The 2009 Peace and Conflict Society's 4th Annual International Conference, "Redefining Central Asia: Cooperation, Stabilization and Implications of Regional Security," invites proposals from law students for the Student Research Symposium that will be held as part of the Conference program. The Conference will be held 9-10 October 2009 in Toronto, Canada. The deadline for submissions is 1 August 2009.

Professional Education and Networking Opportunities

The Conference will bring together over 150 delegates, including academics, diplomats, practitioners, and students. Through keynote addresses, breakout sessions, regional plenary sessions, and a symposium of student research, the Conference seeks to maximize opportunities for interaction between speakers and delegates in order to further public policy and academic dialogue about this critically important region, the challenges it faces, and potential solutions.

Potential Topics

The Conference will address a diverse array of subjects, with an emphasis on the following topics:

• Human rights
• Identity politics
• State building and transition
• Resource scarcity
• Environmental and energy politics
• Terrorism
• Insurgency
• Foreign policy
• Transnational criminal activity (drug and arms trafficking in Central Asia)

Questions about your topic?
If a potential presenter is concerned that the subject matter of a paper may fall outside the themes of the conference, a letter of inquiry may be submitted in a separate covering letter to the committee.

Opportunity to Present and Publish Your Legal Research

In addition to the opportunity to present research to a broad audience of graduate, undergraduate and professional students, academics, practitioners and diplomats, symposium presenters will receive feedback on their work from a panel at the symposium. Presenters will then have the opportunity to revise their work after the conference and submit it for publication. The publication of research from the conference should be available by Fall 2010.

Funding Available for Travel and Accommodation

A limited amount of funding is available to symposium presenters to offset some of the cost of travel to Toronto and accommodation, however this will be available on a needs-basis as determined by the conference organizers. Potential presenters who would like to receive financial assistance in order to participate in the conference are invited to explain their circumstances in a separate letter, to be submitted with your symposium application materials (listed above). Please include details of any other sources of funding (home university or otherwise) that you are applying to in your letter.

Submission Requirements

Papers can be on any subject relevant to the themes of the Conference and should be between 6,000 to 10,000 words in length. Longer submissions will be considered. Papers should be in MSWord .doc or PDF formats.

Please submit the following materials by 1 August 2009 to studentsymposium@trudeaucentre.ca:

• an abstract of the research paper or proposed research paper
• a current curriculum vitae / resume
• the completed paper, if available

Conference Sponsors

Sponsored by:

• Trudeau Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Toronto
• Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto
• Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

• 2009 Peace and Conflict Society's 4th Annual International Conference (redefiningcentralasia.org website forthcoming)