Call for Papers: FD UFMG – LDRN 7th General Conference

About the Conference

The increasing integration of global legal policies and institutions with local institutions has generated a growing interest among governments, legal professionals, policymakers and academics in analysing the role of law and possible reforms to address development challenges and promote inclusive growth. Over the past 75 years, research into Law and Development has shown that legal systems are fundamental in addressing the challenges of economic development, growth and distributive equality, not only in countries of the Global South, but throughout the world. This interdisciplinary field of study draws on several disciplines, including economics, sociology, political science, cultural studies and, of course, law itself.

The Law and Development Research Network (LDRN) and the UFMG Faculty of Law (FDUFMG) are honoured to announce the 7th General Conference, taking place at the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, between 15 – 18 July 2025.

The Conference will provide a unique opportunity for academics from Latin America to present their ideas on the region’s development challenges with scholars from other parts of the Global South and North. In addition, the Conference will promote the formation of academic and research partnerships between the participating academics and institutions.

A workshop for emerging scholars, aligned with the conference theme, is being planned. Further details will be communicated in due time.

Conference Theme: Extractivism, Development and Human Rights

The Conference will discuss a wide variety of themes and subjects relevant to neo-extractive development, human rights, law and development, including the following areas:

        • Extractivism, land, natural resources and development;
        • Indigenism/Indigenous cosmovision and development;
        • Access to justice, strategic litigation and development;
        • Development, nature and human rights;
        • International law, institutional governance and development;
        • Financial institutions, corporate capture and corporate responsibility in the context of law and development;
        • Democracy, digitalisation and law and development;
        • Disability rights and development;
        • Suffering, injustice and the dialectic of law and development;
        • Post development, maldevelopment, sustainable development;
        • Law and human rights in settler states.

The Conference welcomes applications from a wide range of researchers and encourages submissions concerned with children’s rights, gender, health, race, poverty, inequality and discrimination as relevant to the theme.

Call for papers

FDUFMG and LDRN reserve the right to select the papers for final presentation at the conference. The papers will be grouped into panels (approximately 20 simultaneous sessions), four papers per panel, in addition to the opening and closing sessions.

In addition to the general call for individual papers, we also encourage individuals to organise their own panels, including fully formed panel proposals, by coordinating with colleagues, preferably from LDRN partner institutions, along the theme of the conference. This will allow for more cohesive panels and will foster greater collaboration among participants, which is one of the key aims of the LDRN Conference. The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the panel allocation.

We also encourage the proposals of ‘Practitioner Conversations’ and ‘Book Launch Conversations’. The organizing committee will determine date and time of these presentations as soon as the demand is defined.

The possibility of online participation may be explored in exceptional cases.

Selection Criteria

The selection process will be conducted by a group of academics specialised in the interdisciplinary field of law and development. The assessment criteria will be based on: abstract quality; relevance to law and development and the theme of the conference; geographic diversity; and balance between senior and junior researchers. Participants must be university professors, PhD holders or doctoral candidates. Exceptionally, we may consider submissions from researchers at LDRN partner institutions who hold a masters’ or an undergraduate degree. Preference will be given to in-person presentations; however, online presentations will be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Guidelines for Submission

Abstracts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. The maximum word limit is 500 words for individual submissions and 750 words for co-authored submissions. Each abstract must be linked to a specific track and include four keywords. The submission deadline is 6 January 2025. Abstracts received after the submission deadline may be rejected. The submission must include a disclaimer stating that the article is original and has not been previously published or is currently under consideration elsewhere. All submissions will undergo a plagiarism check.

Abstracts should be followed by an outline of the article (more details concerning the date and format will follow once all abstracts have been reviewed). 

The abstract should be formatted in font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing for the main text and automatic spacing between paragraphs. Footnotes should be in font size 10 with single line spacing. Both the main text and footnotes must adhere to the 2012 edition of the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). Co-authorship is allowed, and the abstract must be submitted in PDF format.

Abstracts may be submitted online using this form: https://forms.gle/TTvAHqu79nR2Yt2Y8

Accepted abstracts will be notified by email by 14 February 2025. Please provide a valid e-mail address.

Venue, Accommodation & Visa

The Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) will be the main venue for the Conference. The Faculty is in the city centre and is close to the bus connection to Belo Horizonte International Airport (CNF). We regret our inability to provide accommodation and cover the travel costs of all participants.

Nearby hotels and accommodation: Belo Horizonte Plaza Hotel, Dayrell Hotel & Centro de Convenções, and Ibis Belo Horizonte Liberdade are some of the hotels in the vicinity of the Faculty that the participants can book themselves for their stay in Belo Horizonte.

The conference organizers are prepared to provide a letter of support to assist with the visa application process if needed.

Registration Fee

The registration fee for the Conference is US$100 for international participants and R$500 for local participants. All local PhD candidates, masters’ and undergraduate students may participate in the Conference at R$250. All international PhD candidates, masters’ and undergraduate students may participate in the conference at US$50. In exceptional circumstances, a fee waiver is possible, subject to the discretion of the organising committee. A link for online payment will be provided.

Conference Organising Committee

Fabiano Teodoro Lara (UFMG); Edilson Vitorelli (UFMG);  Ricardo Ruiz (UFMG); Diogo Coutinho (University of São Paulo); C. Ignacio de Casas (Universidad Austral); Joanna Botha (Nelson Mandela University); Sam Adelman (University of Warwick); Gamze Erdem Türkelli (University of Antwerp).

Conference e-mail: 7LDRN.BR@GMAIL.COM

*** All abstracts must be submitted via this form: https://forms.gle/TTvAHqu79nR2Yt2Y8