The central activity of ELU-S is our unbound annual conference. The conference will be “unbound” both thematically and organizationally.

A typical way of organizing scholarly conferences is for the organizers to choose a conference theme and select the most authoritative scholars to be panelists. Others may attend the conference, ask questions, and mingle with the authoritative scholars. The clear thematic focus of this format and ability to listen to authoritative voices can be of great value. But as is common in life, advantages come with costs.

The ability to speak is limited to the “greats” or those whom the organizers consider the “greats”. How often are invited speakers early career lecturers, Postdocs or (heaven forbid) doctoral students, even if the best and most innovative ideas often come from them. As such, the traditional conference format does not give them the opportunity to develop and gain experience. There is a world of difference between having the right to attend and listen and having to right to present, receive feedback, and actively engage in the discussion.

Having a clear thematic focus comes with costs too. Participation is limited to scholars working on specific substantive issues from particular scholarly approaches, inevitably making our academic exchanges less diverse, interdisciplinary, and inclusive. It is our belief that openness to and interaction with a wider range of substantive issues and methodological approaches will strengthen our academic debates.

The ELU-S Annual Conference therefore takes a different path inspired by the experience from other disciplines and other fields of law. In this alternative model, conferences are organized on a much larger scale. There is much greater thematic variation covering the entire field. Active participation is intergenerational and inclusive. The program is largely determined in a bottom/up rather than top/down manner. There are, of course, plenaries and a keynote, the themes and speakers of which are chosen by the organizers. These sessions provide moments when all attendees come together. But beyond that, there is typically a public call for proposed panels, papers, and special workshops resulting in a program with dozens of parallel sessions allowing for wide participation. This is our hope and expectation for the inaugural conference of ELU-S.