Call for Proposals: The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) Annual Conference

Global Fallouts: Moving Peace and Justice Forward in Times of Uncertainty
October 2-4, 2026
Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

- Proposal Submission Deadline: April 15, 2026
- Early Bird Registration: Before May 1, 2026
- Draft Schedule Released: June 1, 2026

The Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) invites scholars, practitioners, activists, educators, artists, and students to submit proposals for our 2026 Annual Conference, Global Fallouts: Moving Peace & Justice Forward in Times of Uncertainty.

We are living through a turbulent period that is simultaneously marked by a multitude of challenges: democratic backsliding, widening authoritarian tendencies, escalating conflicts, technological transformation, climate and food insecurities, mass displacement, and profound social divisions. Despite all these challenges, we also see how communities and people continue to mobilize for justice, create spaces of care and resistance, reimagine solidarity, and build peace in innovative ways.

During the 2026 PJSA Conference, we seek to highlight how innovations emerging from classrooms, communities, and peacebuilding research and interventions respond directly to today’s disruptions. We invite work that examines how people and communities confront repression and disruption, mobilize within the communities and across borders, build alliances, sustain and incite hope and care when institutions weaken, and uncertainty grows.

While we welcome proposals on all topics related to peace, justice, and conflict transformation, we especially encourage submissions that speak to the following areas:

- Social Movements, Democracy, and Anti-Authoritarianism: Including struggles for democratic accountability, civic resistance, nonviolent organizing, community mobilization, and movements confronting illiberalism, repression, and shrinking civic space.

- Technologies of Security and Harm: Including surveillance, digital authoritarianism, AI and conflict, drones and warfare, information manipulation, digital peacebuilding tools, and emerging technologies shaping justice and peace.

- Climate, Environment, and Mobility: Including climate insecurity, eco-justice, environmental peacebuilding, disasters and displacement, cross-border mobility, migration politics, and community resilience in the face of climate disruption.

- Pedagogies and Practices for Uncertain Times: Including teaching peace and justice amid crises; trauma-informed, community-centered, or experiential pedagogies; innovations in peace practice; navigating ethical dilemmas; and sustaining learning communities under pressure.

Submissions may include various formats:
- Individually submitted papers (to be organized into panels by the conference committee)
- Panels (3-4 individual papers or presenters linked thematically)
- Films, creative works, and art presentations
- Roundtable discussions (interactive, facilitated discussion led by presenter/s)
- Teaching and/or skill-building, interactive workshops


Please note the following:
- Submissions are limited to 2 per person!
- All presenters will have to register to attend the conference. Registration can be found here.
- We aim to support the participation of activists, students, and faculty-student teams through group discount registration. Reach out as early as possible if interested.
Submissions from teachers, students, activists, youth, and first-time presenters, as well as academics, are welcome. The PJSA conference provides a welcoming environment designed to facilitate the sharing of work and ideas across disciplines.

Submit your proposal here: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/2026-submit-your-proposal/