Call for Papers

Call for proposals

The Communication and Study Skills Unit (CSSSU) of the University of Botswana is excited to announce a call for proposals for the 5th International Conference on Academic and Professional Communication (ICAPC) slated for 16th -18th July 2025. The ICAPC is a biennial academic event and is a response to the growth of academic literacy and professional communication as research areas. The theme for the 2025 conference is: Shaping the future: Trends and Approaches to academic and professional communication in a digital era. This year's conference theme focuses on how contemporary and emerging theoretical and methodological issues in Academic and Professional Communication research navigate the digital era and how these operate in academics, and the real world to foster knowledge, and promote educational and professional practices for a better future. As the sub-themes for this conference depict, Academic Literacy and Professional Communication are key areas of research across a wide range of disciplines, both academic and industry. Thus, the 5th International Conference on Academic and Professional Communication provides a platform for researchers, educators, scholars, early career researchers, Masters and Doctoral students, and industry professionals and practitioners from across the world to share their perspectives, and findings on how communication operates within disciplines, institutions, and organizations, particularly in the digital era. Furthermore, the conference is a forum for participants to dialogue and in the process foster research partnerships and collaborations with peers. It is noteworthy to mention the growth that the conference has experienced as it successfully published selected papers from the last conference in the institution’s peer reviewed Lonaka Journal. This is a tradition we intend to continue.

Deadline for submission of proposals: 12th December 2024

Keynote Speakers: TBA

Sub-Themes: include, but are not limited to:

SUB-THEMES

  1. A. Communication for empowerment and sustainable development in institutions and organizations
  2. B. Contemporary and emerging methodological issues in academic and professional communication research
  1. Media
  1. Marginalized groups
  1. Cultural groups
  1. Religion
  1. Politics
  1. Social
  1. Gender
  1. Education
  2. Health
  1. Research methodologies in academic and professional communication
  2. Ethical issues in academic and professional communication

C. Interdisciplinary perspectives in academic and professional communication

1.   Business and Entrepreneurship

2.   Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences

3.   Health and Medicine

4.   Science and Engineering

  1. D. Contemporary issues in language education and applied linguistics
  2. Language Planning and Policy
  3. Leadership issues
  4. Evaluation and Assessment
  5. Outcome-based Learning
  6. Teaching/Learning Theories and Models
  7. Educational Transitions
  8. Linguistic Identities (Monolingualism, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, and trans-language)
  9. English for Academic Purposes
  10. English for Specific Purposes

10.  Knowledge-based economy

11.  Indigenous knowledge

  1. E. Discourse perspectives in academic and professional communication
  2. Persona
  3. Identity
  4. Ideologies
  5. Power
  6. Representation
    1. F. ICT in the academic and professional space
    2. Blended teaching and e-Learning
    3. Mobile technologies and applications
    4. Social media in academic and professional communication
    5. Technology and teacher education
    6. Multimodality, Multiliteracies
    7. New media technologies and emerging literacies
    8. Information literacies
    9. Artificial intelligence in academic and professional contexts

Conference structure

The conference structure includes concurrent panels, individual presentations (oral or poster) and work in progress sessions.

Individual papers (Oral/poster)

  1. Abstract length should be approximately 250 words.
  2. Presenters should indicate preference for oral or poster presentation.
  3. The decision on poster or oral presentation will be determined by organizers after the peer review process.
  4. Oral presentations will be allocated 30 minutes (20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.)
  5. Poster sessions will be scheduled for 90 minutes (dedicated sessions), with each individual presentations are allocated 10 mins (5 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for discussion).
  6. Poster presenters must be present to discuss their work during dedicated sessions.

Panels

Panels should address any topic in the common theme, content, or methodological area. The time allocated for panels will be 90 minutes and may run in parallel sessions. Please provide an abstract of about 250 words that includes a list of all panelists and a coordinator.

Panel submissions

  1. a. Panel submissions must address the conference theme.
  2. b. Should include an overview of about 300 words highlighting content and objectives and 3-5 key words.
  3. c. Should include an abstract of not more than 250 words for each presentation within the panel.
  4. d. Provide information about the panel members and the coordinator, full institutional addresses, and email addresses.

Work in progress sessions

The work in progress sessions is to give early career researchers, as well as Doctoral and Post-doctoral and experienced researchers undertaking or planning pilot projects or having preliminary results of their studies, an opportunity to share insights.

Abstract/proposal guidelines

The official language of the conference is English. The abstract must be written in English. The abstracts will be subjected to a blind peer review. The following structure is suggested for writing the abstracts: Background (contextualizing the study); Aim/Objectives (including the research question); Methodology/ Conceptual framework; Key findings/ Conclusions/implications.

Notification of acceptance: 14th February 2025

Keynote speakers: TBA

Following acceptance, responsible or presenting authors must register for participation prior to the finalization of the conference program.

Registration Fees: TBA

Early Bird Registration: TBA

Registration deadlines: TBA

Please visit the ICAPC 2025 website or send an email to the conference committee for further details regarding submission guidelines or for additional information about the conference.

Conference committee contacts: segopoloim@ub.ac.bw Conference Chair

magogwejm@ub.ac.bw Conference Deputy Chair

contehb@ub.ac.bw Conference Secretary

ngular@ub.ac.bw Editorial Committee Chair

moagil@ub.ac.bw Program and Publicity Chair

 

<<CLICK HERE TO MAKE A SUBMISSION>>

Author Guidelines

The official language of the conference is English. The abstract must be written in English. The abstracts will be subjected to a blind peer review. The following structure is suggested for writing the abstracts: Background (contextualizing the study); Aim/Objectives (including the research question); Methodology/ Conceptual framework; Key findings/ Conclusions/implications.

Start here to submit a paper to this conference.
Step one of the submission process