Call for Papers
We invite you to join us for the Twenty-Seventh International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations, the annual meeting of the Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations Research Network, taking place 3-4 June 2027, at the University of Galway, Ireland, and online.
The Twenty-Seventh International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations brings together scholars, practitioners, educators, and policymakers concerned with diversity not as a peripheral issue, but as a defining condition of contemporary life; shaping participation, belonging, equity, and institutional legitimacy across organizations, communities, and nations.
Special Focus and Themes
The special focus of the 2027 conference, Governing Difference: Power, Policy, and the Future of Plural Societies, examines how plural societies are governed amid intensifying pressures of migration, demographic change, technological transformation, and renewed debates over identity and sovereignty. It asks what it means to govern difference in ways that advance equity, participation, and democratic legitimacy, and how policies, organizational practices, and civic institutions shape the lived realities of belonging. Moving beyond symbolic recognition, the focus invites work on the durable mechanisms of accountability, representation, and shared civic life needed for substantive participation and collective flourishing.
Hosted in Galway on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, the conference takes place in a city shaped by layered histories of language, migration, religion, and cultural revival. Ireland’s rapid demographic transformation, alongside evolving debates on citizenship, minority rights, secularization, and European integration, offers a compelling context for examining how plural societies are governed in practice. Galway’s position at the “edge of Europe,” long connected to diasporic and transnational flows, provides a meaningful setting for global dialogue on diversity, institutional reform, and democratic futures.
Sub-themes include:
- Power, Policy, and Democratic Governance: rights, representation, accountability, and the politics of inclusion in plural societies.
- Migration, Mobility, and Belonging: citizenship, borders, diasporas, identity formation, and everyday experiences of belonging/exclusion.
- Organizations, Work, and Economic Inequality: employment, labor markets, professional cultures, discrimination, and equity in organizational life.
- Education, Media, and Digital Pluralism — schooling, public discourse, platform dynamics, misinformation, and the shaping of diversity in digital societies.
Alongside the special focus, the conference welcomes proposals that address identity, equity, power, and participation across contemporary societies, and that contribute to interdisciplinary dialogue on inclusion, governance, and cultural pluralism in local and global contexts. Proposals are welcomed in English and Spanish.
Knowledge Experience and Format
The conference is organised as a hybrid knowledge experience, integrating in-person and online participation within a unified scholarly environment. All accepted proposals become Presentation Pages, where presenters upload abstracts, media, and reflections, and where delegates engage in discussion before, during, and after the event.
In-person sessions in Galway are interwoven with live online presentations and asynchronous contributions within a single integrated program. Regardless of participation mode, all delegates have access to the full schedule, session media, and a growing digital archive. Across formats, the emphasis is on reciprocal, human-scale exchange—conversation, reflection, and collaborative inquiry rather than one-way presentation.
Publication Pathways
Presenters are invited to develop their conference contributions for possible publication in the Network’s bilingual journal collection: The International Journal of Organizational Diversity, The International Journal of Community Diversity, The International Journal of Diverse Identities, and The International Journal of Diversity in Education.
Presenters may also propose extended works for the Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations Book Imprint, which publishes monographs and edited collections advancing research and practice on the forms and futures of human difference. The journals are Hybrid Open Access and publish in English and Spanish
Membership and Community
We welcome new and returning members to the Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations Research Network. By purchasing a Presenter Pass, you automatically become—or renew as—a Network Member for the year, with access to year-round publications and community resources that support ongoing collaboration and scholarly exchange.
Membership sustains the Research Network, ensuring continued access to programs, archives, journals, and books, and keeping ideas in motion over time—where belonging is defined by contribution and care.
Join Us
We warmly invite you to submit a proposal and to join us—either in Galway or online—for the Twenty-Seventh International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations. Together, we will examine what it means to govern difference in ways that strengthen democratic legitimacy and support the future of plural societies.
Sincerely,
Eugenia Arvanitis, Research Network Chair, University of Patras, Greece
Carmen Miguel Vicente, Research Network Chair, Compultense University of Madrid, Spain (ES)
Mari Ángeles Medina Sánchez, Research Network Chair, Compultense University of Madrid, Spain (ES)