The UNED Policy and Society Study Group and the Spanish Federation of Sociology (FES) Committee on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change, in collaboration with MOVICON-UCM (Research Group on Mobilisation, Political Conflict and Social Change), are organising the first International Workshop on Contentious Politics in Spain, to be held in Madrid on 20-21 November 2025.
This workshop is conceived as the first international academic forum dedicated exclusively to the analysis of the dynamics of social mobilisation in the Spanish context, bringing together researchers from Europe, Latin America and other regions. The workshop will be bilingual (Spanish and English) and will feature international speakers and renowned specialists who will act as discussants, fostering rigorous, complex and diverse debates.
The main objective of this meeting is to establish an international network for the study of social movements in Spain, creating stable links between young researchers in the early stages of their careers and established researchers, and research groups working on related topics. Participation will be open and free of charge, subject to registration, and will be governed by this Call for Abstracts.
PhD. Students, postdoctoral researchers and early career scholars are especially invited to submit proposals for work in progress or completed work from various disciplines (sociology, political science, anthropology, contemporary history, youth studies, feminist studies, etc.). Priority will be given to this profile in the selection process.
Proposals should focus on the Spanish case or include it in comparative analyses. The general topic of the workshop is the study of social movements and contentious politics in the recent history of Spain (the last 25 years). Priority will be given to proposals that align with one of the following preferred thematic lines:
● Feminist mobilisations, LGTBQ+ and struggles for gender justice
● Dynamics of far-right mobilisation and its challenges
● Ecological conflicts and new forms of climate activism
● Theoretical and methodological innovations in the study of social movements
● Urban protests against the neoliberal city and touristification
● Transformations of the labour movement and trade unionism today
● Youth activism in a context of polycrisis
● Collective memory and the transmission of experiences of struggle
● Mobilisation cycles and longitudinal analysis of protest
● Social inequalities, new forms of precariousness and struggles for rights
● The Spanish case in comparative perspective (Southern Europe and beyond)
Submission of proposals:
Those interested should send an abstract of no more than 300 words, in Spanish or English, using the form provided. The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 September 2025. The results of the selection process will be announced in early October. All details must be entered in the following Google Forms: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vQtKyBrKwUX-bkPmqqIerTc6DpeRViF3K_A1F1hK32g/viewform?edit_requested=true
Selected participants will be asked to submit a working paper of between 5,000 and 7,000 words (preliminary version of the paper or text in progress) before the workshop, with a deadline of 11 November 2025, to allow the discussants sufficient time to read the texts and offer suggestions and comments on each paper.
Registration will be free of charge. A limited number of travel grants will be available for people who do not have institutional funding or sufficient resources to attend. Finally, the possibility of organising a collective publication with a selection of papers presented at the workshop will be considered. This workshop is supported by the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UNED and the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Transfer and Scientific Dissemination of the UNED.
Workshop Organising Committee
Federico Rossi, UNED
Patricia García, UGR
Jorge Benedicto, UNED
Alba Arenales, Scuola Normale Superiore
Gomer Betancor, UNED
María Martínez, UNED
Rubén Ruíz, UNED Marta Romero-Delgado, UCM
