Doctoral Symposium - Literacies for Social Participation

Doctoral Symposium

Literacies for Social Participation (27. – 28.07.2026)

Literacy is an individual competence that is critical for social participation. It is key to education, employment, health, rights and well-being. Yet, this key is not a singular entity, not least in contemporary differentiated societies marked by migration; it is complex as it involves multiple languages, registers, modalities, as well as different technologies and formats. In a highly mobile and interconnected world, migration and digitalization have collided to fundamentally transform what it means to be literate.

Are you a PhD student researching in the field of multilingual literacy development and social participation? If so, you are cordially invited to submit an abstract to participate in the doctoral symposium Literacies for Social Participation at the University of Hamburg on 27-28 July 2026. Successful applicants will present their research to an international audience of their peers and receive in-depth feedback from renowned experts in the field, including:

Prof Dr Dr h.c. mult. Ingrid Gogolin, University of Hamburg
Prof Yanli Meng, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Humboldt-Professor Ingrid Piller, University of Hamburg and Macquarie University
Prof Yixi (Isabella) Qiu, Tongji University
Prof Vera Williams Tetteh, University of Ghana and Macquarie University
Prof Yufang Ruan, Zhejiang University

The doctoral symposium is a constituent event within the Hamburg International Summer School, Literacies for Social Participation, which runs from 20-31 July 2026. We invite you to also apply to participate in the summer school, however this is not a requirement to present at the doctoral symposium. The summer school and the doctoral symposium provide an exceptional combination of high-level academic engagement and networking opportunities related to linguistic diversity and social participation. Participants will have the opportunity to both showcase their expertise and deepen their knowledge of cutting-edge research in the field. To apply for the summer school, click here: Link

If you have any questions, please reach out to summerschool2026.ew@uni-hamburg.de(summerschool2026.ew"AT"uni-hamburg.de. )

Presentation Format

20 minutes presentation + 20 minutes for feedback and discussion afterwards

Submission Guidelines

Please submit: Abstract (max. 450 words, excluding title and references) + Personal Information Sheet (Link)
Submission deadline: 06 April 2026
Notification of acceptance: by 20 April 2026
Participation in the Summer School is not required. If you are interested in the Summer School, learn more about it here: Link

Please send your submission to summerschool2026.ew"AT"uni-hamburg.de

Doctoral Symposium - Literacies for Social Participation