The Sociological Association Ireland (SAI), as the professional association of sociology in Ireland, is committed to supporting the discipline through fora for them to share ideas, collaborate and disseminate their research.

The Committee give their time for free, and SAI members around the country and internationally build community and critical mass in research areas through their passion in forging networks, organising events, writing and research, editing and peer reviewing, and teaching.

Sociology and social research in general plays a vital role in Irish society by producing the knowledge that gives us the opportunity to act wisely by giving us maps of the social, which we hope will lead to a better society, better politics, better thinking and better policies.

The conference raises Questions about collective life, democratic participation, and shared futures have become increasingly urgent. We face them at a moment of profound transformation where rapid technological change is exacerbating ecological breakdown, economic precarity, political polarisation, and persistent inequalities, while technology itself is also reshaping what is thinkable and possible.

Yet narratives of technological inexorability obscure crucial questions about power, accountability, collective agency, care, justice, and alternatives. Thus, beyond technological determinism, we ask: What forms of collective life and democracy might the future hold? How do struggles over technology intersect with struggles over migration, economy, belonging, health, justice, critique, and equality? What futures are being foreclosed when technology is presented as inevitable, and what forms of flourishing and sociability might we reclaim?

Additionally, this conference invites sociological engagement with the future of ‘the Republic’ – understood as an ongoing project of collective life, democratic participation, and shared resources. We welcome papers that critically interrogate how power, inequality, and social transformation intersect in the struggle to build more just and sustainable futures. In this task we invite you to consider how sociology often finds itself confronting a recurring question: how, and to what extent, does sociological knowledge shape the society it seeks to understand?

Taking place in Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city and a historic port, this conference examines how these forces are reconfiguring social life globally. Ports have historically been sites where global processes are experienced locally as gateways through which goods, people, ideas, and labour circulated, connecting questions of mobility, migration, trade, colonialism, and networks. Today, digital technologies and data infrastructures are becoming analogous networks through which information, labour, and social life increasingly flow. Waterford thus offers a strategic vantage point from which to examine both historical and contemporary transformations, and ask what kinds of futures remain possible when global flows – and crises – reshape our collective lives?

We invite researchers worldwide to submit abstracts and panel proposals on any aspect of the conference theme, including (but not limited to):

citizenship and rights; social practice theory; employment and welfare; cultural sociology; disabilities; economic sociology; emotions; families and care; education; gender; health and illness; historical sociology; sexuality; law, justice and crime; migration; politics, states, nations; race, racism, colonialism; environment and sustainability; critical theory; technology, work and everyday life.

We welcome submissions from across all sociological traditions and methods. We particularly encourage early-career researchers, postgraduate students, practitioners, and international colleagues.

At a time of profound uncertainty, this conference offers an opportunity to analyse contemporary challenges and imagine alternative futures.

We look forward to welcoming you to Waterford in 2027!

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome.

• Abstracts, panel proposals (max 250 words), and short bios (max 100 words) should be sent by 19th November 2026 to: 2027.SAI@gmail.com.

List of Topics

• Citizenship and rights; social practice theory; employment and welfare; cultural sociology; disabilities; economic sociology; emotions; families and care; education; gender; health and illness; historical sociology; sexuality; law, justice and crime; migration; politics, states, nations; race, racism, colonialism; environment and sustainability; critical theory; technology, work and everyday life.

Committees

SAI Executive Members

• Lisa Smith President (Queens University, NI)
• Tanya Watson Executive Secretary (University College Cork, Ireland)
• John Heaney (Queens University, NI)
• Tom Boland (University College Cork, Ireland)
• Daniel Guigui (University College Dublin, Ireland)
• Mike Hynes (University of Galway, Ireland)
• Adepeju Oti (Independent Reseacher/Affiliation: Lead City University, Nigeria)
• Jody Moore-Ponce (University College Cork, Ireland)
• Diana Stypinska (University of Galway, Ireland)
• Billy Goodwin (Independent Reseacher)
• Sofiya Volvakova (University College Dublin, Ireland)
• Shona Rooney (Queens University, NI)
• Amin Sharifi Isaloo (University College Cork, Ireland)
• John O'Brien ((University College Cork, Ireland)
• Mastoureh Fathi (University College Cork, Ireland

Organizing Committee

• Person 1 South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)
• Person 2 South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)
• Person 3 South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)

Invited Speakers

• Speaker 1- Elizabeth Shove is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University and Fellow of the British Academy.
• Speaker 2- Tom Boland is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at University College Cork.
• Speaker 3- Patrick Bresnihan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University.

Venue: South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)

The conference will be held in Ireland

Contact: Dr. Tanya Watson Executive Secretary/Dr. Adepeju Oti (Conference Officer)

All questions about submissions should be emailed to 2027.SAI@gmail.com

Sponsors: South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)South East Technological University (Waterford Campus)