Conference Report: 2026 Disappearance Studies Conference convened at Ulster University in Derry-Londonderry, co-organized by INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute)

 

Prepared by Ester Nergis Canefe, York University, Canada. 

The 2026 Disappearance Studies Conference convened at Ulster University in Derry-Londonderry, co-organized by INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute) and the Journal of Disappearance Studies. This multi-day event commemorated the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. From Sunday, August 30th to Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, the conference assembled researchers, forensic experts, legal scholars, artists, and families affected by enforced disappearances worldwide. Professor Élise Féron, Director of INCORE and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Disappearance Studies, oversaw the organization.

Historically, the study of disappearances remained confined to specific disciplines, primarily international human rights law, transitional justice, forensic anthropology, and sociology. The urgent need to conceptualize disappearance as an ongoing structural, psychological, cultural, and environmental crisis, rather than solely as a legal infraction, prompted the emergence of a unified, transdisciplinary academic field. Contemporary Disappearance Studies now integrates sociology, political theory, international law, history, anthropology, psychology, and the arts. The field addresses topics ranging from state criminality, necropolitics, and border violence to the psychological effects of ambiguous loss on families and transitional justice processes.

Families of the Panel of the Disappeared in Northern Ireland joined a panel discussion with Dr Sandra Peake (Wave Trauma Centre) and Keynote Speaker Geoff Knupfer (former Lead Forensic Scientist and Head of the Investigation Team (ICLVR))

The academic field of disappearance studies was created to address the systemic, global crisis of enforced disappearances and missing persons, with origins in the human rights movements of the 1970s. During this period, enforced disappearance gained recognition as a distinct institutional and human rights violation, especially through the advocacy of human rights lawyers and families in Southern Cone countries such as Chile and Argentina, where state security forces concealed political prisoners while denying custody. Although initially linked to Latin American dictatorships, enforced disappearance has manifested globally throughout regions affected by state violence, armed conflict, and authoritarian rule, including the Philippines, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Spain, Northern Ireland, Iraq, Syria, Turkiye, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and post-war areas of the Balkans. International legal recognition evolved through the establishment of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in 1980, the 1992 UN General Assembly Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the adoption of the international convention in 2006. The field has benefited from scientific methodologies, including advanced DNA-based identification, forensic exhumations, and the application of artificial intelligence to humanitarian crises. Its formalization advanced with the creation of academic platforms such as the Disappearance Studies Network, its annual conferences, and the Journal of Disappearance Studies (published by Bristol University Press), which advances collaboration among academics, policymakers, practitioners, affected families, and artists.

The 2026 conference featured 18 panels organized around core interdisciplinary themes that examined the complex dimensions of missing persons and state accountability. The first thematic cluster focused on the psychological, social, and emotional aspects of loss and trauma, with panels exploring sociological concepts such as vicarious presence, psychosocial support for families in contexts such as El Salvador, and the emotional challenges researchers experience in areas such as Chechnya. The second cluster addressed technical, forensic, and legal perspectives, including the use of modern medical technology and artificial intelligence for identifying missing persons, regional excavation initiatives in areas like Matabeleland, and critical legal issues such as international human rights jurisprudence, European Court of Human Rights standards, and state criminality involving non-state actors. The final cluster focused on regional case studies, institutional mechanisms, and transitional justice frameworks, evaluating localized responses such as Ireland's Institutional Burials Act, as well as wider geopolitical issues related to borders, necropolitics, and state-orchestrated disappearances. These sessions fostered collaboration among academics, practitioners, artists, and families of the disappeared, advancing global dialogue on truth, justice, and memory.

The conference started with the keynote given by Geoff Knupfer, who is the former Lead Forensic Scientist and Head of the Investigation Team for the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) in Northern Ireland. His address set the stage for the event, drawing on his extensive work dealing with the recovery and location of victims of enforced disappearance. The conference then featured a dedicated and deeply emotional session engaging with those most impacted by political violence in Northern Ireland, immediately following the opening keynote address. This session focused on the lived experiences, persistent advocacy, and enduring trauma of relatives searching for loved ones taken during the Troubles. By placing the voices and testimonies of families directly at the forefront of the program, the panel established a bridge between grassroots survivor advocacy and disappearance studies, highlighting the heavy human toll of ambiguous loss and the long road toward truth, closure and remembrance.

These sessions were followed by a visit to an art exhibit.  The integration of creative arts into the conference's opening program effectively bridged academic research with embodied, community-centred witnessing. Delegates were invited to move directly from institutional panels to the Ulster University Library for the launch of the Conflict Textiles exhibition, “Disappeared,” which offered a tactile and visual engagement with the global realities of political violence and grassroots resistance. This approach was further reinforced by the evening performance of Ephemeral Ensemble's physical-theatre production REWIND at The Playhouse, which transformed the profound grief associated with missing persons into a powerful artistic experience.

Conflict Textiles is a comprehensive international collection of transnational textiles, primarily consisting of arpilleras, quilts, and wall hangings that visually document political conflict, human rights abuses, and grassroots resistance. As an associated site of CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) at INCORE, the project functions as both a physical and digital archive, preserving the narratives of individuals affected by state violence, systemic oppression, and forced disappearances globally. The digital archive is accessible via the CAIN/Ulster University web portal at cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles, serving as a comprehensive database with a high-resolution catalogue of international textile collections, information on global exhibitions, educational resources, and documentation linking creative arts-based research to peacebuilding and transitional justice. Central to the collection are arpilleras, three-dimensional stitched textile pictures created by women in Chile during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, often using fabric from the clothing of disappeared loved ones to bear witness, protest silence, and communicate the human cost of political violence. The collection has since expanded to include global perspectives on conflict and social justice, featuring textile works addressing forced disappearances, gendered violence, and indigenous struggles across Latin America, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. By presenting these textile narratives in academic institutions, museums, and public spaces, the project stresses the significance of arts-based research-creation, feminist witnessing, and community activism in transitional justice and collective memory.

Similarly, evening attendance at REWIND, which is produced by Ephemeral Ensemble as an award-winning physical theatre production, directly corresponded with the conference's central themes. The play draws inspiration from the testimonies of Latin American refugees and migrants across generations, merging physical theatre with the scientific and humanitarian work of forensic anthropology. Its narrative reconstructs the scientific investigation of a clandestine crime, guiding the audience through the life of Alicia, a young woman who resisted authoritarianism. Through live music, visual effects, puppetry, and physical performance, the production offers a human-centred perspective on the enduring struggle against state violence, enforced disappearance, and the pursuit of social justice. Ephemeral Ensemble, a multinational theatre collective, is dedicated to illuminating hidden social and human rights issues. Directed by Ramon Ayres and co-devised with core company members Alex Paton, Andres Velasquez, Eygló Belafonte, Josephine Tremelling, and Louise Wilcox, the play reflects the academic focus of the Disappearance Studies Conference by translating the realities of state violence and systemic trauma into an artistic medium. REWIND bridges two major conference themes: the forensic investigation of missing persons and the commemoration of family-led activism, particularly honoring the efforts of groups such as the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. The production accentuates the conference's emphasis on ambiguous loss, family activism, and memorialization.

A final mention needs to be made about the series of documentaries shared by the conference attendees during the second day. These were Ghosts of Ukraine, Bıraktığın Yerden and Desde Adentro. Ghosts of Ukraine is an artistic or conceptual exploration confronting the deep historical trauma, war, and haunting legacies left by the disappeared men during political conflicts and violence in Ukraine. Bıraktığın Yerden '700 Hafta' (Hear Their Heartbeat) focuses on human rights struggles, the enduring presence of missing persons, and the collective memory of families seeking truth and justice in Turkiye.  Desde Adentro focuses on community-based arts-resistance that are led by survivors of disappeared persons led by women in Latin America. Two of the directors of these documentaries were present to answer the questions of the conference organizers and the audience. 

Overall, with its rich program and robust participation, the Disappearance Studies Conference at Ulster University made several key contributions to the emergent field of disappearance studies by bridging theoretical research, technical innovation, judicial frameworks, and creative arts-based methods. The organizers intentionally broke down academic silos by bringing together forensic scientists, human rights lawyers, sociologists, political theorists, artists and psychologists, thus creating a unified framework to study disappearance not merely as a legal or political violation, but as a complex structural, environmental, and psychological crisis. By featuring specialized sessions on artificial intelligence for image analysis, DNA-based familial reunification, and advanced forensic methodologies, the program highlighted the role of cutting-edge technological innovations in accelerating the search for missing persons and supporting transitional justice mechanisms. The event also mapped transnational networks of resistance to state violence by connecting regional case studies from Northern Ireland; Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, El Salvador, Colombia); South Asia (Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Pakistan); the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan); and Europe. This global breadth helps scholars identify universal patterns in state criminality, authoritarian governance, and border necropolitics. Finally, the conference validated the role of creating counter-archives and community activism as indispensable components of academic research and truth-recovery processes.