The EADH Executive Board invites proposals to host the first EADH Conference to be held in 2018. We have decided to establish this conference in order to strengthen the scientific, institutional and cultural relations between the members of the DH communities in Europe and in the Mediterranean area. The EADH Conference will be organised triennially, provided that the annual DH conference takes place outside of Europe in the envisaged year, and will be hosted in any of its European member regions. We are particularly interested in proposals from institutions and regions that

• have recently developed or are developing digital humanities communities and organizations;
• have not previously hosted a main international DH conference.

Please note that the local organizers must be members of EADH or of one of the Associate Organizations (currently AIUCD, DHD, and DHN) or Partner Organizations (currently DH Benelux, DH Russia, and the Czech DH Initiative).

Organization

The scientific organization is required to have a Program Committee (PC) with 10 members and one Chair, appointed by the EADH Executive Committee. At least two EADH Executive Committee members must be in the PC. The local organiser has the right to propose two candidates for the PC.

The PC will decide the main theme of the conference, identify and invite keynote speakers, define the details of the Call for Papers, manage the review process, and decide the final conference program.

Logistical organization will be the responsibility of a Local Organization committee, whose members and chair are appointed by the Local Organizers (LO).

EADH recommends the adoption of the conference management system ConfTool for registering participants and including them in special events such as the banquet, but payments may be processed outside ConfTool by the local organizer if desired.

Time Period

Dates are decided by the local organizer, in consultation with EADH. It is recommended that the conference takes place in the autumn of 2018. Other large DH-related conferences in Europe should be taken in account when fixing the precise dates.

Venue

The venue must be an academic or cultural institution in the European area in its broadest sense (including Russia and the Mediterranean countries). We cannot foresee the number of participants as this is the first edition, but the hosting institution should be able to accommodate a minimum of 300 delegates, and an average of three parallel sessions.

Bids

Bids should contain a preliminary budget and up to two pages describing the motivations and logistical opportunities offered by the proposed venue.

Bidders must take into account the EADH diversity statement and outline how they plan to ensure it being respected.

The venue for the 2018 conference will be decided by the EADH Executive Committee on the basis of:

• academic and social impact of the conference for the LO
• logistic adequacy of the venue
• overall quality of the proposal

Bids should be submitted to secretary@eadh.org no later than October 15, 2017.

Structure of the conference

The Conference should be a 2/3-day event. Workshops and training events can precede the official conference days, depending on the availability of the LO. Presentations will be organized in 90-minute slots. The conference should have two keynote talks of 45 minutes.

Type of presentations:

• Full papers for theoretical or highly relevant methodological or technical issues will last 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions.
• Short papers to present research ideas, approaches and projects that are recently started. Short paper presentations are supposed to take 10 minutes time plus 5 minutes for questions.
• Panel or roundtable for one relevant topic discussed under different perspectives by 5/6 presenters will last 90 minutes.
• Posters for early stage or starting projects or technical innovations. One session of the conference is reserved for short (3/5 minutes) poster presentations.

Bidders are encouraged to propose different formats and innovative organization of the conference in addition to this general framework.

Budget

The conference must be financially self-sustaining, but a backstop funding from EADH of up to € 5,000 can be discussed. EADH will also provide bursaries for young scholars. The local organizers are expected to set three levels of registration fees:

• for members of EADH, associate organizations, and other constituent organisations of ADHO;
• for non-members;
• for students.

It is advisable that the member registration costs do not exceed € 200, in order to ensure maximum inclusivity and to attract early career scholars.

Synergies and possible sponsorship

In order to strengthen the sustainability of the conference and its impact on European DH and Cultural Heritage scholarly and professional communities, EADH recommends that the LO tries to establish contacts with relevant organizations or infrastructures active at the EU level, in particular DARIAH and CLARIN. Suggested collaborative activities range from hosting of workshops and tutorials, to co-organization of the conference or financial support. Private in-kind and money sponsorship is welcome, provided that any activity from sponsoring organizations is clearly distinct from, and does not influence, the academic program.