International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English

We are pleased to announce that ICAME48 will take place in Helsinki (Finland) on 18–22 May 2027. ICAME (International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English) is an annual international conference and one of the longest-standing organisations of linguists and data scientists working with English language corpora. The conference theme is The Times They Are A-Changin’, honouring the University of Helsinki English Unit’s longstanding tradition of studying language change with corpus-based methods. We invite all submissions on corpus-based approaches to English, and especially abstracts addressing the theme of the conference, such as submissions engaging with language change, shifting methods, new corpus materials or interdisciplinary approaches.

The following plenary speakers have confirmed their participation:
Axel Bohmann, University of Cologne
Tuomo Hiippala, University of Helsinki
Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham
Merja Stenroos, University of Stavanger
 

The social programme will include a welcome evening reception, a boat trip, and the conference dinner and disco.

Pre-Conference Workshops: 
We invite proposals for pre-conference workshops on Tuesday, 18 May 2027. If you would like to convene a workshop (full or half day), please send your proposal as a Word document (.docx) by 31 October 2026 directly to the organisers at icame48@helsinki.fi. The proposal should contain the title of the workshop, name and contact details of the organisers and of the proposed participants as well as a short description of the topics to be discussed (between 400 and 700 words, excluding references). Please use APA style of referencing. Notifications of workshop acceptance will be sent out in mid-November 2026. If the workshop is accepted, workshop conveners will be responsible for putting the individual abstracts together, including peer reviewing. This should be completed & notified to the conference organisers before 20 December 2026.

Abstracts:
The call for abstracts opens on 1 October 2026 and closes on 1 December 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent out by January 2027. Abstracts should be between 400 and 500 words (excluding references) and should clearly state research question(s), approach, data, method and (expected) results. Please use APA style of referencing. Authors may submit a maximum of two abstracts if at least one paper is co-authored. We invite abstracts for the following presentation formats:

Full paper: 20 + 10 mins discussion
Short paper/Work-in-progress report: 10 + 5 mins discussion
Software demonstration: 20 + 10 mins discussion
Poster: on display and presented in special poster sessions

We will send out more information on abstract submission before the call opens.

Bursaries:
John Sinclair Bursary: 300 EUR to the best paper by an early-career ICAMEr. Eligible candidates should indicate their bursary application in the abstract submission procedure. Eligible applicants are doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers who defended their PhD no earlier than three years before the year of the conference.
Stig Johansson Bursary: 150 EUR to the best poster presentation.

We look forward to your submissions and to welcoming you to Helsinki in May 2027!
The ICAME48 Conference Organising Committee