
2026 International DIPS conference
When: Call for Papers Deadline: 30 November 2025 | Conference Dates: August 20-23rd, 2026
Where: The University of Hamburg (Germany)
Contact:
CALL FOR PAPERS
for the
2026 International DIPS conference
The University of Hamburg (Germany)
August 20-23rd, 2026
Dialogue in public spaces (political, academic, social, virtual, etc.,) is too often
unreasonable, uncivil, and lacking in reflection. Since reasonable, civil and
reflective dialogue is the life breath of human flourishing, the goal of the
present enterprise is to bring together people from all around the globe to
create a dialogical symposium that will offer all of us the opportunity to come
together to share our works, our concerns, and our enthusiasm.
INCLUSIVITY
In light of the fact that there are many who believe that genuinely engaged
dialogue needs support in numerous venues, the heading of DIPS, or Discourse
in Public Spaces, hopefully signals maximum inclusivity. Besides educators, the
hope is that this symposium will attract scientists, policy makers, activists, and
many others, whose concern is focused on enhancing dialogue in varying
contexts.
THEME: DIALOGUE AND DEMOCRACY
In this time of turbulence, our goal is to bring together dialogical enthusiasts to
share their wisdom on how best to handle, change, and assuage the various
social currents to which we are all subject, so that they are supportive of, rather
than detrimental to, the buoyancy of democracy, e.g., how to help folks
negotiate social media, how to foster dialogue in deep social divides, how to
translate scientific knowledge so that it effectively connects with laypeople,
how to educate for genuinely responsible citizenship, i.e., not just voting, how
to foster civility, etc.
YET MORE INCLUSIVITY
Everyone is welcome, either as a speaker or a learner. The plan is to have a 2-
tier symposium fee so that those who come to learn rather than present will be
offered a discount fee.
DATES
The dates of this international conference are Aug 20, 21, and 22, 2026—
potentially followed by a morning debrief and/or an excursion, e.g., a harbor
cruise.
The cutoff date for submission of abstracts November 30, 2025. Reminders will
be sent out July 1, and October 1, 2025. All abstracts will be vetted for quality
and results should be available before March 1, 2026.
Posters and workshops are also welcome.
Abstracts are to be sent to: Prof. Dr. Kerstin Michalik, University of Hamburg
at
COST
Non-student presenters 200 euros.
Non-student attendees 100 euros.
Students 25 euros.
The cost includes the venue plus coffee, tea, water, fruit and cookies for three
days. There will be a lunch break to explore the local food venues. An organized
dinner will be extra as will outings.
Any questions can be directed to the DIPS website at https://dipspace.org/ OR
to the members of the conference committee:
Dr. Arie Kizel at
Dr. Susan Gardner at
Dr. Kerstin Michalik at