Whoniversal Appeal - An Interdisciplinary
Postgraduate Conference on Doctor Who And Its Spin-Offs
14th - 16th November 2008


This academic conference which is open to the public and scholars is being hosted by Melissa Beattie of Cardiff University's School of History and Archaeology this November.

What the conference is about
The conference is aiming to present about twenty papers on the programme and its spin-offs with the general mission of celebrating the contribution Doctor Who and its spin-offs make to modern society. It intends to promote general British culture, Welsh culture and Arts & Humanities education as well as increase the communication between academics and the general public on common ground.



Timed to anticipate the 45th anniversary of the first ever Doctor Who episode and located in Cardiff, the main filming location of all three current series, the conference intends to have two or more full days of academic programming devoted to various aspects of the complex and multi-layered 'Whoniverse.' The specifics of the programme will be based upon the papers received, but it is anticipated papers will cover:

*The history of the series and the presentation of historical events shown within it. Social trends and changes reflected in the series as well as the mythical and religious elements and the differing moralities in the series.

*The impact of the the series on British and global society and provide a general analysis in the context of film and literature.

In addition to the papers and discussion panels, it is hoped to arrange a walking tour of some of the filming locations in Cardiff city centre and Cardiff Bay, as well as an opening night reception for all delegates.

Please note the call for papers is now closed. They are currently sorting out the arrangements for the conference and hope to begin booking in delegates sometime in August.


Fundraising
They have in the meantime been fundraising to support the conference with a series of concerts and lectures. They will happily receive suggestions of help or ideas for fundraising. See the contact details below.

Key speakers and guests
They have recently announced that a key note speaker will be Matt Hills, Matt has written many many works on fandom, especially Doctor Who, and his bio can be seen HERE

Other guests include, subject to commitments:

Paul Cornell:
Hugo-nominated writer Paul Cornell is probably best-known for his work on the revival of Doctor Who, having written the series 1 episode 'Fathers Day' and the series 3 two-parter 'Human Nature'/'Family of Blood.' The latter entry into the Whoniverse was itself based upon a novel Paul had written-- one of his many books, both fiction and non-fiction, dealing with the classic series. In addition to these, Paul has written a number of audios for Big Finish, and is the creator of spin-off Companion Bernice Summerfield. Not content to confine his skills to one universe, however, Paul has written for several television series, including Primeval, Holby City, and Robin Hood, as well as writing for several comic series.

Una McCormack:
Writer and scholar Una McCormack is well-known in Doctor Who, Blake's 7, and Deep Space Nine fandoms. In addition to her teaching duties at Cambridge, Una has written tie-in novels for Deep Space Nine and, most recently, her short story 'The Slave War,' has been published as part of the Big Finish Short Trips anthology The Quality of Leadership.

Rob Shearman:
Hugo-nominated writer Rob Shearman, winner of a Bronze Sony for his BBC7 series 'Chain Gang,' is best known to Whoniverse fandom as the writer of the brilliant episode 'Dalek.' Rob has also written several Big Finish audios, including 'Holy Terror,' described by one Russell T Davies in Big Finish: The Inside Story as 'some of the finest drama ever written for any genre, in any medium, anywhere,' and 'Jubliee,' which is the origin of Jubilee pizza seen in Torchwood.

Contact
For more details and if you have an idea for fundraising please go to: Whoniversal
Link to: Conference Livejournal

And here's a recent piece of press coverage:Scotland On Sunday

Thanks to The Ninth Doctor Screencap Resource for the lovely screengrabs of Cardiff as featured in the Series 1 episode Boom Town.

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