1. Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI)

Deadline: March 15, 2012

The planning committee welcomes submissions from scholars, students, artists, mothers and others who research in this area. Cross-cultural and comparative work including academic papers from all disciplines and creative submissions including visual art, literature, and performance art is encouraged.

The conference will examine the ethical, political, social/cultural, economic, historical, religious, spiritual and psychological dimensions of reproduction and mothering. While the larger conference will be broad in its interpretation and engagement with the subject of 'Mothering and Reproduction', an embedded conference will be specific to exploring how mothers’ decisions and experiences of reproduction and mothering have been/are influenced by science and technology.

If you are interested in being considered as a presenter, please send a 250 word abstract and a 50-word bio by March 15th, 2012 via email

Please note, to submit an abstract for the conference, you must be a member of MIRCI. For membership information, please visit the MIRCI Membership Fees webpage.

Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI)
140 Holland St. West, PO Box 13022, Bradford, ON, L3Z 2Y5 (905) 775-9089, Email

2. Seniors Housing & Care Journal for September 2012 issue

Deadline: April 2, 2012

The Journal is a peer-reviewed, academic journal that disseminates empirically based research regarding the senior housing and care fields; addresses critical issues faced by senior care professionals; and is relevant to the day-to-day operation of senior communities. The Journal accepts research papers (original reports of completed research) and brief reports (pilot studies about innovative ideas for senior housing and care with implications for future research). Occasionally, a limited number of commentaries addressing emerging issues faced by the senior housing and care industry and brief reviews of new resources available to practitioners in the field may be accepted for publication.

Research paper topics may include (but are not limited to): 

• Government, policy and regulatory issues in senior housing 

• Outcomes data related to senior housing 

• Market research 

• Market analysis and macro trends 

• Senior housing affordability 

• Staffing issues within senior housing communities 

• Senior housing operations 

• Risk management 

• Finance 

• New trends in senior housing

For more information about Seniors Housing & Care Journal, please contact:
Saher F. Selod, PhD, Associate Managing Editor
Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging
(847) 492-6791
Email

3. Violence Against Women Special Issue

Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention, Resistance, Education and Intervention:  The Role of Self Defense
Deadline: April 13, 2012
To discuss a possible submission or the scope of the issue, or to submit a manuscript, contact Martha McCaughey or Jill Cermele.

Sexual violence against women is a global health problem. Although there is solid, and growing, scholarship on the reality and efficacy of women’s resistance to rape and sexual assault, many scholars, activists, funding agencies and members of the lay public remain skeptical about women’s right and capacity to thwart an attack and about the ethics of teaching and funding of self-defense. Moreover, while both scholarly and advocacy literature on violence against women often discusses prevention, resistance, and intervention, these concepts do not always imply women’s use of verbal and physical self-defense techniques. Increasingly, we see positive images of women successfully defending themselves against perpetrators of violence in popular culture, but scholars of violence against women have much to communicate to both scholarly and lay audiences about women’s use of self-defense.

This special issue calls for papers that focus on the ways in which women prepare to defend themselves against sexual assault, the multiple and diverse methods women employ — including the use of physical aggression and violence — in their own defense, the effectiveness of self-defense and how self-defense and resistance to sexual assault is understood and constructed in individual, social, cultural and legal contexts. We define the term sexual assault broadly, to include verbal, nonverbal and physical threats or acts of sexual violence, both implied and enacted; similarly, we define the term self-defense to include verbal and physical strategies, including aggressive, violent and lethal means, that thwart imminent or ongoing acts of sexual violence and to serve to maintain women’s physical, sexual and psychological integrity. 

Possible topics include: 

• Efficacy of physical and verbal resistance against sexual assault 

• Efficacy of self-defense training 

• Comparative studies of different types of self-defense programs 

• Beliefs about resistance and self-defense training for women and girls 

• Self-defense training as a clinical intervention 

• Defining resistance, self-defense and violence 

• Identity, intersectionality and resistance 

• The collection of crime victimization data and women’s self-defense 

• The impact of women’s self-defense training on rates of acquaintance rape 

• The funding models impacting women’s opportunities to learn self-defense through schools, community centers, shelters and crisis centers 

• Where the training or use of self-defense fits into feminist discourses of sexual assault prevention 

• Self-defense training in the workplace, on campuses, in public schools, in NGOs 

• Where women's self-defense fits into the gun control debates 

• Gender, self-defense and the law

The Special Issue invites articles using a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, including empirical research, research notes, review essays, legal notes and clinical notes. Empirical research articles should not exceed 30 pages, and all other submissions should be between 12 and 18 pages, including references, tables and figures. Manuscripts should be typewritten, double-spaced, with footnotes, references, tables and charts on separate pages, and should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). Each article should begin with an abstract of about 100 words. For further details, consult the manuscript submission guidelines. All submissions will be subjected to review, and submission does not guarantee acceptance in the special issue.

4. National Multicultural Conference and Summit

Deadline: May 4, 2012

Accepting proposals for symposia, workshops, conversations, difficult dialogues and posters. Acceptable proposals may address theory, research, practice, education, training and advocacy/policy issues. All proposals will be peer-reviewed with attention given to a balance of topics, diversity dimensions, emphasis areas, and applied aspects (e.g., psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions). Proposals will be rated in part by how they relate to the conference theme and include the intersection of identities or multiple identities. Proposals for individual papers will not be accepted. 

Successful proposals will address aspects of the 2013 NMCS theme, Transforming Multicultural Psychology: Engagement, Renewal and Action across Generations, or its primary objectives:

• To engage in the process of transforming multicultural psychology through education, policy, practice, research, theory and training. 

• To dialogue across generations about past, present and future waves of education, policy, practice, research, theory and training in multicultural psychology. 

• To renew our commitment to multicultural psychology, while challenging ourselves to an ongoing process of growth and discovery through difficult dialogues. 

• To engage as change agents, developing strategies toward shared goals of social justice. 

• To create an inclusive atmosphere of support and interpersonal connection by offering networking and informal mentoring opportunities. 

• To illuminate the work of pioneers in multicultural psychology and to honor their historical legacies.

How to Submit a Proposal:

All conference proposals are being accepted online through the NMCS website.

No hard copy proposals will be accepted. All proposals must follow the format stipulated on the website. See NMCS 2013 Call for Programs for more details. All conference proposals must adhere to APA format and ethical guidelines. Due date for all conference proposals is Friday, May 4, 2012 by 11:59 pm (Pacific Daylight Time).