The Department of Communication, Media and Film (CMF) Graduate Conference organizing committee invites submissions for its annual multidisciplinary graduate conference held at the University of Calgary (Calgary, AB). 

Rapid change, resistance, and disruption shape how knowledge is produced, circulated, and understood. Whether encountered at the level of theory, practice, within institutions, or in everyday life, scholars and citizens alike face obstacles that demand adaptation. Shifting Ground invites participants to reflect on how academic research and media responds and reflects when familiar infrastructures fall into disarray. To (re)see current, past, or future problems in a new light, scholars employ a wide range of methodologies and innovations, inviting connection to the collective memory. 

The CMF Annual Graduate Conference welcomes papers and media submissions that explore adaptation, recalibration, and reorientation across communication, media, film, journalism, social science, and the humanities. We encourage submissions that examine how meaning is negotiated under pressure, how progress can be reimagined, and how new possibilities emerge by shining a light where it’s most needed.

Our conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue that unites rather than divides, while supporting critical, reflexive, and imaginative scholarship. We are committed to decolonizing knowledge creation and sharing, and to grounding our work in a feminist ethic of care, accessibility, and inclusivity. 

We welcome: 

• Traditional paper presentations 
• Visual and media-based submissions 
• Research-creation projects 
• Community-based research