Haunted Futures 2026

University College Cork: 29th - 30th September 2026

Deadline for Submissions: July 24th, 2026

Proposals for presentations are now being invited for the fourth annual Haunted Futures Conference to be held from the 29th to the 30th of September at University College Cork. Supported by UCC’s Collective Social Futures, the conference proposes to explore hauntings as potent staging grounds for radical social change, which in their dismantling of hegemonic capitalist, imperialist relationships to time, provide a means of imagining new futures in the late-capitalist Anthropocene, and empowering marginalised and exploited identities, both human and otherwise.

In addition to the above rubric, this year’s conference also proposes to explore ‘Spaces in Crisis'. We welcome papers which consider the intersection between spaces and their histories both human and non-human. This year’s conference will present “haunted” buildings, locations, and environments and their relationship to crisis as a potent staging ground for radical imaginaries of the future and vital points of contact with hard histories.

Proposed topics include, but are not limited to:

The intersection of space and spectrality; Marxism and crisis; Marxism and place; Climate change and hauntology; Extinction; Urban ghosts; Space and marginalisation; Postcolonial spaces; Liminality; Anachronistic spaces; Digital spaces; Ghosts and ecology; Ghosts and time; Queer hauntings; Ghosts and race; Ghosts and gender; Ghosts and postcolonialism; Ghosts and the archive;

Please note:

•The organisers are particularly interested in the work of postgraduate and early career researchers.

•There is no submission fee for this event.

•The organisers also encourage proposals for artistic or multimedia/practice based projects.

•While this is primarily an in-person event, submissions for several remote presentations will be considered.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

A 300 to 500 word proposal, in Doc. or DocX format should be sent to Ellen Scally and Rachel Gough at

hauntedfuturesconference@gmail.com

by the 24th of July.

Subject heading: Author’s Surname – Haunted Futures Abstract

THE ORGANISERS

Dr Ellen Scally: Postdoctoral Researcher, University College Cork

Ellen Scally recently graduated with a PhD from the Department of Film & Screen Media at University College Cork. She is a former graduate of the MA in Film & Screen Media at UCC. Her PhD project concerned the history of amateur film and cine-culture in Ireland, and research interests include Irish cinema history, amateur film practice, community cinema, and the audio-visual archive. Her PhD project was awarded an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship and, in 2025, she was a fellow at the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum, Germany. She is a co-organiser of Haunted Futures, an annual interdisciplinary conference at University College Cork.

Dr Rachel Gough: Postdoctoral Researcher, University College Cork

Rachel Gough is a post-doctoral researcher whose work considers environmental humanities, Irish ecological cultures, and visualisation of extraction, extinction, and colonial afterlives. Her work examines how screen media and cultural production mediate ecological crisis, rural Irish landscapes, and hauntological forms of memory across film, literature, and digital media. She is a reviews editor for the journal Estudios Irlandeses and the Public Relations Officer for Women in Research Ireland. She is based in the CPPU group at the Sustainability Institute, UCC where she is working on the EPA-funded CLIMATUDE project. This project is focusing on developing an understanding of Irish people’s attitudes, beliefs and values related to climate change. She also lectures in the Department of Film and Screen Media. She is a multi-award winning short fiction writer, her work has been widely published and has been adapted for radio by the BBC. She is a co- organiser of Haunted Futures, an annual interdisciplinary conference at University College Cork.

Email: hauntedfuturesconference@gmail.com

X:@HauntedFutures

Bluesky: @HauntedFutures