Call for Papers: SLS Conflict of Laws Section, Oxford Brookes, 2023

The convenors of the SLS Conflict of Laws section, Lauren Clayton-Helm and Bobby Lindsay, have been so kind as to share the following call for papers with us.

This is a call for papers and panels for the Conflict of Laws section of the 2023 Society of Legal Scholars’ Annual Conference to be held at Oxford Brookes, from 27th – 30th June. The Conflict of Laws section will meet in the second half of the conference on 29–30 June and will have four sessions, each lasting 90 minutes.

The 2023 conference is in person with a virtual element. The virtual element to the conference will take place, for the Conflict of Laws section, on the 29th June 2023. Those who wish to present their papers virtually should select that option in Oxford Abstracts. Please note that speakers who select to present in person will be unable to revert to virtual delivery at a later date. We will be using Oxford Abstracts as the virtual platform this year. Those attending remotely on the 29th June will be able to participate in the sessions on those days, as well as having access to the plenary sessions. There are significant costs involved in including a virtual element to the conference, and the numbers opting to attend virtually are quite low, but we are keen to ensure as many people have access to the conference as possible. On that basis, not only have we retained our two day virtual option, but we will also be providing remote access to all of the papers to delegates attending virtually, and where permission is granted by the presenters through Oxford abstracts.

In addition, the Society has set aside a fund of up to £10,000 as a hardship fund (https://sls.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/sls-hardship-fund-2023) to support attendance by those with special circumstances or in financial hardship warranting additional support. Priority for support will be given to applicants who have no other source of funding.

Doctoral students are very welcome and are encouraged to submit papers for consideration in the Subject Sections Programme. There will not be a separate doctoral stream at the 2023 conference.

If you are interested in delivering a paper or organising a panel, please submit your paper abstract or panel details by 11:59pm UK time on Friday 17 February 2023. All abstracts and panel details must be submitted through the Oxford Abstracts conference system which can be accessed http://https://auth.oxfordabstracts.com/?redirect=/stages/4957/submitter– and following the instructions (select ‘Track’ for the relevant subject section). If you registered for Oxford Abstracts for last year’s conference, please ensure that you use the same e-mail address this year if that address remains current. For those whose papers are accepted, the original submission offers the facility to upload a full paper nearer the time. If you experience any issues in using Oxford Abstracts, please contact slsconference@mosaicevents.co.uk

This year we are trialling first blind peer review, with a subsequent non-blind review once initial decisions have been made to consider profile diversity before final decisions are made and communicated.

Decisions will be communicated by the 10th March.

We welcome proposals for papers and panels on any issue relating to Law and the Public Good. We welcome proposals representing a full range of intellectual perspectives and methodological approaches in the subject section, and from those at all stages of their careers.

Those wishing to present a paper should submit a title and abstract of around 300 words. Those wishing to propose a panel should submit a document outlining the theme and rationale for the panel and the names of the proposed speakers (who must have agreed to participate) and their abstracts. Sessions are 90 minutes in length and so we recommend panels of three speakers, though the conference organisers reserve the right to add speakers to panels in the interests of balance and diversity.

As the SLS is keen to ensure that as many members with good quality papersas possible are able to present, speakers should not present twice at the conference at the expense of another credible paper. With this in mind, when you submit an abstract via Oxford Abstracts you will be asked to note if you are also responding to calls for papers or panels from other sections.

Please also note that the SLS offers two prizes. First, The Best Paper Prize, which can be awarded to academics at any stage of their career and which is open to those presenting papers individually or within a panel. The Prize carries a £300 monetary award and the winning paper will, subject to the usual process of review and publisher’s conditions, appear in Legal Studies. To be eligible:

speakers must be fully paid-up members of the SLS (Where a paper has more than one author, all authors eligible for membership of the Society under its rule 3 must be members. The decision as to eligibility of any co-authors will be taken by the Membership Secretary, whose decision will be final.)
papers must not exceed 12,000 words including footnotes (as counted in Word; figures and tables are not included in the word count);
papers must be uploaded to the paperbank by 11:59pm UK time on Friday 23 June 2023;
papers must not have been published previously or have been accepted or be under consideration for publication; and
papers must have been accepted by a convenor in a subject section and an oral version of the paper must be presented at the Annual Conference.

In 2020 the Society launched the Best Paper by a Doctoral Student Prize, which is open to currently registered doctoral students who are members of the Society. The Prize is £300. There is no link to publication in Legal Studies arising from this award, but any winner would be welcome to submit their paper for consideration by the Society’s journal. To be eligible:

speakers must be fully paid-up members of the SLS who are Doctoral students. (Where a paper has more than one author, all authors eligible for membership of the Society under its rule 3 must be members and all authors must be Doctoral students, whatever their discipline). The decision as to eligibility of any co-authors will be taken by the Membership Secretary, whose decision will be final;
papers must not exceed 12,000 words including footnotes (as counted in Word; figures and tables are not included in the word count);
papers must be uploaded to the paperbank by 11:59pm UK time on Friday 23 June 2023;
papers must not have been published previously or have been accepted or be under consideration for publication; and
papers must have been accepted by a convenor in a subject section and an oral version of the paper must be presented at the Annual Conference.
Where a paper eligible for this prize wins the Best Paper Prize, the judges may at their discretion award the prize for Best Paper by a Doctoral Student to a different nominated paper
The judges may announce a shortlist at their discretion with the winner to be announced by the first week in August.

We have also been asked to remind you that all speakers will need to book and pay to attend the conference and that they will need to register for the conference by Friday 21 April 2023 to secure their place within the programme, though please do let us know if this deadline is likely to pose any problems for you. Booking information will be circulated in due course, and will open after the decisions on the response to the calls are made.

With best wishes,

Lauren and Bobby