General Overview
Abstract submissions has now closed. Congratulations to all our accepted presenters! We can’t wait to welcome you to glorious Dundee!
WCDC2019 will feature both submitted and invited sessions that address the conference theme of ‘People, Place and Power’. Community representatives, practitioners, policy makers and academics at all levels of experience will be sharing their knowledge and expertise. The organising group of WCDC2019 is looking forward to seeing the wide range of oral presentations, practice workshops, poster presentations, film screenings and visual arts responses that reflect on the conference theme and encourage dialogue about the key conference questions.
If you have been accepted to present at the conference, you will receive detailed guidance about how to prepare your presentation, workshop, poster, film or arts response a couple of months prior to the conference. In the meantime, please ensure that your presentations clearly relate to community development practice and the key conference questions. We are looking forward to welcoming people from a wide range of professional and experiential backgrounds however we encourage all presenters to reflect on how their work connects to community development practice, pedagogy and/or policy to ensure that WCDC2019 creates a forum for open, reflective dialogue on the complex interrelationship between people, place and power in global community development practice.
The working language of the conference will be English. If participants require language assistance please let the organising committee know in advance of the conference. If required, we will work with you to develop ideas and to assist you in preparing for the conference.
When preparing your presentation, please take a look at our presenter guidance here to ensure that your work is formatted correctly.
The focus of the conference is on dialogue. Oral presentations will therefore be strictly limited to 7 minutes, not including questions. Presenters should use a maximum of 10 slides and ensure that presentations focus on
- analysing the actual or potential impact of the work, and
- identifying the ways in which their work is relevant for community development.
We encourage all presenters to also reflect on the international relevance of their work. Times for each session will be strictly adhered to in order to ensure that at least 45 minutes of each session is dedicated to facilitated discussion.
To be considered for an oral presentation you must first submit a proposal of no more than 300 words. This proposal will be subject to peer review and will be considered for quality, originality, how well they reflect the conference vision, and contribution to existing analysis, practice, policy and research.
What to include in your proposal:
- A brief biography
- A concise description of what you will focus on in your presentation (this can related to practice, research or pedagogy) including:
- A description of the actual or potential impact of your work
- A description of the ways in which your work is relevant for community development
- A description of how your presentation addresses at least one of the questions in the Call for Participation
Practice workshops are an opportunity to share the methods and/or outcomes of completed or on-going work with a wide audience. Workshops must be participative and allow for as much exchange of practice and learning between participants as possible. Workshops will be allocated a maximum of 90 minute timeslots. As far as possible, we will try to be responsive to specific requirements for different workshop formats.
To be considered for a practice workshop you must first submit a proposal of no more than 300 words. All proposals will be subject to peer review. Proposals will be considered for quality, originality, how well they reflect the conference focus and themes, and contribution to existing analysis, practice, policy and research.
What to include in your proposal:
- A brief biography;
- A concise description of the topic/focus of the workshop, including:
- A brief description of the project(s) or practice(s) that will be presented/explored
- A concise description of the format for the workshop and minimum time required
- Whether your workshop is aimed at practitioners, academics, policy makers or community members
- What participants will learn and achieve as a result of the workshop
- How it addresses at least one of the questions in the Call for Participation
We welcome proposals for poster presentations highlighting developments in practice, research and pedagogical approaches. Posters are particularly appropriate for providing information about work that is still evolving or to enable a visual presentation of complex ideas or summaries of work.
To be considered for a poster presentation you must first submit a proposal of no more than 300 words. This proposal will be subject to peer review. Posters must be presented in the form of an A1 printed poster which you should bring to the conference. Proposals will be considered for quality, originality, how well they reflect the conference focus and themes, and contribution to existing analysis, practice, policy and research.
What to include in your proposal:
- A brief biography
- A concise description of the focus of your poster (this can related to practice, research or pedagogy) including:
- A description of the intent or goal of the project/research/practice
- A description of the ways in which the project/research/practice is relevant for community development
- A description of the outcomes/impact of the project/research/practice
- A description of how your poster addresses at least one of the questions in the Call for Participation
There will be film screenings throughout the conference and we are keen to include a diverse range of films to stimulate dialogue and reflection. Makers of all varieties of films, including shorts, animations, community-led initiatives and full length feature films are all invited to submit proposals.
To be considered for a film screening you must first submit a proposal of no more than 300 words. This proposal will be subject to peer review. Please include film length in your proposal. Please note that due to restrictions in the programme, the number of feature length films that we are able to accept will be limited. We will accept proposals for films in languages other than English only if accompanied by a written transcript in English.
Proposals will be considered for quality, originality, how well they reflect the conference focus and themes, and contribution to existing analysis, practice, policy and research.
What to include in your proposal:
- A brief biography of the organisation and/or film makers
- A concise description of the film including:
- A description of the intent or goal of the film
- A description of the ways in which the film is relevant for community development
- A description of the outcomes/impact of the film
- A description of how the film addresses at least one of the questions in the Call for Participation
- The length of the film
- If possible, a link to a clip of the film (on Dropbox, Vimeo, YouTube etc)
We encourage proposals from both established and emerging visual artists and art-activists. This includes proposals from a range of visual media including photography, drawing, paintings, sculpture, mixed media, film installation, illustration, cartoons, animation and craftwork. There are no pre-defined size limits but space restrictions may apply. Installation assistance will be offered by the team organising the exhibition but transportation costs and insurance are the responsibility of the artist/art-activist.
To be considered for a visual arts response you must first submit a proposal of no more than 300 words and up to ten images of your work. This proposal will be subject to peer review.
Proposals will be considered for quality, originality, how well they reflect the conference focus and themes, and contribution to existing analysis, practice, policy and research.
What to include in your proposal:
- A brief biography of the artist/art-activist
- A concise description of the artwork/installation including:
- A description of the intent of the artwork or thinking underpinning the artwork
- A description of the ways in which the artwork is relevant for community development
- A description of how the artwork addresses at least one of the questions in the Call for Participation
- The dimensions and requirements for exhibiting the artwork
- No more than ten images of the artists’/art-activists’ work, including the artwork for the conference
Audio Visual Facilities
The rooms we are using for parallel sessions are all teaching rooms at the university and all have audio visual facilities. You can bring USB stick, or your own laptop which we can connect to the screen.
The rooms are usually in groups of tables with about 6-8 chairs. A typical layout can be seen at https://www.dundee.ac.uk/roombookings/catalogue/dalhousie1g05/