Call for Papers: 28th International Meeting of Research and Investigation (EIRI) 2026

The 28th International Meeting of Research and Investigation (EIRI) will take place at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) in Vila Real, Portugal, on 7–8 October 2026 under the theme “The Social Contract in Dispute: Discourse, Legitimacy and Transformation.”

Bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from the arts, humanities and social sciences, the conference aims to foster critical reflection on the contemporary transformations of the social contract at a time marked by political polarisation, democratic fragility, institutional transformation and growing challenges to human rights and democratic legitimacy.

The conference explores how the social contract — understood not as a fixed historical document but as a dynamic and contested political, cultural and symbolic arrangement — is continuously renegotiated through discourse, power relations, media, affect, resistance and social practices. Particular attention will be given to questions of legitimacy, belonging, exclusion, political communication, populism, disinformation and democratic resilience.

Organised jointly by DLAC-UTAD, CES-UC and CEL-UTAD, the event welcomes both individual paper proposals and closed panel proposals in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Themes and Topics

Proposals may address, among others, the following themes:

• Democracy, legitimacy and transformations of the social contract

• Media, political communication and symbolic constructions of belonging and exclusion

• Digital public spheres, platforms, disinformation and polarisation

• Populism, political radicalisation and democratic resilience

• Exclusions associated with ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion and culture

• Literature, cinema, theatre and the arts as spaces of contestation and reinvention

• Affects, emotions and perceptions of justice, recognition and belonging

• Constitutionalism, fundamental rights and political transformation

• Crisis, structural inequality and contemporary conflicts surrounding the social contract

The conference also encourages interdisciplinary approaches that rethink and critically reconfigure the concept of the social contract in relation to contemporary political and cultural developments.

Submission information

Researchers interested in participating are invited to submit:

• A title

• An abstract of 150–250 words

• Keywords

• A short biographical note of 100–200 words

Submissions are accepted in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: 20 June 2026

• Notification of acceptance: 10 July 2026

• Conference registration deadline: 5 September 2026

• Final programme announcement: 15 September 2026

Participation Format

The conference will primarily take place in person at ECHS | DLAC, UTAD (Vila Real, Portugal). Online participation will be possible for closed panels or organised sets of papers. Hybrid participation is not envisaged.

Registration

• Registration fee: 50 EUR

• Fee waivers are available for members of DLAC, CES and CEL, as well as UTAD and CES students.

Further information and submission details are available here:https://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/eventos/forms/eiri_2026/

For inquiries, contact: eiri@utad.pt