CfP: Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo’s Academic Track 2015

Conference
Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo 2015
Academic Track
BMO Centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada
16-19 April 2015
Stichtag: 28.02.2015

Can you tie your cutting edge academic research to pop-culture in general, and sci-fi, fantasy or the likes of it more specifically? Are you sci-fi, fantasy, comics, steampunk fan or an aficionado of another pop-culture content? Why don’t you marry the two passions in your life and partake in the Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo’s academic track on April 16-19, 2015 at the BMO Centre in downtown Calgary?
Offered for the 4th time, the academic track is a unique opportunity to engage your local community with your professional research in a culturally and academically accessible way. The academic track talks are 45 minutes long and are dedicated to your work and the linkages between it and pop-culture.

It is also a great way to expose your discipline and its contribution to society to groups of people who are curious, enthusiastic and passionate about science, technology and society alike.

Past academic track talks varied from dealing with parasites in sci-fi and the real world, the brain functions of competitive scrabble players and the tactical practices of professional videogamers to the geophysical logic behind star-trek planetary probes, the linguistic foundations of Klingon and the pop-culture funding public policies of the south Korean government.

A non-exhaustive list of possible topics includes:

  • Epidemiological outbreaks in sci-fi and real life
  • Exobiology and non-carbon based life forms
  • Aspects of Space exploration (engineering, astronomy, kinesiology, etc.)
  • Technology and new-media’s representation in pop-culture
  • Reflections of socio-political issues in pop-culture contents
  • History of pop-culture contents and products
  • Fan communities and fan practices (including deviant behaviours and addictions)
  • Pop-culture creators and their work
    and many more.

The academic track has four sub-streams. Please review these carefully and consider applying for the one most fitting your topic:
Cutting-Edge Research Talk – talk that are directly linked to your academic work to date and to a specific genre, pop-culture content or phenomenon. Past examples include: the representation of revenge in Hollywood films and real-life, gender assignment of Molluscs and Hutts (from the Star Wars Universe), and the likes of it.

The Social Lab – conducting research that has to do with pop-culture? Need participants for your research? The Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo also accepts requests to reserve space for research purposes with the convention’s patrons (subject to the researchers obtaining ethical approval by the university’s board of ethics). Requests for sessions of between 45 minutes to 2 hours can be submitted using the same web-form. Successful applicants will be contacted with further information by the coordinators.

Scholarly Talk – talks that are related to your discipline but not directly to your own research. Past examples include: Professional wrestling as a modern media product, Comic-books circulation studies, and so on.
Undergrads track – not a professional scholar yet, but have a great term paper about pop culture that got an A+? Start your public speaking career here.

And what if I can’t tie my research or discipline to pop culture but am a big fan of something? The Expo will gladly host other scholars who wish to present academic-like talks not related to their academic life through the general programing track.

To submit your proposals please go to http://www.calgaryexpo.com/programming/ before Feb. 28, 2015. Submissions will undergo blind peer reviewing by an interdisciplinary committee and accepted presenters will receive a free weekend pass to the convention valued $90.

Please contact Ofer Berenstein (o.berenstein@ucalgary.ca), the academic track coordinator, with any question you might have.

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