Class, Race, Place 2024 Australia Conference - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Date: December 6th, 2024.

Location: IBM Emerging Technologies Hub, Federation University SMB Campus, Wadawurrung Country, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 3353 (& online via Teams)

Dear Scholars, Researchers, Students and Community members,

It is our great pleasure to invite you to the NCRTJ & AWCA 2024 Australia Conference, which is being organised by The National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice (NCRTJ) & the Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA) and will be hosted on Wadawurrung Country in Ballarat, Australia on December 6th, 2024.

The Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA) is an international collective of working-class academics. Our aims are to help academic colleagues overcome class-based barriers and to amass data on the economic, social, and cultural challenges facing working class academics. We mentor and support working class students, and develop best practices on recruiting, retaining, and meaningfully advocating on behalf of working-class faculty, staff, and students. We aim to abolish global class discrimination. The AWCA hosts annual conferences across the UK, USA and Australia and online. More information on the work of the AWCA can be found here:

https://www.workingclassacademics.com/news

The National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice (NCRTJ) explores regional, national and international understandings and engagements regarding reconciliation, truth, and justice, across industry, academic and community settings. This work is conducted through a rich program of education, engagement, outreach, and research activities. The NCRTJ hosts annual conferences, lectures and symposiums across Australia and online. More information on the work of the NCRTJ can be found here:

https://federation.edu.au/about-us/our-university/reconciliation/national-centre-for-reconciliation-truth-and-justice

https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-centre-for-reconciliation-truth-and-justice/

On December 6th, 2024, the NCRTJ and the AWCA will co-host an Australian-based hybrid conference. The conference theme: ‘Class, Race, Place: Exploring Intersectionality for Access to Higher Education Globally’, focuses on the intersecting aspects that limit, deter or impact access to tertiary education in Australia and across the world.

The day will showcase research, practices and experiences of race, class, place, and gender intersectionality, and its impact on access, support and success in higher education. The conference begins at 9am for Registration and Refreshments. Followed by a Wadawurrung Welcome to Country, and introductions by the AWCA and NCRTJ. Followed by two keynotes lectures, one professorial and one doctoral. Following this, conference presenters and attendees will be split into three rooms, for three presentation sessions. Each session, in each room, will have 4x10 minute conference presentations, followed by a 20-minute collective discussion period. After each session there will be a 15-minute comfort break. Concluding these three sessions, there will be time for Q&A and Next Steps, followed by a Post-Conference Reception (details TBA).

The conference will bring together international academics, research students and community, from multi-disciplinary areas. The conference is open to everyone, especially those who are interested in: Indigenous Studies, Class Studies, Gender Studies, Inequality and Poverty Studies, International Relations, History, and Education. We welcome anyone with lived experience of conference themes and those who wish to become more informed on issues related to social class, place, poverty, race, gender and education.

We want to hear from as many voices as possible, and do not wish for finances to deter potential conference speakers or attendees. As such, this will be a fee-free conference. There will be no conference fees for attendance in-person (in Ballarat, Australia) or online.

· Intersectionality in Race and/or Class and/or Location and/or Gender Dis/Ability and/or any other intersections, in Higher Education and/or Disciplinary perspectives and experiences

· Alliance, allyship and unity across borders

· International commonalities/Shared experiences

· Other related intersectional themes

The conference will be held at the IBM Emerging Technologies Hub, at Federation University SMB Campus, on Wadawurrung Country, in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The conference location is 1.5 hours by train or car from Southern Cross Station in the Melbourne CBD. As the conference is fee-free, we will not be providing accommodation to conference attendees. However, there is a variety of accommodation options available in both Ballarat and Melbourne, which can be booked directly by conference attendees.

Conference presenters will need to prepare a 10-minute presentation for delivery on the day of the conference. We encourage prospective Conference presenters to submit an abstract of their presentation for review by the 20th of September 2024. Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be given by the 27th of September 2024. Conference Presenters can be in-person or online (*however, please be mindful of your time zones if applying from outside Australia).

Conference presenters will be encouraged to submit their full conference papers / or Non-Traditional Research (NTRO) to be reviewed for a Special Issue: ‘Class, Race, Place: Exploring Intersectionality for Access to Higher Education in Australia and Globally’ of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. Journal link here: https://search.informit.org/journal/jaiis

Deadline for submission of abstract: 20th September, 2024
Notification of acceptance: 27th September 2024
Conference presentation: 6th December 2024
Deadline for final paper / NTRO submission to the Journal: 1st March 2025

Professor Emma-Jaye Gavin, AWCA, NCRTJ, Federation University
Professor Steven Roberts, AWCA, Monash University

For any programme enquiries: [email protected]

For all general enquiries: [email protected]

We look forward to welcoming you on Wadawurrung Country, in Ballarat, Australia (or online) on the 6th of December.

With kindness,

Professor Emma-Jaye Gavin & Professor Steven Roberts

Host or Publisher National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice