Folklore Fellows’ Summer School 2026: Call for submissions
Location: Helsinki and Tvärminne
11th Folklore Fellows’ Summer School
'Interdisciplinarity and Involvement: Enduring and Emerging Sites of the Vernacular'
This week-long event gathers young folklorists with a team of instructors with extensive experience in different domains of interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral work. The FFSS brings into focus the value and potential of folklore research, highlighting that interdisciplinarity is, by definition, dependent on specialist disciplinary knowledge and skill sets. Such specialization provides foundations for a researcher’s identity as they engage with and extend their specialization into other fields. As multidisciplinary collaborations become increasingly commonplace in the humanities, this FFSS will introduce young scholars to the potentials and pitfalls of such collaborations, while also equipping them to present their potential, as folklorists, for collaborations when applying for grants and positions in academic, public or private sectors.
The size of the event is quite limited. For participation, we invite proposals for working papers on themes of interdisciplinarity and involvement in folklore research, from its potential, prospects, and pitfalls to its implementations in practice.
Papers may have an empirical, methodological, or theoretical emphasis. To propose a paper, kindly submit your name, affiliation, contact information, and a short motivational statement about how participation is relevant for you and a biographical note, along with a title and abstract at: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/135786/lomake.html .
Important dates
Deadline for submissions: 31 October 2025
Notification of decisions; 15 November 2025
Registration: 15 December 2025
Participation fees due: 1 May 2026
Working papers due: 15 June 2026
A copy of your paper will be required in advance for circulation within the group.
The 2026 FFSS will begin in Helsinki on August 17th and move that evening to a facility in Tvärminne, Finland, where room and board are provided for the duration of the event, returning to Helsinki on the evening of August 21st.
Please note that the FFSS is not a conference. Consequently, the participation fee is not simply for site costs and coffee for one or two days. Although we are attempting to keep costs as low as possible, the fee will include participants’ travel between Helsinki and Tvärminne and accommodation for all nights at Tvärminne with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Foreign participants will therefore only be responsible for their own accommodation for the night before the event in Helsinki (16th August) and the night after the return to Helsinki (21st August).