Gabriel Miller, Executive Director of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Jeff Tennant, Western French Studies professor and the conference academic convenor and John Capone, Western’s Vice-President (Research), announced on Wednesday the university has been selected to host the 2020 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the country’s largest multidisciplinary gathering of academic scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
Western has been selected to host the 2020 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the country’s largest multidisciplinary gathering of academic scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
The conference, which will run from May 30 to June 5, 2020, is expected to be the largest ever held in London. In all, organizers expect more than 8,000 attendees to visit the city over the seven-day event.
Gabriel Miller, Executive Director of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, made the announcement at Western this morning.
“We look ahead with great excitement to organizing Congress 2020 in partnership with Western University,” said Miller. “Congress is a tremendously exciting event each year, drawing talent from a wide array of disciplines from across the country to share and discuss ideas about shaping the Canada of the future, enriching both the research community and the local community where it takes place.”
For nearly 90 years, Congress has brought together more than 70 scholarly organizations who hold their annual conferences under a common banner. It’s an opportunity for academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners to share findings, refine ideas and build partnerships that focus on Canada’s future.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for us to not only show off our university and our city, but to highlight the important work our faculty members and partners are conducting across a variety of disciplines,” said John Capone, Western’s Vice-President (Research). “The importance of scholarship in the arts, humanities and social sciences can’t be understated, as it relates to everything we do, experience and feel, including how we understand the world around us, build communities and advance culture.”
While the theme of the conference has yet to be determined, there will be a focus on the importance of interdisciplinary research and collaboration, added Western French Studies professor Jeff Tennant, the academic convenor for the conference. Addressing some of the biggest problems in the world today will require research that transcends borders, he stressed.
Western last hosted Congress in 2005.
