Global Theory Forum Call for Participants – Working Group Series 2026-27
Key Information:

  • Third Thursday/Tuesday of the Month

  • In-person at London institutions

  • Fill out this form to submit an abstract: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vmSQlnnViQdLEhzhnE1RLpbQjKkB2JpyXyi3jHjr3FQ/edit.

  • This form is for submitting your abstract for the Global Theory Forum Working Groups taking place in the 2026-27 academic year. Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words. Please submit your abstract by 6th September.

We are delighted to announce the next iteration of Global Theory Forum's (GTF) working group series. The series aims to provide a dedicated, supportive space for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) who are engaging with or thinking alongside international political theory in their work. 

These working groups will be focusing on: 

  1. How researchers theorise and how theory relates to their general research project.

  2. Which theoretical approaches relate to their specific research problem and why.

  3. The challenges that arise when using theoretical approaches as applied to specific cases, policy problems, institutions, or countries.

We welcome submissions from across political theory, philosophy, and critical theory, in both historical, normative, and realist directions.

Topics might include but are not limited to: the climate crisis, “neglected” thinkers beyond the political theory canon, the ethics and politics of migration and borders, theorising global AI governance, and decolonial and postcolonial approaches to the international order.

Seminars will be presentation- rather than paper-based, to allow for the workshopping of ideas rather than the refinement of essays. If submissions are accepted the Forum will reach out regarding the arrangement of a relevant senior discussant who will help provide targeted feedback/engagement. The sessions thereby aim to 1) work as a space for you to workshop ideas in development, 2) receive targeted feedback from a more senior academic, and 3) also receive engagement from fellow ECR researchers.

Successful applicants will be given the option to circulate papers should they wish, and will be asked to circulate at least one relevant theoretical text to the group in advance of their presentation to help guide discussion. Sessions will last approximately one-and-a-half to two hours and will be held on Tuesday or Thursday evenings, once a month, at a London institution from 5-6:30pm.

The dates of the sessions will be:

  • Thursday 24th September 2026

  • Tuesday 20th October 2026

  • Tuesday 24th November 2026

  • Tuesday 8th December 2026

  • Thursday 21st January 2027

  • Tuesday 16th February 2027

  • Thursday 18th March 2027

  • Tuesday 20th April 2027