Understanding when institutions change, how institutional innovations are propagated and how institutional evolution occurs, are key theoretical and empirical questions that have long shaped institutional research in economics, sociology, politics, history, geography, and other disciplines.

In today’s context of major challenges and transformations, these questions are arguably more pressing than ever. Ours is an era in which digital and other new technologies are recasting economic and political institutions, and social media are transforming personal relationships, reconfiguring civil society and altering the functioning of democracies. As the climate emergency furthermore threatens social stability and human survival, the global balance of power is also shifting, posing challenges to existing institutions set up to maintain world order.

Organised in collaboration with the University of Catania, the Eighth WINIR Conference will explore these and related issues, and use the opportunity to enhance our theoretical understanding of how institutions evolve. The event will take at the late Baroque Monastero dei Benedettini, which currently houses the university’s Department of Humanities.

The conference will open on the afternoon of Wednesday 20 September and end with a dinner on Friday 22 September. There will an optional tour on Saturday 23 September.

It will be preceded by a WINIR Young Scholars Workshop on Tuesday 19 September. A separate call for this event will be circulated shortly.

Keynotes lectures will be given by:

Eric Beinhocker (University of Oxford, UK)
Geoffrey M. Hodgson (Loughborough University London, UK)
David Sloan Wilson (Binghamton University, USA)

We invite submissions of individual paper and 3- or 4-paper sessions proposals related to the conference theme or any aspect of institutional research, in line with WINIR’s aims and research priorities. All submissions are evaluated by the WINIR Scientific Quality Committee.

Key dates

30 May 2023 – Abstract and session submission deadline
15 June 2023 – Notification of acceptance
16 June 2023 – Registration opens
31 July 2023 – Early registration deadline (standard fees apply from 1 August)
31 August 2023 – Registration deadline for accepted authors
1 September 2023 – Non-registered authors removed from programme
1 September 2023 – Late fees apply
10 September 2023 – Full paper deadline

Organising committee:

Maurizio Caserta (caserta@unict.it), Francesca Gagliardi (f.gagliardi@herts.ac.uk), David Gindis (d.gindis@herts.ac.uk), Maria Olivella Rizza (mariaolivellarizza@gmail.com), Paolo Silvestri (paolo.silvestri@unict.it), Salvatore Spagano (spagano@unict.it), Massimiliano Vatiero (massimiliano.vatiero@usi.ch)

View this call on the WINIR website or download the call for papers and sessions.