The deadline for abstract submissions to the working groups of the XVI IRSA congress has been extended. New deadline January 20th 2026. Go to congress website for submissions

Abstract submission and registration for the XVI World Congress has now opened, go to the Congress website for more information. Abstract submission deadline is December 18th 2025.

This document provides detailed information about Working Group submissions to the World Congress of Rural Sociology. If you have questions that neither this document nor the Congress website can answer, please contact the member of the IRSA Scientific Committee from your region.

Important dates

• April 30 to September 1, 2025: Submission of WG proposals on the Congress Website (extended deadline)
• September 15, 2025: Publication of the list of selected Working Groups (WG)
• October 1 to December 18, 2025: Submission of abstracts to the selected WG
• February 20, 2026: Selection of abstracts by WG Conveners
• March 1, 2026: Publication of selected abstracts on the Congress Website

What is a working group?
A working group is a collaborative project organized by a team of 3 to 5 researchers from around the world to produce a high-value discussion on a topic of interest in rural sociology. The subject can be more general or specific and there is no minimum or maximum number of sessions. It will depend on the number of submitted abstracts. However, we will prioritize WG with at least 3 sessions (one per day) and encompassing subjects that are not too restrictive (except for very innovative areas) or too generalist.

Before the congress
The WG begins with a proposal written by 3 to 5 leaders who must have a PhD degree or have a consolidated trajectory in rural studies (not necessarily in sociology). The proposals will be reviewed by the IRSA Scientific Committee, who decide which WG can proceed to recruit abstracts.

The number of selected WG will depend on the available infrastructure and overlaps of subjects. IRSA Scientific Committee might suggest new thematic arrangements to avoid these overlaps or cover new subjects of interest for rural sociologists.

Authors must submit abstracts for the WG using the template available on the Congress website. WG conveners can ask the authors to share full papers before or after the Congress, but this must be optional and managed by the WG conveners themselves (ie. not using the Congress platform).

During the congress
All sessions will be in-person. No remote/online participation is planned.

The first session will include an introductory presentation in which the WG conveners will briefly introduce the main themes, objectives and questions.

Sessions must be coordinated by the WG conveners. They are also responsible for defining the format of presentations and discussions, as well as by controlling the time, inasmuch as the whole session does not use more time than previously defined by the congress organization.

WG can have sessions in English, Spanish or Portuguese, but not mixing these languages in the same session. In order that participants can identify the language of each session on the Congress Program, conveners have to decide which languages will be accepted by the WG. Considering the Congress take place in Latin America, in order to enlarge participation, we suggest that at least one of the conveners could also be able to evaluate abstracts and coordinate sessions in Portuguese or Spanish.

Formatting the proposal and practical organization plan
The list below summarizes the requirements for a Working Group proposal:

• Title
• Name of 3-5 coordinators with their affiliations and a short bio
• Main goals of the WG
• Subjects that will be discussed
• Proposed methodology
• Languages accepted in the WG (English, Portuguese, Spanish)

Criteria for selection

• Relevance of the topic for current rural social studies.
• Overlaps and complementarities with other propositions.
• Diversity of WG proponents in terms of region, affiliation, and gender.
• Previous experience of the WG conveners in the subject. Yet, we encourage WG to consider at least one early-career academic (PhD doctor for less than 5 years).

IRSA Scientific Committee

• Rural Sociology Society: Keiko Tanaka (田中敬子)
• European Society for Rural Sociology: José Duarte Medeiros Ribeiro
• Associação Latino-Americana de Sociologia Rural: Carla Gras
• Australasian Agrifoods Research Network: Emma Sharp
• Asian Rural Sociology Association: Motoki Akitsu

From July 19 to 23, 2026, the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Sociology, and Management (SOBER) will proudly host a joint congress featuring the XVI World Congress of Rural Sociology and the 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Sociology and Management. The will take place at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in the vibrant city of Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Dr Rudi Messner, A/Professor Elizabeth Ransom and Prof Carol Richards invite abstracts for Working Group 9:  From Food country to Carbon country – Rural Livelihoods and the tensions between agriculture and ‘climate-solutions’ markets at the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS) – July 7-11, 2025, Riga, Latvia. For more information about the conference please see the ESRS2025 conference website and abstract submission site.

The Scientific Committee of the ESRS Congress has put out a call for Working Groups for the next ESRS congress in Riga (July 2025). Deadline for submission is 18 October 2024. Please see more details on the ESRS website: https://ruralsociology.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ESRS-2025-Call-for-Working-Groups-.pdf

The Asian Rural Sociology Association will hold the 7th international conference on 7th to 9th September 2024, at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. The theme of the conference is Recasting Peasantries for a Sustainable Future in Rural Asia: Multiple Trajectories of Modernization. More information is available on the https://arsa2024.wordpress.com/

The research network “Space, Society and Rurality” invites to its mid-term conference on 15 and 16 February 2024, at the Public University of Navarra, in Pamplona, Spain. Paper contributions are welcomed, with abstract submission deadline 15th December 2023. Look at the conference website for more information.

The abstract submission deadline for the 2023 Agri-Food Research Network Conference has been extended to 30 June 2023. See https://afrn.co/ for more information.