Open Conference of the ‘International Relations’ Section of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) · 21 to 23 September 2026

From 21 to 23 September 2026, the Open Conference of the ‘International Relations’ Section of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) will take place at Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany.

We invite proposals for individual papers, panels (with 3-4 papers, chair and discussant) or roundtables (chair and 5-6 participants) from all areas of international relations. Submissions should be made via meineDVPW on the DVPW website: https://meine.dvpw.de . Submissions must be made by 15 February 2026 at the latest.

A paper should be an original piece of research that would be considered on the path to publication in your field. Selected papers are presented orally on-site at the conference and written copies are shared with fellow panel participants about two weeks in advance of the conference.

Paper proposal submissions require an author, a title, and an abstract of not more than 200 words. Titles are limited to 50 words, and all co-authors must be listed. Please indicate all authors affiliations and contact email-addresses.

Panels group together 3-4 papers and include a chair and a discussant. During a panel session, each paper is presented by the author(s) and time in the session is reserved for discussion amongst panelists and the audience, led by the chair. 

Panel proposal submissions must have a title (less than 50 words), abstract (less than 200 words), a chair and a discussant, and 3-4 papers (complete with their own title, abstract and authors). 

When your paper is part of a panel, please do not submit it again as an individual paper.

Roundtables are discussion-centred sessions with high audience engagement. Roundtables do not include papers and follow a less-structured format than standard panels. Roundtable chairs coordinate with fellow participants to organize the session.  Roundtables require a chair and 5 to 6 participants, a title (of not more than 50 words) and abstracts need to be less than 200 words.

Individual paper contributions may be submitted in German or English. Panels and roundtables may be submitted either entirely in German or entirely in English. Please submit your paper, panel, or roundtable in the respective discussion language when submitting your proposal.

In order to represent a variety of groups of people and career paths as wide as possible in the section, we ask that you ensure gender parity and the inclusion of authors from different institutions and career stages when planning panels and roundtables.

Receipt of applications will be confirmed by 15 March 2026.

The preliminary conference programme will be published in early June 2026, the final conference programme will be published in early August 2026 on the conference website, accessible via: https://go.uniwue.de/ib2026. 

Further information on conference registration and accommodation in Würzburg and the surrounding area will be soon published on the conference website. 

The conference begins on Monday, September 21, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. and ends on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. The conference will take place in the Faculty of Human Sciences building, Wittelsbacherplatz 1, 97074 Würzburg.

If you have any questions about the conference organisation, please contact us at ib-sektionstagung@uni-wuerzburg.de.

We cordially invite you to the open conference of the section and look forward to a wonderful conference with you in Würzburg!

The current team of spokespersons
Sonja Grimm, Markus Lederer, Melanie Morisse and Dennis Redeker