The call for proposals for Lesbian Lives 2026 is currently open and will close on Friday, 5 September 2026. 

Proposals

The 29th Lesbian Lives Conference will take place in University College Cork, Ireland from 15 – 17 May 2026.  The LGBT+ Staff Network of University College Cork, in conjunction with the community organisation LINC and scholars from University College Dublin, Cambridge University, and University of Brighton Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender Research, are delighted to host the conference.  

The theme for the 2026 (29th) Lesbian Lives Conference is LESBIAN* LIFE AND LIVING.  

As organisers of this two-day international and interdisciplinary conference, we now welcome proposals from academics, scholars, students, activists, documentary and filmmakers, writers and artists.  

Proposals are welcomed on (though are by no means limited to) the following: 

• Lesbian* Life & Living and activism

• Revisiting debates about LGBTQ solidarity and its discontents  

• Lesbian* Life & Living across and in social class/disability/ethnicity/age/gender  

• Lesbian* Life & Living in the archives  

• Mass movements for social change: #BLM, #MeToo, #Repeal  

• Lesbian* Life & Living and health activism   

• Communities of care  

• Lesbian* Life & Living in literary and visual representations  

• Failures in Lesbian* Life & Living  

• Allyship   

• International LGBTQ activism  

• Queer and feminist critiques of homonormativity   

• Social media and connected identities   

• Lesbian* Life & Living in pandemics  

• Lesbian* Life & Living in the arts   

The conference organisers welcome proposals for (A) individual papers, (B) panel sessions, (C) round table discussions, (D) workshops and (E) visual presentations. We encourage submissions across all genres, both fact and fiction which align to the conference theme. Lesbian Lives aims to build bridges across disciplines and explore less traditional forms of critical engagement with the politics of solidarity.   

For papers, panels or workshops, please submit proposals of no more than 300 words to our online form by the deadline of Friday, 5 September 2025. If your proposal is selected you will be required to register for the conference by 20 December 2025.  

Proposal formats

• Individual Papers: Individual papers should last 20 minutes. Individuals should submit: (1) paper title, (2) outline/abstract (c. 300 words), (3) biography (c. 100-150 words), (4) institutional affiliation and address (if any), (5) audio-visual requirements.   
• Panel Sessions: Panels of academic papers should include 3 speakers and 1 moderator. Each paper should last for 20 minutes, with a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion. Proposers should submit (1) session title and outline (c. 300 words), (2) paper titles and abstracts (c. 200 words each), (3) biography for each participant (c. 100-150 words each), (4) institutional affiliation and address (if any) for each participant, (5) audio-visual requirements. 
• Round Table Discussions: Round table discussions should include at least 3 speakers and 1 moderator. Each paper should last for 10 minutes, with a further 30 minutes for questions and discussion. Proposers should submit (1) round table title and outline/rationale (c. 300 words), (2) paper titles and abstracts (c. 200 words each), (3) biography for each participant (c. 100-150 words), (4) institutional affiliation and address (if any) for each participant, (5) audio-visual requirements.  
• Workshops: Workshops last 90 minutes. Proposers should submit (1) workshop title, (2) rationale/abstract for workshop (c. 300 words), (3) biography (c. 100-150 words), (4) institutional affiliation and address (if any).   
• Visual Presentations: Documentary, video, art or media presentations by individuals or groups are welcomed.      

Positive preferences

Occasionally, organisers of some workshops will want to focus on particular issues and cohorts and will wish to limit participation on certain grounds (such as people who are recently bereaved, or to certain categories or intersections of age, race, class). Lesbian Lives 2026 will in principle facilitate such desired boundaries but proposals for workshops must state clearly why they might wish to limit participation in particular ways. However, conference organisers will not allow a positive preference operate as prejudice: grounds for focusing on particular identity issues are valid, provided that they are not based on assumptions of purity and hierarchy of value.