Congress 2024 took place at McGill University in Montreal from June 12 to 21. Over 8,000 scholars, graduate students, and practitioners in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) gathered together and shared their research.
The conference supported equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization (EDID), and featured virtual components to accommodate participants joining remotely.
Land Acknowledgement
The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and McGill University are honoured to visit, and learn about, the Indigenous lands across Canada. We acknowledge the diversity of Indigenous peoples from coast to coast to coast, and we extend our respects to all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples for their valuable contributions, past and present.
The Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg peoples have long ties to what is now the Island of Montréal. Kawenote Teiontiakon is a documented Kanien’kéha name for the Island of Montréal. The City of Montréal is known as Tiohtià:ke in Kanien’kéha, and Mooniyang in Anishinaabemowin. McGill University is located closest to the Kanien'kehá:ka Nation communities at Kahnawà:ke, Kanehsatà:ke and Akwesasne. The Kanien'kehá:ka Nation is a founding nation of the Haudenosaunee/People of the Longhouse (Iroquois) Confederacy which is also comprised of the Seneca, Tuscarora, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida Nations. The Hochelaga Monument on McGill’s Lower Campus Field commemorates the Iroquoian village of Hochelaga visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535, which was situated in the area around Mont Royal.
Theme
Sustaining shared futures
While alarming images of a warming planet infuse the concept with a critical sense of urgency, ‘sustainability’ transcends even the immense challenges posed by climate change, urging recognition of the interconnectedness of human existence and global action on the overlapping social, economic, environmental, and technological issues that threaten our future.
As members of the global community, we share the responsibility to take on this multi-faceted challenge of a lifetime by way of concerted action across disciplines, bringing into focus its unequal impact, the bounds of our planet, and in turn, our solutions.
For this 2024 edition, enmeshing the knowledges of diverse contexts, and amplifying Black and Indigenous perspectives, Congress invites scholars, students, policymakers and community members to reflect on what remains collectively attainable – and what must be done – in the face of this vast and complex imperative in order to bring forth solutions for today, and sustain systems of tomorrow.
Explore our post-Congress report below.
Associations
- 6 - Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS)
- 7 - Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures (ACQL)
- 8 - Canadian Catholic Historical Association (CCHA)
- 9 - Canadian Society of Church History (CSCH)
- 12 - Canadian Association for Postcolonial Studies (CAPS)
- 15 - Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE)
- 16 - Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE)
- 19 - Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE)
- 20 - Folklore Studies Association of Canada (FSAC)
- 21 - Association des professeur.e.s de français des universités et collèges canadiens (APFUCC)
- 23 - German Studies Canada (GSC)
- 25 - Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (CSHPS)
- 26 - Canadian Historical Association (CHA)
- 34 - Association for Canadian Jewish Studies (ACJS)
- 38 - Canadian Comparative Literature Association (CCLA)
- 39 - Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics (CSHPM)
- 42 - Canadian Society for the Study of Names (CSSN)
- 43 - Canadian Association for the Advancement of Netherlandic Studies (CAANS)
- 47 - Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA)
- 48 - Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA)
- 49 - Canadian Population Society (CPS )
- 50 - Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR)
- 51 - Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies (CSRS)
- 53 - Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics (CSSPE)
- 56 - Canadian Association of Slavists (CAS)
- 57 - Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE)
- 58 - Society for Socialist Studies (SSS)
- 59 - Canadian Sociological Association (CSA)
- 64 - Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR)
- 65 - Canadian Theological Society (CTS)
- 70 - Canadian Society for the History of Medicine (CSHM)
- 75 - Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS)
- 92 - Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC)
- 98 - Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ)
- 103 - Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (CAML)
- 105 - Canadian Communication Association (CCA)
- 111 - RhetCanada/Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric (RhetCanada/CSSR)
- 210 - Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC)
- 215 - Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing (CASDW)
- 225 - Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID)
- 229 - Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA)
- 231 - Canadian Society for Aesthetics (CSA)
- 238 - Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC)
- 239 - Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC)
- 242 - Film and Media Studies Association of Canada (FMSAC)
- 249 - Canadian Society of Medievalists (CSM)
- 255 - Canadian Society for Digital Humanities (CSDH)
- 256 - Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics (CAAL)
- 259 - Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC)
- 276 - Association canadienne d'études francophones du XIXe siècle (ACÉF XIX)
- 299 - Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA)
- 300 - Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER)
- 303 - Sexuality Studies Association (SSA)
- 305 - Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS)
- 311 - Canadian Society for the Study of Comics (CSSC)
- 314 - Open Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA)
- 315 - Canadian South Asian Studies Association (CSASA)
- 318 - Canadian Society for Iranian and Persian Studies (CSIPS)
Open programming
Big Thinking at Congress is the key opportunity at the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences for academics, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to share ideas and solutions for a more innovative, progressive, and inclusive society.
- Sustainable AI
- Jocelyn Maclure, Céline Castets-Renard (Panelists); Anna Vartanyan (Moderator)
- Sustaining culture
- Janine Elizabeth Metallic, Ryan DeCaire, Mskwaankwad Rice (Panelists); Celeste Pedri-Spade (Moderator)
- Sustaining nature
- Ingrid Waldron, Sébastien Jodoin, Angele Alook (Panelists); Jaela Bernstien (Moderator)
- Sustaining political community
- Omayra Issa, Colette Brin (Panelists); Francine Pelletier (Moderator)
Career Corner is a professional development workshop series where everyone from graduate students to established faculty members can learn how to publish and market their research, improve their lesson planning and teaching skills and find out about careers outside of academia.
- Navigating your career transition: insight and advice for Black, Indigenous, and racialized graduate students searching for sustainable, meaningful careers
- Organized by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies
- TRaCE talks: PhD career pathways beyond academia
- Publishing your scholarly book – in English
- Fighting the trolls: How researchers can mitigate online abuse
- Presented in partnership with The Conversation Canada
- Student and Postdoc Drop-In: Explore Funding Opportunities
- Reimagining and reinventing arts graduate programs in Canada
- Disseminating Your Research to Make an Impact
- Presented in partnership with Research Impact Canada
- Publishing your scholarly book – in French
- Ask The Editors: Writing for University Affairs
- Presented in partnership with University Affairs
Featured programming at Congress is a series of high-profile interdisciplinary events hosted in close collaboration with partner organizations. As open events at Congress, all Congress attendees and members of the public registering with a community pass are able to attend.
- Canadians who innovate: meet the trailblazers that are changing the world
- Roseann O’Reilly Runte, Anna Triandafydillidou, Andrew Pelling, S. Gordon Harwood (Panelists)
- Presented in partnership with the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
- Dispatches from the backbenches: research by the 2023-24 parliamentary interns
- Presented in partnership with the Parliamentary Internship Programme (PIP)
- The several futures of higher education in the Anthropocene
- Bryan Alexander (Speaker)
- Weaving together past, present and future: Keynote from Chair Shelly C. Lowe from the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Shelly C. Lowe (Speaker)
- Presented in partnership with The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Congress coverage
Congress in Conversation is a special series presented by the Big Thinking Podcast in partnership with The Conversation Canada where we convene researchers presenting at Congress 2024 to share their research and experiences within the context of shared responsibility to our society, systems, and planet.
Congress Digest is your source for Congress-related highlights, career development tips, and session spotlights.
Acknowledgements
Congress is brought to life by a team of hundreds of individuals, including Federation staff and board members, Program Chairs and Local Arrangement Coordinators, and partners.
Congress would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors:
Partner sponsor
Leading sponsors
Presenting sponsors
Supporting sponsors
