Call for Papers and Panels

15^th Biennial Conference of the European Community Studies Association - Canada

“Canada and Europe carrying the torch?”, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, May 14 – 16, 2026.

Recent events are shaking the foundations of the post-Second World War liberal international order. Long-standing alliances and relations between nations are being redefined. Threats of land annexation and announcements of sweeping tariffs by the United States government, and questioning the collective security principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have left Canada and the European Union, two longstanding and very close partners of the United States, in search for answers. One implication has been to focus on the Canada-EU bilateral relationship. There has also been renewed momentum to solve internal issues in Canada and Europe.

Will another consequence be that Canada and Europe take the torch to promote liberal internationalism in the world? The recent changes in transatlantic relationships are not happening in a vacuum. Russia’s war in Ukraine is a harsh reminder of its geopolitical ambitions, while China continues to present itself as a counterbalance, and some say a challenger, to US dominance in the world. How will Canada and the EU try to maintain the liberal international order? How should the EU respond and what are the effects of the global power shifts on European integration? How does the EU deal with internal threats to liberal democracy? How does it redefine core policies, from the CAP to Cohesion to the Green Deal, in a new domestic and international context? For all the questions above what are the perspectives and insights offered by the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences?

The 2026 ECSA-C biennial conference provides an interdisciplinary forum to explore these and other questions in EU Studies. As in our past biennials, we offer an opportunity for members of the Canadian EU Studies community to reconnect with each other and with scholars and practitioners from across the globe. The conference be held in person in the beautiful setting of Victoria, BC. Contributions may be in English or French. It will be preceded by a workshop by ECSA-Canada’s Young Researchers Network. Junior scholars who are accepted to present at the conference can apply to be considered for financial support to offset a part of their travel expenses.

We are pleased to hereby invite you to submit proposals for individual papers and for panels of 4-5 papers by scholars and practitioners from Canada and elsewhere. Submit your proposal through either the paper proposal webform or panel proposal webform by 15 November 2025. Paper proposals are for unpublished work. The webform asks for your paper title and an extended abstract of 200-300 words, besides your name and affiliation and that of your co-authors. Panel proposals require a description of 200-300 words plus a list of panelists and the titles of their presentations/papers. When putting together a panel proposal, please keep in mind equity and diversity considerations (academic background, career stage, gender, underrepresented communities, etc.). 

For more information about ECSA-Canada, please visit https://www.ecsa-c.ca/. For any questions about this call and the 15^th ECSA-C biennial, please email eusprog@uvic.ca.