Conferences

The ACIS Biennial Conferences are …

... a highlight in the calendar of Italianists throughout Australasia. Held since 2001, when ACIS was formally launched as an association, the conferences are a rare moment to gather together and hear about each other’s research which, though in a wide range of discipline areas, has a love of Italy and its complex cultures as a common thread. The official conference languages are Italian as well as English. 


Submissions and attendance by postgraduate students are especially welcome at our conferences. A contribution towards the costs of travel/accommodation is made available to students whose papers are accepted. 


Details of the forthcoming conference (23-25 July 2026), as well as previous conferences, their locations, and programmes (where available), are provided in the links below. 


Due to COVID-19, our 11th Biennial Conference was deferred to December 2022.

  • 13th ACIS Biennial Conference: Monash University 23-25 July 2026

    The Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS), in partnership with Monash University and the University of Melbourne, is delighted to announce the 13th ACIS Biennial Conference:


    Beyond Disciplines: Reimagining Italian Studies


    23–25 July 2026 | Monash College City Campus - Naarm (Melbourne), Australia


    The conference organisers invite scholars, educators, creatives, and students working within and beyond Italian Studies to reflect critically on the field's ever-changing disciplinary, linguistic, cultural, and geographic contours. As Italian Studies engages with pressing global conversations—from migration and decolonisation to generative AI and environmental crisis—this conference aims to foster new modes of inquiry, collaboration, and knowledge production.


    The conference organisers welcome proposals that explore:


    • Interdisciplinary approaches to Italian culture, language, and history
    • Comparative, transnational, or diasporic frameworks
    • Methodological and theoretical innovation
    • Italian Studies in the context of the Asia-Pacific region
    • Pedagogical transformation and curriculum renewal
    • Creative and practice-based research and pedagogy

    More information on how to propose papers, panels, and roundtables—as well as details about conference registration—will be available by September 2025.


    A dedicated website will soon go live. 


    In the meantime, we invite you to save the date and start thinking about themes, questions, papers, and sessions.


    For enquiries, contact: acis2026@acis.org.au



  • ACIS Biennial Conferences since 2001

    2024: 3-6 July 2024

    Australian National University

    Italian Studies for Global Challenges: Transdisciplinary Conversations


    2022: 12-14 December

    University of Western Australia

    Frontiers, Encounters, and Futures


    Please follow this link to a gallery of informal photos taken throughout the conference. 


    2019: 7-10 February

    Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

    Navigazioni possibili: Italies Lost and Found


    Please follow this link to the gallery of official photos taken at the pōwhiri,  the traditional Maori welcome, held at the The Herenga Waka Marae on Thursday 7 February.

    Photos credit: Colin McDiarmid, Victoria University of Wellington


    2017: 4-7 July

    Monash Centre, Prato, Italy

    Scontri e Incontri: The Dynamics of Italian Transcultural Exchanges


    2015: 1-4 July

    The University of Sydney, Australia

    Fertile Spaces, Dynamic Places: Mapping the Cultures of Italy


    2013: 4-6 December

    Flinders University/ University of South Australia, Adelaide 

    Re-imagining Italian Studies


    2011: 13- 16 July

    The University of Melbourne, Australia

    Italian Studies: New Directions


    2009: 18-21 February

    The University of Auckland, New Zealand

    L’Italia nella Grande Migrazione


    2007: 10-13 July

    Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

    Conference Programme


    2005: 30 June-2 July

    Cassamarca Foundation, Treviso, Italy

    L’Italia Globale: le altre italie e l’Italia altrove


    2003: 3-5 July

    University of Western Australia

    Conference Programme


    2001: 21-23 September

    Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    The Importance of Italy



  • Other ACIS conferences and workshops

    From time to time ACIS sponsors other conferences or workshops held by its members. Details of these will appear below.


    2016: 24-25 November

    Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

    An Eye on Italy: Continuities and transformations in Italian visual culture

     

    Flinders University, Griffith University, Victoria University of Wellington and the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies held an international conference, An Eye on Italy: Continuities and transformations in Italian visual culture, on 24-25 November 2016 at Flinders in the City, 182 Victoria Square, Adelaide, South Australia. Convened by Luciana d’Arcangeli (Flinders), Claire Kennedy (Griffith) and Sally Hill (VUW), the conference explored recent developments in Italian visual culture with the aim of bringing together expertise in the areas of photography, the fine arts, film and media studies, fashion and design in order to encourage novel exchanges and collaborations. Among the keynote speakers was Giancarlo De Cataldo. Papers were presented from a variety of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives, including the teaching of visual arts and the use of visual cultural products in teaching Italian language and culture. 


    A selection of papers from the conference were published in the online journal FULGOR vol 5, no. 3, June 2018.