Information for Panel Convenors

This page contains information for Panel Convenors about your responsibilities in agreeing to convene a panel at the conference, and the key deadlines you will need to meet.

Key Deadlines

Communications 

• It is very important that the conference organisers are able to communicate with you, so please double check that your contact details in Submittable are correct.  If we lose contact with you at any point over the coming months, your spot in the conference may be taken by someone else. 
• Please deem communication from AAANZ as SAFE and do not leave communication in your spam/junk/promotion/quarantine folders, rather MOVE it into your inbox. This will eliminate bounces.
• As the Panel Moderator, you are the sole point of contact between your speakers and the conference organisers.  That is, if your speakers have questions or concerns, they should contact you, and you can contact conference organisers.

Online Option

In the call for sessions, we sought interest for possible online options for the conference. While most convenors preferred in person presentations, there was also solid interest in online opportunities to participate.

While we don’t have the capacity to offer a fully hybrid conference, the conference committee is still keen to facilitate online engagement as much as we can. We will therefore be offering a separate, online-only event for sessions that cannot be convened in Canberra (subject to final amount of confirmed interest). We anticipate that this event will probably take place a few days before the conference dates of 4 to 6 December (exact dates of online option still TBC). Our hope is that this can be an engaging lead-up to the rest of the conference.

We also aim to have our keynotes and key plenary sessions available to watch online.

Call for Papers (close Wednesday 31 July)

• If you have chosen to be part of the Call for Papers, the conference organisers will publicise your panel abstract, and your email address, week-ending Friday 28 June.  The deadline for applications will be Wednesday 31  July. 
• Applicants to the Call for Papers will be required to submit the following information: name and contact details; proposed paper title and abstract (250 words) and bio (100 words).  
• Applicants will apply directly to Panel Convenors.  It will be solely up to you to review applications, and to communicate with successful and unsuccessful applicants.  The conference organisers will not be accepting any applications for Papers.
• If you do not receive sufficient applications to your panel, we encourage you to solicit applications by approaching potential speakers directly. A helpful resource is the AAANZ Directory of Art Historians and Art Researchers in the Asia Pacific Region

Panel Guidelines

• All panels will be allocated 90 minutes. Typically, this will consist of three papers and an introduction, but other formats are possible.  Regardless of format, no individual talk should exceed 20 minutes, and all panels must allow for at least 30 minutes of discussion. 
• The Panel Convenors and speakers must be AAANZ members. Information about acquiring membership, bursaries and other options will be made available on the website.
• Speakers may present no more than one paper at the conference.
• Some proposals requested double sessions. The conference committee will only consider requests for double sessions closer to the close of the Call for Papers, once a clear indication of interest has been received.

Full Panel Details (due Wednesday 21 August)

• Panel Convenors will be required to provide the conference organisers with their complete panel details by Wednesday 21 August.  If we don’t receive your materials by this deadline, you may lose your spot in the conference.
• Complete panel details comprise:
  • Your panel title and abstract (max. 300 words);
  • Convenor name(s), professional title, institutional affiliation and bios (max. 300 words per bio) note: this can be uploaded as a word document;
  • Speakers’ name, professional title, institutional affiliation, bios (max. 300 words per bio) and paper abstracts (max. 300 words per abstract). note: this is uploaded as a word document. Double and triple sessions are to be uploaded separately; and
  • Any additional information or scheduling requirements (ie if you or a speaker can’t attend a particular day).
• Please use this form

Guidelines as you Finalise Your Panels

As in previous years, the content of AAANZ conference will be determined by Panel Convenors, speakers, and their audiences. Panel Convenors have an especially important role, by determining the theme and scope of their panels, and the speakers that will populate them.

As Panel Convenors finalise their panels, we urge you to consider the following questions:

• What are the histories of inclusion and exclusion that have shaped your panel topic? Should this be addressed in the panel abstract or one of the papers?

• Which voices have typically shaped your panel topic, and who has been excluded from this conversation? How might these voices be better included in your panel?

A note for panel convenors on First Nations Sovereignty and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)

An important underlying element of the conference each year is the ongoing sovereignty of the First Peoples on whose land the conference takes place, and recognition of the sovereign rights of First Peoples whose art and culture panellists may interrogate.

The conference provides the opportunity to create an inclusive platform for all art professionals to critically reflect upon the history of European settlement and the ramifications of how this history impacts each of us, and the institutions where we work. The conference also provides a space for non-Indigenous art professionals to learn from Indigenous colleagues, and the longer histories of Indigenous survival, resistance and flourishing.

A key aspect of Indigenous sovereignty is the right of Indigenous peoples to maintain, control, protect, and develop their Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). ICIP includes all aspects of Indigenous peoples’ cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. Panel convenors and speakers using or discussing ICIP in the conference are expected to follow due process in terms of communication, consultation and consent, as well as attribution with the appropriate Indigenous custodians of the material presented.

As a panel convenor, if your proposal engages directly or potentially with Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, we ask you to consider what steps you can take to ensure that ICIP is engaged with in respectful and culturally safe ways. For example:

• Have you approached (or could you approach) an Indigenous scholar/artist/curator to be a speaker on your panel?
• Can the panellist confirm appropriate notation of custodial interest with the convenor?
• As convenor, do you feel the panellist has confidence of the community from which the ICIP originates and has a history of ethical dealing with that Indigenous community?
  • If relevant, have representatives of the relevant Indigenous group been consulted by the panellist?