Conferences

Upcoming events

Past conferences

  • Art, Tradition, Environment 2026, Xining & Rebgong/Tongren, China, 13-18 September 2026
  • Placemaking across Time: Histories of Spatialised Knowledge, 6-9 October 2025, Næstved & Karrebæksminde
  • DARKNESS II: Invisible Imaginaries, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk
  • Folk, Knowledge, Place Conference, 9-12 December 2024, Singapore
  • Islands and Heritage, 6-7 November 2024, Guangzhou
  • Culture in Urban Space, 3-7 February 2020, Malmö
  • DREAMS, 12-16 January 2020, Longyearbyen
  • Foodways and Identity, 18-22 November, Copenhagen
  • Silk Road Archipelagos: Islands in the Belt and Road Initiative, 9-10 November 2019, Fuzhou
  • Conference on ‘Folk Belief’ & ‘The Supernatural in Literature and Film’, 24 September-02 October 2019, Svaneti
  • REMOTE: Rethinking Remoteness, Isolation Peripherality, 10-18 September 2019, Svaneti
  • Culture in Urban Space, 8-12 April 2019, Macao
  • Special Territorial Status and Extraterritoriality: Exceptional Sovereignties and Sovereign Exceptions, 20-24 January 2019, Longyearbyen
  • DARKNESS, 13-17 January 2019, Longyearbyen
  • Economics and Development in Microstates, Islands, and the Arctic, 30 November-3 December 2018, Nuuk
  • Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Spaces, 1-5 October 2018, Lanyu & Kenting
  • Islands, Resources, Tourism, Society: Sustainable Development under Globalization and New Urbanization, 26-29 September 2018, Zhoushan
  • EXTREME: Rethinking the Limits to Community, Architecture, and Urbanism, 21-25 January 2018, Longyearbyen
  • Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos, 8-12 November 2017, Funchal
  • Mermaids, Maritime Folklore, and Modernity, 26-27 October 2017, Copenhagen
  • Conference on ‘Folk Belief and Traditions of the Supernatural’ & ‘The Supernatural in Literature and Film’, 20-23 January 2017, Longyearbyen
  • REMOTE: Rethinking Remoteness and Peripherality, 16-19 January 2017, Longyearbyen
  • Culture in Urban Space, 22-26 August 2016, Copenhagen
  • Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos, 7-10 March 2016, Hong Kong
  • Indigenous Resources: Decolonization and Development, 30 September-04 October 2015, Nuuk
  • Financialisation and Sustainability (EU project workshop), 11-12 May 2015, Lund
  • Conference on ‘Vernacular Religion, Folk Belief, and Traditions of the Supernatural’ & ‘The Supernatural in Literature an Film’, 23-28 March 2015, Macao
  • Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos, 21-25 October 2014, Copenhagen
  • Conference on ‘Folk Belief and Traditions of the Supernatural’ & ‘The Supernatural in Literature and Film’, 29-30 March 2014, Shetland
  • 3rd Island Dynamics Conference, 15-18 May 2013, Famagusta
  • Local Actions in a Global Context, 14-17 January 2013, Longyearbyen
  • Investing in Small Island Recovery, 16-22 April 2012, Shetland
  • 2nd Island Dynamics Conference, 11-15 May 2011, Valletta
  • 1st Island Dynamics Conference, 7-10 May 2009, Shetland

What makes our conferences special?

Island Dynamics conferences bring scholars, artists, practitioners, and policymakers together for strongly situated and collaborative learning. We believe knowledge is always produced in place. Our conference locations and the people who live there inform how and what we learn. Through study trips, group meals, and community conversations, Island Dynamics delegates engage with local peoples, cultures, and environments, informing and structuring our more standard conference sessions and presentations.

Learning takes place, but it also takes time. Most of our conferences are 4-5 days in length, giving delegates the opportunity to communicate deeply about their research and to explore a range of perspectives and experiences.