Emerging Scholar Awards
The program recognizes both In-Person Emerging Scholars and Online-Only Emerging Scholars, ensuring that researchers unable to travel can still hold a visible and valued role in the conference. Across all formats, Emerging Scholars participate fully in the life of the event: they chair parallel sessions, help guide and sustain discussion, and serve as bridges between established and early-career colleagues from different regions, institutions, and disciplines.
As part of CGScholar’s Event (KX) environment, Emerging Scholars contribute to a wider knowledge experience that links conference activity, community engagement, and publication. Their work is shared through Presentation Pages, digital media, and discussion spaces; they receive structured support to develop their research through the Network’s journals and book imprint; and they gain sustained visibility within the worldwide scholarly community formed around the Research Network.
The Award includes complimentary conference registration and Research Network membership, along with formal recognition during the conference proceedings. Emerging Scholars enter a supportive, scholar-led community in which they can build connections across disciplines, regions, and generations of researchers. Professional development, mentoring encounters, and opportunities for collaboration are integrated into the conference and the Network’s year-round activities.
Award recipients are expected to: attend an orientation and training session (typically the day before the conference), and participate fully throughout the conference by fulfilling assigned chairing and discussion-leading responsibilities.
The Emerging Scholar Award is open to researchers currently enrolled in a graduate studies program or identifying as early-career scholars in a field relevant to the conference. Applicants should demonstrate strong potential for scholarly contribution and a commitment to participating in the collaborative ethos of the Network.
For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards are given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active research interest in the conference themes. Emerging Scholars perform a critical role in the conference by chairing the parallel sessions, providing technical assistance in the sessions, and presenting their own research papers. The 2027 Emerging Scholar Award Recipients are as follows:
TU Dublin School of Art & Design, Ireland
Aoife Céitinn is a graphic designer from Dublin, Ireland. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh in 2024 with a degree in Classics and Linguistics, Aoife began working in the publishing industry and returned to education to pursue an MA in Graphic Design Practice at Technological University Dublin. While studying, Aoife continued the research-based approach of her literature background in her design work, shaping projects such as the publication ‘Apricity’, which earned her a commendation from the ISTD, and her thesis project surrounding the development of a typographic framework of analysis for the sonic and semantic elements of visual poetry.
TU Dublin School of Art & Design, Ireland
Simon Lauer is an MA student in Visual Communication at TU Dublin, School of Art & Design, and holds a BA in Communication Design from the University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Germany. His practice merges textile and publication design, sewing, and bookbinding with a dedicated focus on creating hybrid, analogue, and anti-extractive objects. Within his research, he explores how queer communities construct narratives through shared visual vocabularies and examines how these vocabularies evolve as they circulate beyond the contexts that gave them meaning. Grounded in queer theory, subcultural studies, queer fashion history, and zine culture, his work treats making itself as a form of storytelling — deliberately tactile, resistant to digital flattening, and rooted in his own queer experience.
My experience as an Emerging Scholar was transformative. It equipped me with the skills to lead discussions, provided networking opportunities that broadened my perspective, and emphasized the importance of learning from diverse viewpoints for my future academic endeavors."
Being part of the Emerging Scholars program was a truly rewarding experience. It provided a valuable platform for academic exchange, networking, and professional growth, reinforcing the importance of collaborative research and dialogue in the field of design."
The experience provided a valuable platform to present my work, receive insightful feedback, and strengthen my commitment to design scholarship, mentorship, and interdisciplinary collaboration."