand substantial connections: Scientists have been searching for a Theory of Everything; the Six Degrees of Separation Hypothesis has been part of our collective imaginaries for decades; and the Internet of Things aims to eventually interconnect (most if not all of) our everyday objects.

In academia, there are strong movements towards (re)connecting. Interdisciplinarity has gained traction, as it connects disciplines for the purpose of reconnecting knowledge to solve more complex problems. Mixed methodologies connect research methods for more comprehensive results. Experiments are being re-conducted for a (re)connection with (or disconnection from) established theories. The shift towards Open Access (OA) also creates (re)connections: OA publications increase the reach of new scientific discoveries, and OA databases make it possible to reuse the data of other researchers, leading to new conclusions. Finally, Science Communication trends help to (re)connect science to stakeholders, practitioners, broader audiences, and everyday life.

For our next issue, Excursions Journal invites researchers from all disciplines to (re)connect to the complex relationships between society, nature, things, science, and being human. We seek to assemble a collection of articles that aim to (re)connect, whether as part of a natural phenomenon in an objective reality or a socially-constructed subjective phenomenon. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Theories that explore (re)connections
• Processes that (re)connect the biological, physical and social world
• Popular culture and political discourse that examines (re)connection
• Developments that incite personal or social changes through (re)connecting
• Research methodology and reflections focusing on (re)connections

Please submit your extended abstract (or full manuscript) by 1st October 2020 via our website. Submissions will also be considered for presentation at the Excursions Online Symposium (more information to come). If you have trouble with our submission system, please email us at enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk. We encourage submission as soon as possible, as we accept articles on a rolling basis.

Extended abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. Final manuscripts will be due by the 1st of December and should be no longer than 5,000 words. Excursions adopts Harvard style for citations and bibliography. More information about Author Guidelines can be found here.

Alongside traditional academic articles, we also consider alternative ways of communicating research, such as videos, photo essays, posters, verse, among others (please contact the editorial staff prior to submission via enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk).

 

Call for Essays: Research in Times of Chaos [for Issue 10.1: Chaos]

Covid-19 has brought with it a new way to live – and to do research. In this new and unexpectedly chaotic world, we were invited to reinvent, rethink and readapt constantly. Excursions is devoting its next issue to chaos, and we are looking to explore all aspects of it, including what it means for research and researchers. How did the chaos of Covid-19 affect your life as a doctoral researcher, your research, your ability to do research? What changes have you had to make to keep your research going? How did you navigate the chaos?

Excursions invites doctoral researchers to respond to the Covid-19 chaos in 300 to 500 words. The best essays will be featured in our upcoming issue. The deadline is 6 July 2020. Please email your entry to enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk

 

Call for Papers for Issue 10.1: Chaos

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom.” (Toni Morrison, The Nation, 2015)

Classical and early modern philosophy widely privileged the “logos” i.e. the logical, organized view of the universe, which still has considerable influence on the popular as well as the scientific perception of the world through the binary “order vs. disorder.” However, modern scholarship has long ago destabilized this false dichotomy, and chaos has captured the imagination of philosophers, scientists and artists alike for many generations. Mathematicians proposed a theory of chaos which accounts for the unpredictable character of deterministic systems; quantum physicists have established the fundamental uncertainty inherent to the structure of matter; and postmodernist scholars in the humanities and social sciences are arguing for the acceptance of the ambiguity, fluidity and fragmentation of the human condition.

Concurrently, environmental and social disasters, economical and political crisis, violent and unceasing conflicts inhabit our imaginaries as chaotic aspects of our daily lives. The climate emergency, the migration crisis, and the general turmoil of contemporary cities have been framed as chaos. The demands of an overgrowing market of consumption, the fluctuating network of algorithms and data, and the fluidity of the line between private and public can lead to chaos. Likewise, chaos can be found in messy teenagers’ bedrooms, non-linear thought processes, and even your own set of chaotic data.

Within this scenario, Excursions invites researchers to embrace chaos and investigate the complexities of society, nature, science and being human. Is chaos a natural, universal phenomenon of "disorder" or a perspective-bound construct? What meanings and functions can we attribute to chaos in theory and practice? How can chaos aid contemporary scholarship in its quest to understand the complexity of our lived experience? 

In this issue, Excursions seeks to assemble a collection of articles that reflect on the concept of chaos, whether as a natural phenomenon in an objective reality or as a socially-constructed subjective phenomenon. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Chaos as a metaphysical concept or theory
• Chaos as a process in the biological, physical and social world
• Chaos as a theme in popular culture and political discourse
• Chaos as fuel to incite change
• Chaos as a source of creativity
• Chaos as constructed by ideology and epistemology
• Chaos as part of a research method

Please submit your paper or extended abstract by 4 March 2020 via our website. If you have trouble with our submission system, please email us at enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk

Extended abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. Final manuscripts should be no longer than 5,000 words. Excursions adopts Harvard style for citations and bibliography. More information about Author Guidelines can be found here.

Alongside traditional academic articles, we also consider alternative ways of communicating research (please contact the editorial staff prior to submission via enquiries@excursions-journal.org.uk).

We encourage submission as soon as possible, as we accept articles on a rolling basis.