The European Political Science Society (EPSS) conference in Belfast – Call for Papers
Dear colleagues,
Please find below the call for papers for the inaugural EPSS conference in Belfast, 18-20 June 2026. We invite submissions that represent the state of the art in political science and fit with any of our 19 sections.
We particularly encourage submissions from scholars based in less represented regions, including Southeastern Europe, as part of our ongoing efforts to broaden the geographical and intellectual diversity of research presented at the conference.
Who is EPSS?
The European Political Science Society (EPSS) was formed in 2025 following a decision by the EPSA Council — composed of elected representatives and officers — to create a new organisation better aligned with the principles of transparency, accountability, and reinvestment into the academic community. The move followed long-standing concerns about the governance and financial structure of EPSA, which is operated for profit by a privately held company, EPS Academic Ltd, based in Ireland. EPSS is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in the UK, established to serve and reinvest in the European political science community. It is governed by an elected Council and Officers, including the same individuals who were elected under EPSA’s former governance and who voted at the 2025 Council Meeting to establish EPSS.
If you want to find out more about why and how EPSS was founded, including the five-year process of evaluating reform proposals and the difference between EPSA and EPSS, you can find all information on our website: https://epssnet.org/
In short: EPSS is the same community with a new organization and a bigger mission.
Here are a few highlights about our conference:
- Programme: 19 thematic sections, each with two co-chairs, covering Climate Politics, Comparative Politics , Comparative Politics of Development, Conflict, Violence and Security, Electoral and Voting Behaviour, European and EU Politics, Formal Political Theory, Gender and Sexuality Politics, Historical Political Economy, International Relations, Judicial Politics, Migration Politics, Party Politics, Political Communication , Political Economy, Political Methodology, Political Representation, Public Opinion, and Public Policy and Administration.
- Representation: Section chairs hail from 17 countries, with an even gender balance.
- Participation formats: Traditional panels alongside a range of innovative new formats.
You can find the Call for Papers here: https://epssnet.org/belfast-2026/call-for-papers/
Submission deadline: 7 November 2025.
If you want to stay up-to-date about EPSS news, as well as jobs, calls for papers, and other political-science-related information, you can also sign up to our email listserv by sending an email to epss-info-join@list.epssnet.org
And Belfast is the place to be in June 2026!
