Postgraduate Conference 2023

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15th Annual Interventions and Intersections HDR Conference 2023
School of Humanities and Communication Arts


Tuesday the 21st and Wednesday the 22nd of November
Level 5, Parramatta City Campus, Western Sydney University

Conference Description

Traversing the U[n]Known is a commemoration of 15 years of our HDR conference showcasing the culture of research and innovation within Western Sydney University. Over the past fifteen years, we emerged and embraced hybridity and diversity and reconnected with what was marred by the pandemic. This year we peregrinate to the realms of the known and unknown research fields within and beyond the School of Humanities and Communication Arts to embrace the challenges of contemporary research with more focused perspectives.

Traversing the U[n]Known aims to provide a platform to all HDR students to show their vibrant and multifaceted research.

As it is a face-to-face HDR conference, Traversing the U[n]Known will incorporate a range of exciting and informative workshops, keynote speakers, paper presentations, live music and food across two exciting days.



Be sure to register by October 30th to eligible for a conference bag as an attendee.

Call for Papers

Call for Papers are currently open!

Calling all HDR researchers!

It is time, once again, for the annual Interventions and Intersections Conference. For the past fifteen years, every November we have emerged from our solitary research and embraced each other’s ideas and work in the collegial atmosphere of the annual HDR conference. This year we the committee are excited to invite all our fellow students to once again gather together to experience and interrogate the challenges and joys of contemporary research at this year’s conference, Traversing the U[n]Known.

This year’s conference theme invites you to reflect on how your personal research traverses the unknown, whether that be between or beyond established fields of research. Your presentation does not have to conform to the theme of the conference, but if you are having trouble thinking of a topic for your presentation, here are some suggestions:

Some Questions to Get the Ball Rolling:

  • What fields does your research draw on conceptually, thematically, or practically?
  • How does your research go beyond what has been done by others?
  • Why should researchers in other fields pay attention to your work?
  • What questions does your research seek to answer?
  • Conversely, what questions does it pose to others?
  • What is the importance of embracing the unknown in research?

Some possible topics:

  • Inter or Trans-cultural Communication
  • Styles of Learning
  • Accessibility
  • Theoretical perspectives that challenge accepted norms
  • Narratives of Diaspora/ Transformation
  • Boundary Crossings
  • Liminality
  • Cross-disciplinary research
  • Destabilization
  • Diversity
  • Embracing Uncertainty
  • Intersectionality
  • Globalization
  • Multi-media or transmedia
  • A.I.

Traversing the U[n]known aims to provide a platform to all HDR students to showcase their vibrant and multifaceted research. You’ll not only network with your peers in different disciplines, but learn how to present your research before an audience, attend some fascinating keynotes, and get hands-on experience during our pre-conference and conference workshops.

This year there are two presentation options: a fifteen-minute talk or a five to ten-minute creative option. Please submit your choice of length, as well as a Title, Abstract (150-300 words), and Biography Blurb (Name, Discipline, Degree, and a couple areas of scholarly interest) to postgradconference_hca@westernsydney.edu.au by 30 October 2023!

We’re looking forward to listening to your research this November!

Proposals

15-20 min panel presentations

5 min creative works  (including poetry, short fiction, fictocritical analysis)

Submissions are due by October 30.

Please email a 250-word abstract and brief bio to postgradconference_hca@westernsydney.edu.au

Conference Speakers

Professor Stephen Muecke

Stephen Muecke

Stephen Muecke is a research professor at the Nulungu Research Institute Notre Dame University, Broome, Emeritus Professor of Ethnography at the University of New South Wales, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. A recent book is The Children’s Country: Creation of a Goolarabooloo Future in North-West Australia, co-authored with Paddy Roe, 2020, and his translation ofBernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Sacha Loeve’s Carbon: A Biography, will be published in 2024. He has been a visiting professor at the Freie Universität, Berlin and at Paris XIII. He is a writer specialising in cross-generic work; with Reading the Country winning the WA Week Non-fiction prize in 1985, and No Road (Bitumen all the way)  was short-listed for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, 1997, short-listed for the The Age Book of the Year, 1997 and highly commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literature Awards, 1997.

Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham

Daniel Cunningham

Dr Daniel Mudie Cunningham is an independent curator, writer, artist and lecturer at the National Art School. Based on Gadigal land, Sydney, his most recent roles include co-artistic director of Liveworks Festival for Performance Space (2023) and curating Cementa Festival (September 2024). He has a long history with Western Sydney University with undergraduate (BA Hons 1996) and postgraduate (PhD 2004) qualifications, as a lecturer traversing art history and design theory (1997-2007), and more recently, as curator of the exhibition, Space YZ at Campbelltown Arts Centre (2021), which memorialised the university’s former art school.

You can also find Daniel on Instagram @danmudcun

Conference Program

Please find the program for the conference below.

Traversing the U[n]known Program

Conference Masterclasses

CONFERENCE MASTERCLASS 1

'A Non-Mastery Class' with Stephen Muecke

Day 2
Wednesday 22nd November
1:30-3:00pm
Parramatta City

In this 'non-mastery' masterclass*, Professor Stephen Muecke will work with participants on different genres of thesis-writing. Topics the masterclass-workshop will cover include:

  • mixing genres;
  • the importance of description;
  • the use of theory; and
  • the constraints of institutional contexts.

Bringing his expertise in the innovative genre of fictocritical writing, Stephen will work closely with a limited number of pre-registered participants in a masterclass workshop.

Please register here to secure a place. Once registered you will be sent instructions for supplying a 250-word abstract and a recommended short pre-workshop reading.

If you miss out on a place in this masterclass, or don’t have time to prepare, it will also be open to all non-participants who are welcome to join on the day as observers. You do not need to register for this option.

Stephen Muecke is one of the originators of the innovative genre of fictocritical writing. He is a research professor at the Nulungu Research Institute Notre Dame University, Broome, Emeritus Professor of Ethnography at the University of New South Wales, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. A recent book is The Children’s Country: Creation of a Goolarabooloo Future in North-West Australia, co-authored with Paddy Roe, 2020, and his translation ofBernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Sacha Loeve’s Carbon: A Biography, will be published in 2024.

*The title of this masterclass is borrowed from Michael Taussig’s Mastering the Art of Non-Mastery.

CONFERENCE MASTERCLASS 2

'Same research, Different format: Adaptive Storytelling for research translation' with Dr Jack Tsonis

Day 2
Wednesday 22nd November
1:30-3:00pm
Parramatta City

One of the essential skills of modern research is the ability to translate work across different formats.

But whatever the circumstance, the task is difficult for a variety of reasons. For example: it’s hard enough to write a good  article or good conference paper – how do you keep the work interesting and coherent when converting to another format? What should you change? What can you keep? How do you decide? How do you start?

In this practical masterclass, join writing coach Dr Jack Tsonis as he walks through one of the essential skills of modern research: how to translate work across different forms. This masterclass will address these questions in the following frame work:

  • The act of research translation can be understood as "adaptive storytelling"
  • Adaptive stortelling requires a clear grasp of something called an "Underlying Narrative
  • An Underlying Narrative is composed of four elements: context, problems, actions, pay-off
  • These ideas can be used as tools for both research translation and idea generation across a wide range of contexts.

Jack will work with a limited number of pre-registered participants in this masterclass workshop. Please register here to secure a place.

If you miss out on a place in this masterclass, or don’t have time to prepare, it will also be open to all non-participants who are welcome to join on the day as observers. You do not need to register for this option.

*The session will end with an informal speed-feedback round for any participants to discuss their own project in relation to the framework presented. Observers welcome.