Call for participation

This symposium is a knowledge exchange, performance and discussion day, highlighting practices, considerations, and communities on the fringes of the tradition. While experimentation and development has always been a feature of traditional music, there are a remarkable number of recent examples of creative work that clearly exist on the boundaries of what is understood as Irish traditional music.  

Artists are combining standard approaches with new technologies, improvisation, other art forms and other genres of music. These creative manifestations still overlap with political, historical and social priorities, including questions of inclusivity and activism. We hope to celebrate, develop and strengthen the research and creative community around these questions, and support opportunities for collaboration. We invite proposals for participation from anyone working in these areas, whether outside or within academia. This symposium encourages participants at all stages of their career, and a diverse range of research methods and practices. Proposals may be submitted in English or Irish, with proposals for bilingual presentations incorporating both languages also welcome.

Approaches/ topics may include the following, but you are encouraged to submit proposals that you feel resonate with the overarching theme.

• Improvisation
• Experimentalism
• Performance
• Technology / Live electronics
• Traditional Music on Social Media
• Issues of individual and community identity
• Issues of access
• International perspectives

This symposium will happen in the week preceding Belfast Tradfest and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, at a time when there is a wealth of activity and energy in traditional music in the north of Ireland, particularly in Belfast.  

Join us!

Submission Guidelines

Please provide the following details by 5pm on Friday 10 April 2026

•               Title of paper or performance & abstract / summary (max 250 words)

•               Full name and any institutional affiliation / indicate if independent artist

•               Short biography (max 100 words)

•               Please state whether you are proposing:

• Individual paper
• Performance-based presentation or workshop
• Lightning presentation
• Panel
• Roundtable
• Poster
• Film or other media presentation
• Collaborative presentation

Abstracts for individual papers should be no more than 250 words. For panels and roundtables, please send paper abstracts of no more than 250 words each, together with a panel/roundtable description of no more than 100 words. For performances or other media presentations, submit a description of no more than 250 words and a link to a sample of any performance. Proposals will be anonymised prior to peer review, and applicants will be notified of the review process outcome by 30 April 2026.

Please note that this symposium will happen entirely in person at SARC, Queen’s University Belfast.

If you are an independent self-employed artist, not supported by an institution, and would require a fee to be able to contribute, please indicate this on your proposal.

Committees

Organizing committee

• Dr Úna Monaghan (QUB, Symposium Chair), Dr Conor Caldwell (University of Limerick), Chris Corrigan (QUB), Dr Síle Denvir (DCU), Gráinne Meyer (QUB), Paddy McKeown (QUB), Dr Ryan Molloy (Maynooth University), Dr Niamh O’Brien (MTU), Dr Ceri Owen (University of Birmingham), Prof Paul Stapleton (QUB), Dr Jack Talty (UCC), Dr Lori Watson (University of Edinburgh)

Venue

SARC: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music, Queen's University Belfast

Contact

itm.edges@qub.ac.uk