The Daily Life of International Law — BIICL / SLS International Law Section Conference 2026

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) International Law Section invite abstracts for their annual joint workshop, to be held on 29 October 2026 under the title 'The Daily Life of International Law'.

BIICL is one of the leading independent research institutes in international and comparative law, and this workshop is a long-running fixture of the UK international law calendar.

The workshop will take place at Charles Clore House in Russell Square, London, in a hybrid mode.

Attendance in person is strongly encouraged, but online participation will be facilitated for those unable to be present in person. This makes the workshop realistically accessible to applicants based outside the United Kingdom, including those who cannot travel.

International law is a field which has direct effect in the lives of individuals and communities. The impacts are most obvious when we think about those who work and engage in international law activities including and beyond the realms of government and diplomacy, whether working for international organisations or engaging in cross-border trade. We often also think of impacts on people's lives when international law fails to achieve its objectives, especially around peace and security and the protection of human rights.

Equally, however, international law shapes the everyday life of people in ways that are often concealed from the media headlines, with little recognition of the international law link to those daily aspects of life. This applies in a wide range of contexts, from the courts to the aisles of planes and of supermarkets. The ripple effects of recent international events on people's daily lives have brought more attention to these impacts.

The workshop examines these parameters and realities and seeks to elaborate on the countless ways in which international law is a daily lived reality, including the opportunities and challenges that this brings for those involved and for international law itself.

BIICL and the SLS International Law Section are calling for abstracts for presentations and panels. Some indicative topics include:

• How international law matters to the everyday application of other fields, such as history, sociology, psychology or linguistics
• How international law aspires to and impacts people's everyday lives within and beyond fields like human rights, the laws of war, refugee law or international economic law
• How international law impacts people's everyday lives in hidden ways, including in how it regulates food, water, and day to day activities
• Practical dilemmas international law texts pose in the everyday domestic implementation of fields beyond international law, such as criminal law or family law
• What issues face the day to day lives of those working in international law or for international organisations?
• What initiatives are being taken to raise awareness of the day-to-day impacts of international law with general and particular populations?
• To what extent is the daily life of international law incorporated into the teaching of international law?

Academics and practitioners, especially early-career ones, from the legal world and beyond, are invited to submit. The call expressly welcomes contributions from outside law, given the interdisciplinary framing of the theme.

Note that panel proposals, not only individual presentations, are within scope.

Submit the following by 10 September 2026:

• An abstract of no longer than 500 words
• A short biography of no more than 150 words

Send them to Dr Jean-Pierre Gauci at j.gauci@biicl.org and Dr Solon Solomon at solon.solomon@brunel.ac.uk respectively, with 'SLS Workshop – Abstract' in the subject line.

Note on the subject line: the detailed call for papers specifies 'SLS Workshop – Abstract', while the announcement circulated on EJIL: Talk! wrote it as 'BIICL-SLS Workshop – Abstract'. Either should reach the organisers, but the detailed call is the authoritative document.

Successful applicants will be notified by the end of September 2026.