LONDON – 6TH October 2013 – The Dialogue Society is delighted to announce the release of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Dialogue Studies, a multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, biannual academic journal which will shine the light of academic scrutiny on the theory and practice of dialogue. The Academic Editor of the Journal is Professor Paul Weller and the Editorial Team are proud to have the support of a distinguished and multidisciplinary Editorial Board. The Journal is published by the Institute for Dialogue Studies, the academic platform of the Dialogue Society, responsible for research, co-delivery of the MA in Dialogue Studies, academic workshops and publications.

The Journal will bring together a body of original scholarship on the theory and practice of dialogue for critical appraisal and discussion. It is intended to contribute towards establishing ‘dialogue studies’ as a distinct academic field (or perhaps even emerging discipline). The first issue is intended to help set the parameters for ‘dialogue studies’, with papers addressing questions including the following:

• What arguments might there be for (or against) developing 'dialogue studies' as a distinct academic field (or perhaps even emerging discipline)?
• How might 'dialogue studies' be of use to academics, policy-makers and practitioners?
• What do we mean by dialogue, dialogue theories and dialogue practices?

The issue includes papers by Professor Donal Carbaugh (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA), Dr Fern Elsdon-Baker (University of Coventry), Dr Ute Kelly (University of Bradford), Michael Atkinson (Deakin University, Australia) and Peter Emerson (the de Borda Institute) and reviews of Ted Cantle’s Interculturalism and of Democracy in Motion edited by Tina Nabatchi et al. On the occasion, the Academic Editor of the Journal, Professor Paul Weller said: “The Executive Editor, Assistant Editors and I are very excited to be launching this unique new Journal. The time is ripe for ‘dialogue’, an under-examined contemporary buzzword, to receive the focused academic attention it deserves. The first issue, highlighting numerous promising avenues for further enquiry, hints at what Dialogue Studies might become: a creative multidisciplinary field of study with an intimate relationship to practice.”

The Journal is available online here, along with guidance for contributors. The Journal will be available in print format by the New Year. For further information or to subscribe email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Notes to Editors

The Dialogue Society is a registered charity, established in London in 1999, with the aim of advancing social cohesion by connecting communities, empowering people to engage and contributing to the development of ideas on dialogue and community building. It does this by bringing people together through discussion forums, courses, capacity building publications and outreach. It operates nation-wide with regional branches across the UK. For further information please see www.dialoguesociety.org