Ada Campagna — Best Student Paper Award
My paper, “Not a Big Deal”: Parental Downplaying in Pediatric Neurology Visits, explores how parental autonomy is exercised in pediatric neurology follow-up visits. I show that parents can present medically relevant information as non-problematic, placing interactional pressure on neurologists to align with that stance. When neurologists recommend a different course of action, they often do so cautiously and with mitigation, highlighting how interactional dynamics can contribute to undertreatment.
My twin brother was the inspiration for this project. He experienced seizures throughout childhood and was officially diagnosed with epilepsy in high school. I watched my mother struggle with a difficult tradeoff: the responsibility to control her son’s seizures while also confronting medication side effects that, to her, made him almost unrecognizable.
Scholars often talk about “lived experience,” but that phrase takes on a very different meaning when you’re trying to keep your 6’4″ brother from injuring himself during a seizure in the back of a car as his face turns gray-blue, or when you’re receiving a panicked phone call from your mother because another change in his seizure medication has triggered a mental health crisis. Those experiences shaped how I understand what parents are grappling with when they walk into pediatric neurology visits.
Receiving the award for best student paper has meant so much to me. I came to UCLA knowing essentially nothing about conversation analysis and started my PhD four months pregnant with my little girl, Rosie. My academic growth has unfolded in parallel with the growth of my family. During the award ceremony, my two-year-old looked up in surprise when my picture appeared on the screen and said, “That’s Mama.” In that moment, I felt pride both as a mother and as an academic. This award honors the curious, ambitious part of myself that strives to learn and produce meaningful work. It gives me reason to feel proud that, despite raising two children, I’m doing what I set out to do and reassures me that I am moving in the right direction.
Marit Nygård Halvorsen — Emanuel A. Schegloff Student Paper Award
In my PhD project, I have examined how routine violence enquiries are accomplished in Norwegian antenatal care. Quite early on, I noticed what seemed to be a three-part structure in how midwives and pregnant women talked about violence: some form of preparation, the enquiry itself, and finally, “getting off” the topic in some way.
It was this “getting off” the topic that became the inspiration of the paper I presented at ICCA. One thing that caught my interest was how midwives would sometimes extend the sequence even after pregnant women had responded with a “non-disclosure”. This led me to focus on third position and, particularly, on the non-minimal post-expansions that followed. I describe these as different ways of “keeping the door open”: accounts, resource offers and re-entry invitations. These practices suggest that completing the question-answer sequence does not necessarily complete the institutional task of asking about violence.
Schegloff’s work has been an important source of inspiration for me since my master’s studies and throughout my PhD. I have found myself returning again and again to his work on sequence organisation, especially his 2007 book. It never fails to surprise me how I seem to notice or understand something new each time I return to it. I think that is part of what I admire so much about his work: the precision and curiosity with which he approaches the seemingly ordinary details of social interaction.
Winning the first Emanuel A. Schegloff Student Paper Award therefore means so much to me, and I still have trouble understanding that I actually won. I look up to and have learned so much from the CA research community, which makes this recognition a huge honour. The award also gave me the opportunity to attend my first ICCA. I am incredibly grateful for all the people I met, the conversations we had, both academic and social, and the inspiring presentations I attended. It has given me an amazing push to finish this thesis!
Mojenn Schubert — Best Dissertation Award
When I submitted my co-authored abstract for ICCA 2026 in mid-2025, I was still finalizing my dissertation on formal variation in pointing gestures. I was intrigued by how subtle differences in a gesture’s appearance can be rooted not only in issues of referential meaning, but also in interactional challenges such as turn-taking, managing expectations and coordinating joint practical tasks. This inspired three exemplary case studies, and I was now in the midst of writing the overarching framing paper that would bind it all together.
So ICCA 2026 still felt far away and distant. This changed as soon as our talk on “recurring incidents in board game interactions” was accepted and I received travel funding – just before my doctoral defence. Suddenly, a trip to charming Canada was within reach!
Then, in May 2026, I received the news that my thesis had won the ISCA Best Dissertation Award, and that simply blew me away. My work actually resonated with researchers across the field, and, even better, it ignited a “spark” in them to think about the very same questions that had captivated me for so long. What better way to build someone’s confidence?
ICCA 2026 itself was a blast.
I found that Edmonton is a city that shines thanks to discoveries made by chance: I enjoyed the tranquility of its suburbs, stumbled upon great jazz street music, and got caught up in the thrill of a baseball game. Similarly, the conference’s appeal came from its core components – workshops, keynotes, panel and poster presentations – just as much as from the room it left for spontaneity. During coffee breaks and work meetings, through joint field trips, and over late-night drinks, the CA community truly “materialized” and became a lived social reality. We all took part in shared and recognizable practices that build a sense of connectedness which could only develop in this face-to-face environment. I’m sure many people will continue to nurture these connections after returning home, even from a distance. And for me, receiving the award amidst the encouraging and supportive atmosphere of the ISCA General Assembly was a really special moment.
After the Conference, I treated myself to a few days in beautiful Banff National Park before returning home to Germany. While I am back to navigating the job market, I now feel more at ease when writing applications for academic positions. The award and the encouragement I received back at ICCA have given me the assurance that I and my thoughts are welcome in this community. And that makes me feel genuinely optimistic for the future.