Call for Papers
IVACS 2026 – Inter-Varietal Applied Corpus Studies Conference
1–3 July 2026 | University of Malta, Valletta, Malta
https://www.um.edu.mt/events/ivacs2026/
The IVACS Association is pleased to announce that the 12th Biennial IVACS Conference will be hosted by the University of Malta, Valletta Campus, from 1–3 July 2026.
The IVACS Conference series is a leading international forum for corpus-based research into linguistic varieties and applications of corpus linguistics in professional, pedagogical, and social contexts. Following the successful series of conferences, IVACS 2026 will continue to build on this tradition of collaboration and innovation.
We are excited to announce our plenary speakers:
Dr Niall Curry, Manchester Metropolitan University
Prof. Phil Durrant, University of Exeter
Dr Tove Larsson, Northern Arizona University
We welcome proposals related to (but not limited to):
Corpus Design & Methodology: compilation, annotation, and representativeness
Applied Contexts: workplace and professional discourse, minority and endangered languages, translation, interpreting, multilingual communication, stylistics
Innovations & Emerging Directions: GenAI tools and platforms, multimodal corpora
Teaching & Learning: corpus applications in pedagogy, data-driven learning, assessment, teacher education, learner corpora, genre-based approaches
Corpus-Informed Materials: pedagogic grammars, textbooks, syllabi design
Theoretical Perspectives: sociolinguistics, pragmatics, critical discourse studies, intercultural communication
Corpus Linguistics and Ethical Practice: Ethical, transparent, and inclusive methods in corpus-based research
Submission Details
Individual Papers: 20 minutes presentation + 10 minutes discussion
Colloquia: 90 minutes, consisting of 3 thematically linked papers
Posters: especially suitable for work-in-progress or early-stage projects
Paper, colloquia and poster abstracts should be submitted to ivacs2026@um.edu.mt.
The language of the conference is English. We encourage submission of abstracts from early-career researchers, including postgraduate research students and postdoctoral researchers.
Abstract specifications for Individual Papers and Posters:
250 – 350 words in length (including references, if any)
Written in Times New Roman font and saved as a docs file
Page 1 will include: Title; Presenter(s); Affiliation(s); Email address(es), plus abstract
Page 2 will be anonymised and will include: Title and abstract only
Abstract specifications for Colloquia:
A maximum of 1,000 words in length (not including list of references)
A single abstract on behalf of all speakers on the panel, detailing the overall motivation for the panel, individual contributions, and the proposed panel structure
Written in Times New Roman font and saved as a docs file
Page 1 will include: Theme for the panel; Title of each contribution; Presenters; Affiliations; Email addresses, plus abstracts
Page 2 will be anonymised and will include: Titles and abstracts only
Important Dates
Abstract submission opens: 1 October 2025
Abstract submission deadline: 9 January 2026 (23:59 UTC)
Notification of acceptance: Early March 2026
Early-bird registration deadline: April 2026
Conference dates: 1–3 July 2026