With less than one week to go, we are putting together final conference preparations and are so excited to welcome you to this year’s #SMSociety (July 13-15). To help you with your last minute preparations, here’s the final pre-conference digest and updates.
1. Conference venues at University of Glasgow (UoG), Gilmorehill Campus The conference takes place at three venues on or near UoG’s Gilmorehill Campus, at three locations: Advanced Research Centre (ARC); Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel; and the Glasgow University Union (GUU). You are welcome to virtually explore the ARC in advance of the conference (see above map for conference venues).
If you have any access requirements, please see the AccessAble guides for the ARC and the GUU, and Glasgow Grosvenor.
The nearest subway / underground stations to these places are Kelvinhall, Hillhead, and/or Kelvinbridge.
Day 1 of #SMSociety will begin at the ARC, with coffee and tea served from 8:30 am, followed by an exciting day of papers, panels and workshops. The Welcome reception will begin at 18:00 at the Glasgow Grosvernor Hotel, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from the ARC. Food will be served from 18:30 PM, welcome talks at 19:30, followed by a Scottish tribal band.
Day 2 of the conference also begins at the ARC with coffee served from 8:30 am, and sessions beginning at 9:30-17:05. We will move to Glasgow University Union (GUU), also a 10-15 minute walk from the ARC, for the poster reception which begins at 18:00. You will have the opportunity to vote for best poster but you will need to get your vote in by 20:30!
Day 3 begins at the GUU, where coffee and tea will be available from 8:30. The awards ceremony starts at 9:00 am and here we will recognize the #SMSociety 2026 winners for 4 awards: 1) Best paper; 2) Best Methods Paper; 3) Best Poster; and 4) The Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai Emerging Scholar award for best student paper. The last day features panels and workshops back at the ARC.
For University of Glasgow campus maps, see: https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/maps/.
IMPORTANT: Your conference badge is an important visual sign of your registration. Please always keep it with you.
2. The #SMSociety 2026 conference schedule is now available as a PDF! The book of abstracts will be online soon.
For those that prefer to be able to look at the conference schedule at a glance, you can now find this on our web-site here. We are compiling a #SMSociety2026 book of abstracts which will be ready for you soon.
3. Call for conference chairs!
We are looking for conference chairs, so if you are interested, please do sign up to Chair for sessions that are of interest to you. We will provide specific guidance for chairs later this week.
4. Uploading your conference presentation in advance
Please upload your presentation, poster, panel or workshop notes to our shared presentation drive. You will see folders organized in this folder by:
- Day
- Room
- Time and title of session
Uploading your presentation will ensure a smoother process for presenters and attendees. We will have volunteers in every room who are there to support you and help you set up your presentations; however, this will be much more straightforward if your presentation is already on the drive.
As a reminder, all presentations should be 15 minutes, with 5 mins for questions.
Important note: Please aim to go to your session 10-15 minutes in advance, so you can meet your chair, and co-presenters (if you don’t already know them) and just to make sure everything is working.
5. Special welcome to newcomers and ECRs on Day 1!
Establishing a supportive and scholarly community is one of #SMSociety’s greatest strengths, which we recognized when we first attended #SMSociety and we are now striving to uphold. As part of this ambition, one of our conference Chairs, Devina Sarwatay, will host a newcomers’ table at the welcome reception. Please do look out for Devina and the other conference chairs, who will all be very happy to say hi.
6. Announcing a ‘Community Keynote’ to be given at the Welcome Reception
As part of SMSociety’s community spirit, we are absolutely delighted to announce a ‘community keynote’, where panel organizers from all career stages will share key insights from their work and shared projects. We are delighted to share that the community keynotes will be given by: Axel Bruns, Jaigris Hodson, Esteban Morales, Jessica Ringros, Devina Sawartay, Yue Qin, and Yingwen Wang.
It is a privilege to host both long time #SMSociety members and key figures in social media research, alongside rising stars. We hope you are looking forward to this as much as we are!
6. Keep your eye on the weather
Some of you may have heard reports of very warm weather in the UK. Glasgow is typically cooler than Southern parts of England and Wales, but it is worth dressing comfortably so prepare for warm weather and rain.
7. Sharing conference experiences and insights via social media
We are keen to celebrate your research and work, so please do share with us on BlueSky (we are @socialmediaandsociety.org) or on other social media with the #SMSociety tag. We love photos too so please do tag us if you are comfortable sharing (and you have permission from those in the photo)!
8. UoG tours
Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow, is a beautiful campus with many historic sites. This post comes with a picture of UoG’s cloisters, which is part of one of UoG’s neo-gothic buildings, are quite striking. If you are interested in learning more about the campus, we encourage you to book a guided or self-guided tour.
Finally, if you have any further questions or clarifications, please get in touch with us at [email protected]. Plus, this is your last chance to tell us about any access and dietary requirements, if you have not already.
Looking forward to seeing you in Glasgow very soon for the #SMSociety 2026!
Most sincerely,
#SMSociety Chairs