General Information

The 2025 International Conference of Autoethnography will take place from Sunday 13th to Tuesday 15th of July 2025 online (via Zoom) and in-person at The Engineer’s House, Clifton Village, Bristol, UK. Please scroll down the page for additional information, or navigate through the menu at the top of the page.

Draft schedule above

This year’s conference theme:

Breathing Spaces

We all breathe. We have this in common with each other — and with the flora and fauna of planet Earth. We may take our breath for granted — for a time. Yet breath, the act of breathing, is far from assured. We exist in atmosphere that is precarious, environments that have been violated, cities that are congested, societies driven toward inequality and division, and workplaces that threaten health and morale.

ICAE2025 offers breathing space; an invitation to story, perform, challenge, theorise, resist or reimagine spaces, relationships, and new ways of being in/for the human and more-than-human world.

Information about the venue

Pre-Conference Workshops

Our pre-conference workshops are at the planning stage. If you would like to give a workshop please contact Jamie.Barnes@sussex.ac.uk

These workshops take place on the Sunday before the conference. For information about these, please use the menu at the top of the page or follow this link https://boomerang-project.org.uk/workshops-2/

For those who are making the journey to Bristol, we hope the beautiful spaces at the Engineer’s House supports different possibilities to share & reflect, to generate new conversations and friendships

IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE

VENUE: The Engineer’s House, Clifton Village, Bristol

Cost of the in-person registration includes two course hot lunch and unlimited coffees/teas/fruit and biscuits each day.

Delegates can engage in as little or as much of the main programme as suits their interest and needs. There are numerous intimate spaces to share conversations, food or just to rest, along with areas for larger groups and collegiate dining. 

Select this link to register https://boomerang-project.org.uk/registration/

Clifton is a very accessible area of Bristol. By car from junction 20 on the M5 it’s a short drive along the river Avon. From Temple Meads and Parkway railway stations there are direct bus links as well as taxis, and a variety of bike routes that cross the city.

Clifton Village is an area of the city bursting with contemporary independent cafes, bars, restaurants, and boutiques as well as typical cosy English pubs.

The venue is also situated adjacent to Clifton Gorge and the Bristol Suspension Bridge. It backs onto the Bristol Downs park, and a short stroll over the suspension bridge takes you into Ashton Park and Leigh Woods.

Awards

Please nominate someone for our awards. Each year the ICAE makes a number of awards –

Lifetime Contribution

Previous holders of the award include Kim Etherington, Carolyn Ellis & Art Bochner, Alec Grant and Gayle Letherby.

Film award

Dissertation/thesis Award

Please consider nominating someone you feel has made not just a substantial contribution to our field, but has done so with a spirit of generosity, care and compassion.

If you would like to register for the conference or submit an abstract please use the main navigation tools at the top of the page.


Looking for inspiration

If you have never attended our conference we invite you to gain a feeling for the diverse types of presentation, performances and contributions, via our YouTube conference page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWNYTUbli3wRLda7ZmbpqOQ/videos

How should I present my work at the ICAE conference?  

There is (fortunately) not an unequivocal answer to this.  We encourage you to present your work in a manner that communicates with the audience, in a form you feel comfortable with. We want this to be an inspiring experience for you and the audience. The ICAE is not an “ordinary research conference” where the aim is to present research findings in a scientific IMRAD structure. Thus, PowerPoint presentations with bullet points might not be the best way to share your work. We encourage you to find other ways of presenting –  for example reading, performing, photo or film. Feel free – just remember to stick to the time frame.