2023 ISHS Conference

The 33rd ISHS Conference was held at Boston University from, July 3 to July 7, 2023. You can click on the link below to visit the 2023 Conference website. ISHS offers three types of awards to graduate students planning to present at our annual conferences. You can find information on these awards in the Conference Awards section of this page.

Visit the 2023 Conference Website
International Humor Conferences

From 1976 to 1988, humor scholars met seven times at international conferences to discuss advances in humor research. Since 1989, the International Society for Humor Studies has been the primary sponsor of these conferences with annual meetings alternating between North America and other regions of the world. Since 2002, the Society has recognized each year emerging scholars and/or exceptional graduate students in humor studies with a special plenary session featuring their work.

Cardiff, Wales, 1976
Chairs: Antony Chapman, University of Leeds,
and Hugh Foot, Cardiff University
Los Angeles, CA, 1979
Chairs: Harvey Mindess & Joy Turek, Antioch University
Washington, D.C., 1982
Chairs: Rufus Browning, American Humor Studies Assoc.,
Larry Mintz, University of Maryland
and Herb Cummings, Workshop Library on World Humor
Tel Aviv, Israel, 1984
Chair: Avner Ziv, Tel Aviv University
Cork, Ireland, 1985
Chair: Desmond McHale, University College, Cork
Tempe, Arizona, 1987
Chairs: Don & Alleen Nilsen, Arizona State Univ.
West Lafayette, Indiana, 1988
Chair: Victor Raskin, Purdue University
Laie, Hawaii, 1989
Chairs: Margaret Baker & Jesse Crisler,
Brigham Young University–Hawaii
Sheffield, England, 1990
Chair: Mark Glazer, University of Sheffield
Saint Catharines, Canada, 1991
Chair: Ann-Marie Guilmette, Brock University
Paris, France, 1992
Co-Chairs: Judith Stora-Sandor & Nelly Feuerhahn, Univ. of Paris
Luxembourg, 1993
Chair: Larry Sherman, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
Ithaca, New York, 1994
Chair: Mary Ann Rishel, Ithaca College
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Birmingham, England, 1995
Chair: George Paton, Aston University
Sydney, Australia, 1996
Co-Chairs: Jessica Milner Davis & John McCallum,
View the 1996 Program
Edmond, Oklahoma, 1997
Chair: Amy Carrell, University of Central Oklahoma
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Bergen, Norway, 1998
Chair: Sven Svebak, Norwegian University of Science & Technology
View the 1998 Program
Oakland, California, 1999
Chair: Martin Lampert, Holy Names College
Visit the 1999 Website
View Abstracts (Password Required)
Osaka, Japan, 2000
Co-Chairs: Hiroshi Inoue, Kansai Univ. & Goh Abe, Tokushima Bunri Univ.
Visit the 2000 Conference Website
College Park, Maryland, 2001
Chair: Larry Mintz, University of Maryland
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Forli, Italy, 2002
Chair: Delia Chiaro, University of Bologna
Chicago, Illinois, 2003
Co-Chairs: Judith Kaplan-Weinger & Richard Hallett, Northeastern Illinois Univ.
Dijon, France, 2004
Chair: Lorene Birden, University of Bourgogne
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Youngstown, Ohio, 2005
Chair: Salvatore Attardo, Youngstown State Univ.
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006
Chair: Martin Führ, Danish Univ. of Education
Newport, Rhode Island, 2007
Chair: Margaret Mathias, Salve Regina University
View the 2007 Program
Alcalá de Henares, Spain, 2008
Chair and Co-Chairs: Juan Garcia Cerrada, Carmen Valero-Garces,
and Begona Carbelo Baquero, University of Alcalá
Long Beach, California, 2009
Chair: Amy Bippus, California State University, Long Beach
View Abstract Book (Password Required)
Hong Kong, June 24-27, 2010
 Chair: Xiaodong Yue, City University of Hong Kong
Boston, Massachusetts, July 5-9, 2011
Chair: Patrice Oppliger, Boston University
Kraków, Poland, June 25-29, 2012
Chair: Wladyslaw Chlopicki, Jagiellonian University
Visit the 2012 Conference Registration Website
Williamsburg, Virginia, July 2-6, 2013
Chair: Larry Ventis, College of William and Mary
Visit the 2013 Conference Registration Website
Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 7-11, 2014
Chair: Sibe Doosje, University of Utrecht
Oakland, California, June 29-July 3, 2015
Chair: Martin Lampert, Holy Names University
Visit the 2015 Conference Registration Website
View Abstracts (Password Required)
Dublin, Ireland, June 27-July 1, 2016
Chair: Eric Weitz, Trinity College
Montreal, Canada, July 10-July 14, 2017
Chair: Jean-Marie Lafortune, University of Quebec at Montreal
Visit the 2017 Conference Registration Website
Tallinn, Estonia, June 25-June 29, 2018
Chair: Liisi Laineste, Estonian Literary Museum
Visit the 2018 Conference Registration Website
Austin, Texas, June 24-June 29, 2019
Co-Chairs: Kiki Hempelmann, Salvatore Attardo,
Elisa Gironzetti, and Dale Koike
ISHS Webinar Series, April-June, 2021
Martin Lampert, ISHS Executive Secretary
Visit the 2021 ISHS Webinar Page
Bertinoro/Forli, Italy, June 27-July 2, 2022
Chair: Delia Chiaro, University of Bologna
Visit the 2022 Conference Website
Boston, Massachusetts, July 3-July 7, 2023
Chair: Patrice Oppliger, Boston University
Visit the 2023 Conference Website
View Abstracts (Password Required)
2024 To Be Announced
Proposals for the 2024 ISHS Conference are under consideration.

Conference Awards
The International Socety for Humor Studies confers conference awards to outstanding graduate students and to more advanced scholars doing notable research in humor studies. Our Graduate Student Awards, which include the Don and Alleen Nilsen Young Scholar Award (DANYS) and the Christie Davies Award (CDA), recognize exemplary graduate student work presented at ISHS Conferences. The Society's Working Rules on Awards provide the nomination guidelines for Graduate Student and Scholarly Contribution Awards. The Guidelines for Student Awards provide the current procedures for all student award categories.

Forli, Italy, 2002
Jodi Nelms Eisterhold, Applied Linguistics, Georgia State University
Martin Führ, Educational Psychology, Danish University of Education
Giselinde Kuipers, Arts and Culture, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Birgit Rissland, University of Lueneburg, Germany
Chicago, Illinois, 2003
Elisa Everts,Georgetown University
Christian Hempelmann , University of Memphis
Stephen Kercher, History, Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Dijon, France, 2004
Rachele Antonini, Tranlation and Languages, University of Bologna
Sharon Lockyer, Media Studies, De Montfort University
David O'Mara, Applied Computing, University of Dundee
Julia Taylor, Mason, Ohio, USA
Youngstown, Ohio, 2005
Dorota Brzozowska, Polish Philology, University of Opolski
Béatrice Priego-Valverde, Linguistics, Université de Provence
Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006
Chiara Bucaria,Translation, University of Bologna
Andrea Samson , Psychology, University of Fribourg
Katrina Triezenberg, Linguistics, Purdue University
Newport, Rhode Island, 2007
Gil Greengross, Anthropology, University of New Mexico
Julia Hans, English, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Ryota Nomura, Educational Psychology, Kyushu University
Alcalá, Spain, 2008
GSAs were not awarded in 2008. However, the Society presented certificates of merit to: Liisi Laneste (Folklore, Estonian Literary Museum), Maren Rawling (Psychology, Swinburne University), and Andrea Samson (Psychology, University of Fribourg).
Long Beach, California, 2009
Ursula Beermann, Psychology, University of Zurich
Cornelia Cody, American Studies, University of Maryland
Debbie Iancu-Haddad, Anthropology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Hong Kong, China, 2010
Clare Watters, Italian Studies, University of Birmingham
Till Weingaertner, Japanology, Freie University, Berlin
Boston, Massachusetts, 2011
Audrey Adams, Linguistics, Texas A & M University, Commerce
Tracy Platt, Psychology, University of Zurich
Krakow, Poland, 2012
Lillian Boxman, Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University, Jerusalem (DANYS Recipient)
Rebecca Higgie, Communication and Cultural Studies, Curtin University, Australia
Seyed Mahmood Farjami, Communication and Journalism, University of Science, Malaysia
Kim Edwards, Clinical Psychology, University of Western Ontario
Williamsburg, Virginia, 2013
Chelsae Hay, English, Tareleton State University, Texas, USA (DANYS Recipient)
Sara Caird , Clinical Psychology, University of Western Ontario
Anna Cairns, English, Oxford University
Utrecht, Netherlands, 2014
Jennifer Hofmann, Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland (DANYS Recipient)
Sarah Seewoester Cain, Linguistics, Rice University, Texas, USA
Tristan Miller, Computer Science, Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany
Dick Zijp, Art Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Oakland, California, 2015
Alan Roberts, Philosophy, University of Sussex, United Kingdom (DANYS Recipient)
Ori Amir, Psychology, University of Southern California, USA
Stephen Skalicky, Applied Linguistics, Georgia State University, USA
Dublin, Ireland, 2016
Sonja Heintz, Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland (DANYS Recipient)
Kate Fox, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Elisa Gironzetti, Linguistics and Languages, Texas A & M University - Commerce, USA
Montreal, Quebec, 2017
Ying Cao, Western Sydney University, Australia (DANYS Recipient)
Shuming Bai, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Antony Mitzel, University College London, United Kingdom
Tallinn, Estonia, 2018
Adam Levinson, Yale University, Connecticut, USA (DANYS Recipient)
Joonas Koivukoski, University of Helsinki, Finland
Gabriella Valentino, Swansea University, United Kingdom
Austin, Texas, 2019
Anastasiya Fiadotava, Belarusian Stat University, Belarus (DANYS Recipient)
Mitchel Ingram, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Melisa Redondo, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Paul Butterfield, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA (CDA Recipient)
Bertinoro, Italy, 2022
Guillem Castañar, University of Barcelona, Spain (DANYS Recipient)
Nikita Lobanov, University of Bologna, Italy
Katerina Zacharopolou, University College London, United Kingdom
Dick Zijp, Utrecht University, Netherlands (CDA Recipient)
Boston, Massachusetts, 2023
Alexander Sparrow, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (DANYS Recipient)
Diego Hoefel, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
Florence Madenga, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Adam Levinson, Yale University, Connecticut, USA (CDA Recipient)