Call for Papers - Brexit and Academia (Special Issue, European Journal for English Studies)

The European Journal for English Studies (http://essenglish.org/ejes/)

The outcome of the 2016 referendum and the consequences the United Kingdom and Europe are currently facing in its aftermath will have a deep effect on various sectors within academia. It will not only affect research funding, the recruitment of talents and cross-border collaborations between academics on the continent and in the United Kingdom, but also have an impact on student and staff exchanges. Above all, however, Brexit and the debates surrounding the referendum posit new challenges to the role of academics in a renationalising Europe: the Vote Leave campaign was driven by an anti-establishment, anti-supranational, and anti-European rhetoric that did not stop short of academia.

The short- and long-term implications of Brexit on academia and the relationship between British and EU universities are hard to predict, but need to be addressed. While some universities have already reacted to the looming Brexit by founding research networks to support the exchange with researchers from the UK (such as the BritInn-network at the University of Innsbruck) or by establishing strategic partnerships with research institutions in the UK, more initiatives are needed to further support long-term collaboration post-Brexit.

This special issue on Brexit and Academia aims at scrutinizing the consequences of Brexit for the European research landscape, future collaborations between colleagues from Europe and Britain, and academia as a whole from a wide range of different (trans-)disciplinary perspectives.

Papers might address, but are not limited to,

• analysis of the referendum campaigns, the subsequent Brexit-negotiations, or the future relationship between the UK and the EU;
• the specific challenges faced by researchers involved in cross-border projects;
• the impact of Brexit on the arts, humanities, and sciences and possible solutions;
• the consequences, challenges, and possible solutions for higher education institutions;
• the impact on different areas within politics, the economy, culture, and society that will have a lasting effect on academia;
• the role of academia for maintaining collaboration and exchange in post-Brexit Europe
• possible solutions for universities and research institutions to further support collaboration between researchers from Europe and the UK

Detailed proposals (up to 1,000 words) for full essays (7,500 words), as well as a short biography (max. 100 words) should be sent to sibylle.baumbach@ilw.uni-stuttgart.de and Andreas.Maurer@uibk.ac.at by 31 October 2019.

Main Editors:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sibylle Baumbach, Department of English, University of Stuttgart

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer, Department of Political Science, University of Innsbruck