Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference 13 (2025)

Call for Abstracts: Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference 2025

Conference date:  April 25 – 26, 2025
Abstracts due: January 24, 2025

The Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression invites applications to participate in the thirteenth annual Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference (FESC). The conference will be held at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut on April 25 & 26, 2025. We ask all those interested in presenting a paper to submit an abstract by January 24, 2025. Those interested in serving as a discussant should also respond by this date. 

At FESC, scholars and practitioners discuss works-in-progress on the freedoms of speech, expression, press, association, petition, and assembly, as well as on related issues of knowledge and information policy. FESC has become a fixture on the calendar of leading First Amendment thinkers and scholars nationwide. The paper titles and attendees from prior conferences are available here.

Each accepted paper is assigned to a discussant who will summarize the paper, provide feedback, and lead a discussion. Workshop sessions are lively discussions among authors, discussants, and participants. Sessions run from Friday morning through Saturday afternoon. There is a casual dinner Thursday evening before the conference begins and a conference dinner Friday evening. Conference participants are expected to read the papers in advance and to attend the entire conference. 

We accept papers on a wide array of freedom of expression and information policy topics. Although participation at the conference is by invitation only, we welcome paper proposals from scholars and practitioners all over the world. Please feel free to share this call for submissions widely. 

Submission Details 

• Titles and abstracts of papers should be submitted electronically to cfp.isp@yale.edu no later than January 24, 2025. Abstracts should be no longer than one page, and should be submitted as a PDF file saved under the file name “[last name, first name] – [paper title].” Please use the subject line “FESC Paper Submission” in your email. 
• Those interested in attending the conference or acting as a discussant should contact Heather Branch [heather.branch@yale.edu] no later than January 24, 2025 to indicate their interest. Please use the subject line “FESC Discussant” in your email. 
• Authors will be informed whether their paper has been accepted no later than March 3, 2025. 
• Workshop versions of accepted papers will be due on April 7, 2025, so they can be circulated to discussants and other conference participants. 

Please feel free to contact Heather Branch [heather.branch@yale.edu] with any questions.