How to find conferences in your field?

[reddog]

The search function wasn't particularly helpful in finding an answer, so I thought I'd start a new topic. Ofcourse if there already is such a topic, then I'd be very grateful if you could point me in the right direction

As preparation for my graduate studies I have been scowering the internet looking for conferences that I might want to attend to gain inspiration, new research ideas, and overall simply become more knowledgeable in my field. I have noticed that there seem to be two types of conferences: 1) those that ask to submit abstracts for posters or presentations, and 2) those that mostly consist of discussion panels and you are basically there to listen, not participate. So my first question would be, can anyone explain how that works? What is exactly the difference between these two, is it just format or is there more to it?

My other goal is to 'map out' the conferences in my field so that I have an overview of what is out there, and that I know where to best send my future abstracts. You might say, 'that's what your advisor is for', but I don't want to blindly depend on my advisor to point me to the 'right' conference. Having an overview is also important for me to gain a sense of possible underlying politics or the weight of a certain conference. So how do I go about this? How do you guys know about the different conferences in your field? Do you have a systematic approach to find out online, or do universities maybe have a database? One thing I tried is to sign up for a bunch of discipline-related newsletters, but I am not sure if this is a good approach.

Anyway, thanks for any insights you might have for me!

[rising_star]

The main way I find out about conferences in my field is by reading announcements and CFPs (Call for Papers) on academic listservs to which I subscribe. Some of these are run by the major national associations but others are more ad-hoc and based out of a specific university. I'm on several related to my interests and so that's how I find out about conferences. Most academic conferences involve people submitting abstracts or posters and then a committee choosing who will be allowed to present.

[GradSchoolTruther]

Read the CVs of professors in your department and your field. The CVs should list their latest conference presentations or panels where they have served as chairs or discussants. The International Studies Association meeting is this week and is one of the big ones.

[fuzzylogician]

This is actually not a place where I think it makes sense to spend a lot of energy re-inventing the wheel. The knowledge is out there and could easily be given to you by your advisor, whereas the chances that your independent investigations will lead you to miss something important seem fairly high. I would say if ever there was such a case, this is the kind of thing where you could benefit from the advice of senior students or your advisor. If your department is up to it, you might ask for (or organize yourself) a short professionalization meeting with the DGS or professors in your subfield to discuss questions like (a) when you should start submitting to conferences, (b) what conferences you should be aiming at, (c) where calls for papers are published, so you know to keep track of dates in years to come, (d) common formats in your field (e.g. in mine, like in rising_star's, you will almost always submit an abstract and a selection committee will decide who to accept). This kind of field-specific knowledge is something that would be easy for them to tell you without needing any significant prep (so participating in this meeting shouldn't be a burden), and probably harder for you to find out. I'm sure there are other students in similar career stages who would also benefit from this knowledge. 

(And yes, everything that was mentioned above, for finding out the information yourself.)

[reddog]

Wow thanks guys, so much new information!

I'd actually never heard of academic listservs so I started googling for them. Came across something called H-net and Lsoft and signed up for a couple of sublists in my field of interest. Also, The International Studies Association is completely new to me, but I will definitely keep that in the back of my head for when I ever have anything good enough to submit haha.

@fuzzylogician I understand, thanks It's a force of habit I guess, I am used to doing things like this on my own. And I didn't mean that I am not going to ask my advisor, of course I am But I feel more confident asking when I have some background knowledge of my own. I'll definitely ask for such a meeting!