FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who do I contact about...?

A: If you want general information, or are a member of the press, you should contact the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff.  If you have a specific question, or if you are unsure who to email, please contact Chairperson Melissa Beattie.  We do ask that you read fully this FAQ before sending your enquiry.

I've heard you're fundraising and that the conference isn't free. Where do the profits go?

A: Academic conferences rarely have profits; most of them operate at a loss. Whatever money we raise will go toward conference expenses (e.g., catering lunches, printing costs, etc). In the unlikely event that we do make more money than we can spend, we're looking into charities to whom we can donate.


You can find out more about our fundraising events elsewhere on the site. If you have an idea, or would like to help in some way, please feel free to contact us.

Will [Insert Name of Attractive/Brilliant/Godlike Person Here] be at the conference?

A: We are fans enough to hope, but have enough experience to be practical. Sci-Fi Cons can afford things like speakers' fees for various high-profile people, off-setting the cost with large ticket sales or through other means. As an academic conference, we just can't afford to do that. We can pay expenses for speakers, and we would dearly love to have an industrial panel or two in addition to our other discussion panels, but the only people we can guarantee (subject to work commitments) are those announced here.

Are you in contact with the BBC/Production Team?

A: Efforts continue, but nothing official as yet. Do feel free to mention the conference, should you bump into anyone! ;)

What are the main differences between a sci-fi Con and an academic conference on a sci-fi series?

As mentioned above, we're a lot smaller and run on more of a shoestring. Instead of only Q&A panels, a conference will feature paper presentations by scholars on a variety of topics, as well as posters being displayed. Many conferences, ours included, do have discussion panels which function in a similar manner to Q&A panels. Conferences on media will also frequently have industrial panels, which are discussion panels made up of people working in media (in this case, people who are working or have worked on any of the shows), regardless of academic background.

Other than that, they are quite similar. Both often have parties or discos in the evening, both feature a lot of networking and discussion (often over pints...)