CFP Urban Surfaces 2026: in-person workshops

Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Language: English

Register Here

Urban Surfaces 2026 Calls for Participation In-person workshops

The Urban Surfaces Research Network is hosting a series of online and in-person workshops in 2026. Calls for participation are now open and can be accessed below. Please read the calls carefully and only apply if your work genuinely engages with surfaces – theoretically, methodologically, creatively, or through other types of practice.

In-person workshops

We are inviting expressions of interest to attend our two-day workshops in Nicosia, Cyprus and Uppsala, Sweden. These are part of an Urban Studies Foundation Seminar Series Award for the project “Walls speak. Are you listening? A research agenda for urban surfaces”. The first workshop in the series took place in Melbourne, Australia, on 3-4 December 2025.

The workshops are in-person only and will take place on the following dates:

  • Nicosia, Cyprus 26-27 May 2026
  • Uppsala, Sweden 27-28 August 2026

The workshops comprise presentations, co-writing and ideating sessions, and/ or site visits, and they are designed as small-scale, deep study sessions for approximately 20 participants. There will not be an audience for the events, and all participants are expected to contribute to the discussion and research activities for the full two days. There is no registration fee, and lunches and a dinner on the first evening will be catered. Further details for each workshop will be announced in due course.

Early-career colleagues are particularly encouraged to apply. Four travel and accommodation bursaries are available within Europe based on need and distance. These will cover up to a maximum of 150 euros for transport, and 150 euros for accommodation. We will consider subsidising colleagues from further afield on a case-by-case basis. NB full time employed colleagues are unlikely to be considered for bursaries.

If you are interested in participating, please fill out this Google form by 20 February 2026. You will be able to choose your preferred location in the form. Participants will be notified by 6 March 2026.

Please email sabina.andron@unimelb.edu.au with any questions.

EOI closing date for both in-person workshops: Friday 20 February 2026.
Participants informed by 6 March 2026.

Register Here

Our USF grant provided the platform for a major programme of research on family homelessness, debt and temporary accommodation in the UK, culminating in the 2025 co-authored book Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State. The grant generated more than £550,000 in subsequent research funding and grew new and now enduring partnerships with Shared Health Foundation, the Chartered Institute of Housing, Garden Court Chambers and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation. The research has had significant policy impact. It directly informed the UK Government's National Plan to End Homelessness (2025) and underpinned a proposed amendment to the Social Housing Bill currently before the House of Lords (June 2026), with the potential to change primary legislation affecting survivors of domestic abuse facing housing-related debt.

Navigating debt-trap urbanism in pandemic times: family homelessness and temporary accommodation in Greater Manchester, Other Grants

Urban Studies Foundation is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number SC039937.

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