Save the Date!

9th Biennial Surveillance Studies Network Conference

Lines of Sight – Surveillance 20/20

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, 8-10 June 2020

Watch out for the full call and further details in the coming months.

Invitation to host Surveillance Studies Network 9th Biennial Conference 2020

Tenders to be received by Monday March 25 2019

Decision to be announced on Friday 5 April 2019

Please send tenders and any questions to Rosamunde.Van.Brakel [ ät] surveillance-studies [dot] net

The Surveillance Studies Network invites expressions of interest to host the 9^th Biennial Conference in 2020. The conference brings together scholars, artists, and activists working broadly in the area of surveillance. It has become increasingly popular year on year and always receives a very positive response from the community. Now in its 9^th year, we are delighted to be inviting expressions of interest to host the next conference in 2020. More information about previous conference can be found here: https://www.surveillance-studies.net/?page_id=4.

Outlined below is a draft specification for what hosting the conference would require and an indicative budget. If you and your institution would be interested in hosting the conference on this basis, we invite you to submit an expression of interest (EOI). Your EOI should contain information about your institution, your capacity and experience in administering such events, why you want to host it, an estimated conference preparation timeline, what added value you bring (especially why your institution would be an attractive venue to prospective delegates), how accessible the conference venue is (both in terms of being accessible for those with special needs, but also convenient access to mass transit and transportation hubs), and a number of proposals for the conference theme (the conference should have a broad theme so as to be attractive to the diverse range of disciplines and topics that fall under the surveillance studies umbrella). You should also include indicative costings for room hire, daily delegate catering rate, local admin support, delegate packs, and website development. SSN especially welcomes bids from the Global South. The Directors of SSN will choose the venue for the 2020 conference based on a review of the submitted EOIs. Please feel free to contact them for informal conversations and to receive an application pack  (in the first instance, contact Rosamunde van Brakel for this purpose, at Rosamunde.Van.Brakel [ ät] surveillance-studies [dot]net)

Basic specifications for host institution

• Date: May or June 2020
• Duration: 2,5 days
• Capacity:  200-person capacity Lecture Theatre with full AV, plus a minimum of 4 fully AV equipped rooms available nearby with 60+ capacity each.
• Language: The language of the conference is English.
• Atrium/Foyer: To cater for lunch/tea and coffee breaks – near to breakout rooms.
• Catering: 3 X teas and coffee per day, 1 X buffet brunch/lunch per day, plus organize conference dinner (available at additional cost).
• Accommodation: It is easier if delegates arrange their own accommodation at local hotels but this requires the venue to be a reasonably large city. If the host institution can arrange accommodation that is fine, but we would advise against this because the administration can be difficult, and it often requires a firm block-booking months in advance and payment up front.

Conference Organisation

The conference organising committee consists of:

• At least four SSN Board members (including one SSN Director)
• Three members of the host institution (one of whom will be the conference director)

The SSN members of the committee will support the host institution in providing feedback and advice during regular organizing committee calls. Final decisions about the conference theme, registration fees, budget, programme, etc will be made by the organizing committee. SSN will be responsible for determining the keynotes, award ceremonies of SSN prizes and promoting the conference.

Structure of conference:

• A two and a half-day conference should enable two plenary sessions and 5 parallel sessions.
• Poster sessions or other activities to encourage Master and Doctoral student involvement in the conference are encouraged.

The Host institution would be responsible for:

• Reporting on budget, planning, and preparation milestones to SSN in advance of the conference
• Developing and running the conference website
• Securing lecture theatres, break out rooms, meal facilities, and catering on time
• Creating a conference paper archive – password protected
• Producing a conference accommodation and travel guide for on the conference website
• Publicizing the conference through social media and mailinglists
• Fully responsible for organising, managing, and scheduling conference sessions, plenaries and associated activities, this includes management of the submission of abstracts, the review process, scheduling the abstracts in conference sessions, and drafting the final programme
• Creating the conference pack containing abstracts, delegate list, timetable etc. Organising the conference dinner (at an additional payment)
• Administering conference registration and payment preferably through electronic means, and collecting SSN subscriptions via the same mechanism
• All preconference administration including answering delegate’s queries and sending out emails to the delegates with info about the conference
• Management of front desk and onsite logistics throughout the conference.

The Latin American Network of Surveillance, Technology and Society studies (LAVITS) is organising its 6th conference.

Call for Papers

The Symposium will be held in Salvador, Brazil 26-28 June 2019. This year’s theme will focus on asymmetries and (in)visibilities: surveillance, gender and race. We feel that due to contextual circumstances, particularly in 2019, Salvador and Brazil are the most appropriate places to host such an event.

This edition of the symposium also marks, for the first time, SSN’s official support to a LAVITS’ event.

Important dates:

• Abstracts: March 15th, 2019
• Notification of acceptance: April 5th, 2019
• Full papers: May 30th, 2019

Dear Colleagues,

The Surveillance Studies Network is beginning its 2019 mentorship program for doctoral students engaged in research topics on surveillance. We are calling for faculty members and PhD students who are interested to participate this year as mentors and mentees, respectively.

One faculty member mentor will be paired with one PhD student mentee for a one-year period beginning in March 2019. As an informal mentorship arrangement, the program is intended as a supplement to students’ pre-existing mentorship relationships.

The time commitment is minimal, but the program greatly assists young surveillance scholars in conceptualizing their projects and networking with established scholars in the field.

Over the one-year period, each pair will have a minimum of two discussions, in person if possible (such as at a conference), or via phone or video chat. The focus of the discussions can be determined individually by each pair, but they might cover the mentee’s research or research interests, related literatures, the academic job market, or other matters relating to career.

If you are interested in participating, please email Julia Chan (julia.chan@queensu.ca) by February 25, 2019 with your name, contact information, and keywords of research interests. We will do our best to match faculty members and PhD students who share similar interests.

Note: It is expected that PhD students participating in the program will become SSN members, if they are not already.

We look forward to hearing from you!