Emerging Scholar Awards


Each year a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards are given to outstanding early-career scholars or graduate students.

Early Deadline: 15 February 2026
Final Deadline: 17 June 2026

The Next Generation of Researchers

The Emerging Scholar Program recognizes and supports the next generation of researchers. Each year, a select number of Emerging Scholar Awards are conferred on outstanding graduate students and early-career scholarswhose work demonstrates originality, promise, and meaningful contribution to the intellectual concerns of the Network. Selection is competitive and reflects our commitment to inclusive, collaborative, and ethically grounded knowledge practices.

The program recognizes both In-Person Emerging Scholars and Online-Only Emerging Scholars, ensuring that researchers unable to travel can still hold a visible and valued role in the conference. Across all formats, Emerging Scholars participate fully in the life of the event: they chair parallel sessions, help guide and sustain discussion, and serve as bridges between established and early-career colleagues from different regions, institutions, and disciplines.

As part of CGScholar’s Event (KX) environment, Emerging Scholars contribute to a wider knowledge experience that links conference activity, community engagement, and publication. Their work is shared through Presentation Pages, digital media, and discussion spaces; they receive structured support to develop their research through the Network’s journals and book imprint; and they gain sustained visibility within the worldwide scholarly community formed around the Research Network.

The Award includes complimentary conference registration and Research Network membership, along with formal recognition during the conference proceedings. Emerging Scholars enter a supportive, scholar-led community in which they can build connections across disciplines, regions, and generations of researchers. Professional development, mentoring encounters, and opportunities for collaboration are integrated into the conference and the Network’s year-round activities.

Expectations

Award recipients are expected to: attend an orientation and training session (typically the day before the conference), and participate fully throughout the conference by fulfilling assigned chairing and discussion-leading responsibilities.

Who Can Apply

The Emerging Scholar Award is open to researchers currently enrolled in a graduate studies program or identifying as early-career scholars in a field relevant to the conference. Applicants should demonstrate strong potential for scholarly contribution and a commitment to participating in the collaborative ethos of the Network.


Early Deadline: 15 February 2026
Final Deadline: 17 June 2026

In Their Words

As an Emerging Scholar, I found the IMAGE conference really refreshing and rewarding, as it was an intimate experience that allowed me to have depth of engagement with fellow conference attendees. The breadth of disciplines and the quality of conversations fostered is really commendable, and I look forward to being in ongoing community with the scholars and artists I met over the two days of the conference."

Anuj Vaidya, 2022 Awardee

Presenting my paper to an interdiciplinary audience and recieving their feedback has provided me with valuable input into the ways of approaching my future research."

Pat Naldi, 2014 Awardee

I really loved being an active participant in the operational side of the conference. It made this conference stand out for me in comparison with other conferences at which I have attended and presented papers."

Ulrike Sturm, 2014 Awardee