III International Conference of the Humanities UAb

Discourses and narratives in motion

June 2, 3 and 4, 2027

Palácio Ceia, Universidade Aberta, Lisbon

As soon as it is articulated, any assertion regarding the speed of transformations in our time becomes obsolete. This, however, does not prevent us from attempting to understand both these transformations and what they enable us to affirm about our own historical moment. The challenge of investigating the present—inseparable from reflection on what we have inherited and what we will leave as a legacy—will continue to shape this third edition of the International Conference of the Humanities, which invites the academic community to turn its attention to the theme Discourses and Narratives in Motion.

Intentionally broad in scope, this theme seeks to encourage contributions from diverse fields within the Humanities on what we take to be a moment of particular discursive intensity, characterised by the acceleration, circulation, and contestation of narratives in the contemporary sphere.

Numerous factors may account for the proliferation of the discourses and narratives that surround us, ranging from socio-economic determinants, such as human mobility, to increasingly accessible technological advances. Among these, one may note, for instance, the widespread use of generative artificial intelligence tools capable of producing texts and other forms of content within seconds.

Historical conjunctures, social dynamics, institutional policies, and technological transformations have reshaped the ways in which the world is narrated and the ways in which we locate ourselves within it. It is within this context that different areas of the Humanities are called upon to exercise what is most distinctive to them: a rigorous and critical engagement with contemporary discourses, narratives, and other forms of representation.

In a mode characteristic of theoretical reflection—one that not only challenges common sense but also frequently returns to concepts and categories formulated by previous generations in order to reassess and rethink them in light of new questions—the conference seeks to affirm the Humanities as a privileged space for critical reflection on languages, texts, cultures, and modes of representing the world. At the same time, it values both the continuity of disciplinary traditions and an openness to new problems, methodologies, and contemporary challenges.

In this spirit, we invite the submission of proposals addressing a range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following thematic areas:

• The production of media narratives and discourses
• Literary Studies: narratives, fiction, and artificial intelligence
• Interart Studies: intersections and transformations
• Globalisation, diversity, and mobility
• Linguistic Studies: discourse, multimodality, and artificial intelligence
• Continuity and change in linguistic phenomena
• Discursive genres, pedagogical practices, and literacies
• Discourses and narratives in the construction and transmission of knowledge
• Teaching, learning, and digital transformation in the Humanities
• Narratives, gamification, and interactivity in the teaching of languages and cultures

In alignment with current international debates on overlapping competences in higher education and research in the Humanities, proposals are also welcomed that reflect on one of these topics in dialogue with critical, collaborative, and communicative practices. Particular value is given to perspectives that resonate with the commitment of Universidade Aberta—also expressed in its pedagogical model—to the promotion of a critical and participatory humanistic education.

Details regarding the submission of proposals are provided below. All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process and, following the conference, participants will be invited to submit a full paper for publication, which will be subject to the same evaluation procedure.

This will be an in-person conference, hosted at the Palácio Ceia of Universidade Aberta. There will be one fully online session, reserved exclusively for doctoral candidates and doctoral graduates of Universidade Aberta, to be held on the morning of 3 June 2027.

Proposals are invited in the fields of the Humanities indicated below; however, priority will be given to those addressing the thematic areas outlined above.

The conference will welcome contributions that, drawing on the diverse disciplinary traditions of the Humanities, foster dialogue between classical approaches and emerging perspectives in research:

• Portuguese Studies
• Comparative Studies
• Linguistic Studies
• Language Didactics
• Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
• European Studies
• Global Studies
• Translation Studies
• Information Sciences

Submission of Proposals

Each author may submit a maximum of two proposals (either as sole author or as co-author).

Proposals must be submitted via the Microsoft Conference Management Toolkit (CMT), an online platform for managing the peer review process. Microsoft provides CMT free of charge, including cloud services and technical support.

To submit your proposal, please access the following submission portal:

Submission link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/CHUM2027

The submission form for each proposal must include the following information:

• title of the paper;
• abstract (250–350 words), written in the language of the presentation (Portuguese, Spanish, French, or English), including 3 to 5 keywords and 1 to 5 bibliographic references;
• thematic area of the paper (to be selected from the available options).
• Language in which the presentation will be delivered (to be selected from the available options).

Each presentation will have a duration of 20 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for discussion.

Anonymisation Requirements

To ensure a double-blind peer review process, all submitted abstracts must be fully anonymised. This entails the following:

• no identifying information (such as authors’ names, institutional affiliations, or references to projects) should appear in the abstract field;
• bibliographic references that may reveal the authors’ identity must be anonymised (for example, by using “Author (Year)” instead of a full citation);
• all author information, including names and affiliations, must be entered exclusively in the submission form on the CMT platform and not in the abstract field.

Submissions that do not comply with this anonymisation policy may be excluded from the review process.

How to Submit a Proposal

Authors must create an account on the CMT platform (if they do not already have one) and follow the step-by-step instructions to complete the submission.

• Create a CMT account: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/docs/help/general/account-creation.html
• Submit a proposal: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/docs/help/author/author-submission-form.html

Then you can search for our conference or click on this link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/CHUM2027

Key Dates

• 30 September 2026 | Deadline for the submission of proposals
• 30 November 2026 | Notification of acceptance
• 1 February 2027 | Opening of registration
• 28 February 2027 | Early registration deadline
• 31 March 2027 | Regular registration deadline

Registration

Information regarding payment will be updated shortly.

Registration Categories (including digital certificate of participation)

Notes

Registration for participants without a presentation is subject to limited availability.

Following registration on the designated platform, current and former Universidade Aberta students presenting a paper must send proof of their student or alumni status to the following email address:

congresso.humanidades@uab.pt

Only upon receipt of this documentation can the reduced registration fee be validated.

Plagiarism and the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors are reminded that all submissions must be original and must not contain plagiarised material. If generative artificial intelligence tools are used in the development of a proposal (for example, for language correction, idea generation, or text drafting), their use must be duly disclosed, with a clear explanation of how they contributed to the work.

Acknowledgement

The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.