Appel à communication : « Othello’s Island 2016  » (Nicosie, 17-20 mars 2016)

Othello’s Island is an annual conference, now in its fourth year, examining the history, culture, art and literature of the medieval and renaissance periods from a multidisciplinary perspective. Located at the Centre for Visual Arts and Research (CVAR) in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, the conference attracts academics and researchers from all over the world in a co-operative and constructive environment that has rapidly developed the reputation as one of the friendliest academic conferences in town. It is also seen as encouraging a genuine interdisciplinary approach as there is no streaming of different subjects and at recent events this has led to some astonishing connections between different subject areas.

We welcome researchers into art, literature, cultural, political and social history, and other topics to submit proposals for papers, which should be delivered in English and be twenty minutes in length. As we are located in Cyprus many papers make connections with Cyprus, the Levant or the wider Mediterranean, but we are interested in all aspects of the medieval and renaissance world and so this is not a requirement.

That said, researchers into all aspects of the medieval and renaissance periods will find Cyprus a fascinating place to visit, with some of the best surviving gothic churches and cathedrals in the eastern Mediterranean, and a contemporary culture that is still imbued with the cultures of the past. This is particularly apparent in the location of the conference in the centre of the Venetian old town are of Nicosia. We will also be organising a coach trip to see some of the stunning UNESCO-listed medieval painted churches of the Troodhos Mountains.

A collaborative event organised by academics from Sheffield Hallam University, the SOAS University of London University of Kent, University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds.

Please refer to the website before submitting for further information: www.othellosisland.org

​Call For Papers:

Full Papers (20 minutes talk plus questions)

If you are interested in giving a talk at the conference please submit a proposal for a paper. Standard papers are 20 minutes long, followed by 5 or 10 minutes for questions.

We are very open minded on the topic of papers, so if you have an idea for a presentation that is not covered by the suggestions given above please feel free to submit a proposal, or contact us first to discuss the idea.

Proposals for papers should comprise a cover sheet showing:

1. Your title (eg. Mr, Ms, Dr, Prof. etc.) and full name
2. Your institutional affiliation (if any)
3. Your postal address, e’mail address and telephone number
4. The title of your proposed paper

​With this you should send a proposal/abstract for your paper of no more than 300 words and a copy of your CV/resume to mparaskos@mac.com with the subject line OTHELLO 2016 .

All papers must be delivered in English.

The deadline for submissions of proposals is 4 January 2016 . Early submission is strongly advised. We aim to have a decision on the acceptance of papers within four weeks of submission.

Guided Poster Sessions (10 minutes talk plus “poster” display)

As an alternative to full papers, a new development for 2016 is an event called Guided Poster Sessions. Guided Poster Sessions are short presentations that are delivered in a far more informal and sociable way than full conference papers, and we are thinking of doing these at an evening event (to be confirmed).

What we ask presenters at the Guided Poster Sessions to do is provide an A2 size poster comprising at least one illustration and a body of text in English explaining some of the key points of their research.

The posters should be kept as simple as possible and not attempt to be a written paper or essay. Bullet points and headlines with very short explanatory texts are preferable.

Those showing the posters will then have ten minutes to present their key ideas to the other delegates (called “talking to the poster”) and also answer questions on them.

As stated, the aim is to be very informal with the Guided Poster Sessions, so these are particularly good for researchers who want to present provisional findings or speculative ideas for informal discussion, rather than more complete academic papers. Ideas could even be highly speculative or controversial and designed simply to provoke discussion.

Poster sessions might also be useful for younger or less experienced researchers who are not used to the formality of full conference delivery. However younger and less experienced researchers are very welcome to apply to give full papers as Othello’s Island and should not assume they can only give Guided Poster Session papers. Equally we welcome Guided Poster Session Papers from more experience researchers and even professors.

Proposals for Poster Session Papers should comprise a cover sheet showing:

1. Your title (eg. Mr, Ms, Dr, Prof. etc.) and full name
2. Your institutional affiliation (if any)
3. Your postal address, e’mail address and telephone number
4. The title of your proposed poster and short presentation

​With this you should send a proposal/abstract for your paper of no more than 150 words and a copy of your CV/resume to mparaskos@mac.com with the subject line OTHELLO POSTER 2016 .

All posters and papers must be delivered in English.

The deadline for submissions of proposals is 4 January 2016 . Early submission is strongly advised. We aim to have a decision on the acceptance of papers within four weeks of submission.