WHO CAN SUBMIT

We welcome proposals from faculty members, practitioners, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and non-academics.

SUBMISSIONS FROM STUDENT MEMBERS
Master-level and PhD students must INDICATE the name of their academic supervisors when submitting their proposals.

SUBMISSION TO A SPECIFIC SECTION

Submit your proposal to a specific section. There is also an option to indicate a secondary section.
Graduate Student Three-Minute Thesis Competition proposals must be submitted to the Teaching section.

**ONE PARTICIPANT*, ONE EMAIL ADDRESS**

Help us serve you better, protect your account, and streamline notifications: ensure you are using the exact same email address throughout the entire conference cycle (Call for Proposals - Registration).

* submitter of a proposal, single paper, poster or 3MT presenter, panelist, roundtable and workshop participants.

MAXIMUM OF THREE PROPOSALS

You can submit a maximum of three proposals, two of which can be single papers. This limit does not affect chairs and discussants.

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

The Programme Committee welcomes proposals in both official languages.

ABSTRACT: LENGTH AND CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE

Abstracts should

be approximately 250 words in length;
outline the argument or inquiry to be developed;
include a clear question;
identify the method of analysis to be used (if applicable);
show the theoretical significance of what is proposed in relation to existing scholarship in the field; and
demonstrate originality and scholarly contribution.

ACCEPTANCE-REJECTION OF PROPOSALS

Section heads will

review proposals;
make final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection; and
group and assign proposals to sessions, considering the type of session desired by the presenters and the overall programme balance.

CPSA reserves the right to select or remove panels and participants and to change the date, time, and the format of a panel or presentation at its sole discretion.

PAPERS CONSIDERED AND ACCEPTED AS POSTERS

If a proposal details a study that would clearly be better presented as a poster, it will be considered for the poster competition.

If you submit a single paper proposal and receive a poster acceptance for the same title, please accept or decline the presentation of your proposal at the poster competition.

ACCESS – CHANGES TO PROPOSALS

Once a proposal has been submitted (see TYPE OF PROPOSALS below), the submitter will be able to access it until November 10, 2025 @ 11:59 pm PST (Pacific Standard Time).
To make any changes, select 'Review/Edit my Proposals' from the 'Submissions' Menu.
If the proposal is accepted, your abstract will be made available in the programme.

VOLUNTEER TO SERVE AS DISCUSSANT OR CHAIR

Presenters will be considered as possible chairs or discussants. Given that a successful conference depends on having, not only paper-givers, but chairs and discussants, the CPSA strongly encourages participants to proactively offer their services in either or both of these roles/in either or both official languages to any of our 22 section heads and/or be willing if a request is made.

If you check the box “I am willing to serve as chair or discussant,” you will be appointed in either or both of these roles in a panel of your preferred section.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Only proposals submitted through the call’s submission system will be considered.
Only proposals submitted between September 16, 2025 and November 10, 2025 will be considered for the 2026 CPSA conference.
Receipt of Proposals

You will receive a notification acknowledging receipt of the submitted proposal. If you do not receive this notification, check your SPAM folder. If the notification is not there, contact the CPSA Conference Team

Outcome of the submission

Section heads will acknowledge acceptance/nonacceptance of proposals in December 2025.
If you have not received a notification about the outcome of the submission by January 12, 2026, check your SPAM folder. If the notification is not there, contact the CPSA Conference Team.

Presentation at the Conference - Confirmation

When you receive the acceptance of your proposal, you will be required to confirm your intent to present it at the conference.

TYPES OF PROPOSALS

Single Paper

These papers are assigned by section heads to panels with other papers on related issues.

A single paper proposal must include:

the title of the paper;
a 250-word abstract.

Panel

Panels are pre-organized and include a maximum of four papers on a single theme. The panel organizer submits the completed panel.

Prior to submitting the panel, each panelist must provide all of the details listed in point 3 below to the panel organizer.

If the panel includes a confirmed chair and/or discussant, the latter must provide all of the details listed in point 4 below to the panel organizer.

Panel organizers are responsible for securing any required financial assistance to cover registration, travel and/or accommodation expenses from their own sources/sponsorships for all invited special panelists or guest speakers.

The panel proposal must include:

the title of the panel;
a 250-word abstract providing an overview of the panel;
the name, e-mail, job title/status, department and university/institution/organization, paper title and 250-word abstract for each panelist;
the name, e-mail, job title/status, department and university/institution/organization of the chair and discussant;

Author Meets Critics’ Session

These sessions involve a discussion between the author(s) or editor(s) of a book published/to be published between 2023 and 2026 and 2-3 'critics' about the contribution of the book to the field. The session should include a chair.
The organizer submits the completed session.

Author Meets Critics’ sessions organizers are responsible for securing any required financial assistance to cover registration, travel and/or accommodation expenses from their own sources/sponsorships for all invited publishers, authors and special guest speakers.

The session proposal must include:

the title of the session;
a 250-word abstract providing the title and an overview of the book;
the name, e-mail, job title/status, department and university/institution/organization for each participant and the chair.

Roundtable Proposal

These are among the most flexible formats offered at the conference, and may look different from session to session. In roundtables, formal papers are often not prepared in advance. This format allows for extended discussion among a small group of panelists and is typically less formal than a traditional paper panel.

Roundtable organizers are responsible for securing any required financial assistance to cover registration, travel and/or accommodation expenses from their own sources/sponsorships for all invited special panelists or guest speakers.

A roundtable proposal must include:

the roundtable title;
a 250-word abstract providing an overview of the roundtable; and
the name, e-mail, affiliation and rank for each participant and the chair. 1

¹If a presenter has collaborators, book contributors, co-researchers, etc. who are not attending the conference, they cannot be listed as co-presenters. These individuals can be acknowledged in the abstract.

Poster Competition Proposal

A poster proposal must include:

the title of the poster;
a 250-word abstract.

These presentations are an excellent way to disseminate work in a visual, rather than completely textual way. Posters are welcomed from any CPSA member wishing to present material in this format at the conference.

Full information about this competition can be found in the POSTERS Terms of Reference [ download pdf ↓ ] .

Prizes are awarded to the winner and first and second runners up.

Winner $700; first runner up $400; second runner up $200.

Graduate Student Three-Minute Thesis Competition Proposal

In this format, participants present their graduate research in three minutes (or less) to a panel of non-specialist judges. This competition is only open to students who are currently registered in a graduate program. Students who participate in the competition should have made substantial progress on their graduate research and analysis.

a title, and
a 250-word abstract that should outline the main argument, method of inquiry, method of analysis (if applicable) and theoretical significance of the MA thesis, MRP, or doctoral thesis that will form the content of the presentation.

These proposals must be submitted to the Teaching section.

Full information about this competition can be found in the 3MT Terms of Reference [ download pdf ↓ ] .