STAAR 12: Call for Papers
Even though the call for abstracts has closed, we are still accepting drafts of your academic submissions—either articles or subject reviews—until the 5th of July.
Drafts should be up to 5000 words. If you wish to submit a longer piece, please reach out to the editorial board 📚
We also welcome creative writing, translations, opinion pieces, and SPARK reviews on a rolling basis.
Send your drafts to [email protected].
We look forward to your contributions! If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch ✍️
Drafts should be up to 5000 words. If you wish to submit a longer piece, please reach out to the editorial board 📚
We also welcome creative writing, translations, opinion pieces, and SPARK reviews on a rolling basis.
- Opinion Piece: Share your reflections on a specific issue or current event in a thought-provoking article.
- Creative Writing and Translation: Submit a poem, short story, short dramatic piece, or an original translation.
- SPARK Reviews: Write a comparative review featuring a recently published or produced book, film, or theatre production, alongside another work from a different timeframe.
Send your drafts to [email protected].
We look forward to your contributions! If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch ✍️
Volume 11 now availableRESEARCH PAPERS | SPARK REVIEWS
CREATIVE WRITING 
We are thrilled to announce the publication of STAAR Volume 11, a collection of academic manuscripts, cultural reviews, and creative pieces written and crafted by members of St Anne's College, Oxford. Print copies can be purchased for £10 apiece.
Firework Competition 2021 results announcedThe votes are in, and we have our Firework winners for the 2020-21 academic year!
First prize goes to Augusta Nannerini for "Bullshit Jobs: A Review," a piece examining David Graeber's 2018 book on Western conceptions of work through the lens of the Covid-19 pandemic. Julia Merican takes second with "Cosmopolitan Reveries: Elegy, Epicurianism, and Exclusion in Zweig's The World of Yesterday," which explores a twentieth-century memoir in light of present-day developments. Both reviewers have been awarded a small cash prize by the St Anne's College MCR in recognition of their stand-out work.
All Spark Reviews published in Vol. 11 of STAAR, whether online or in print, were automatically entered as candidates in the 2021 Firework Competition. Winners were selected by journal staff who were not involved in editing the relevant reviews. You can read all Spark Reviews included in STAAR's latest issue, including Augusta Nannerini and Julia Merican's winning contributions, online now. STAAR captured in filmHow do you write for STAAR? What goes on behind the scenes of an academic journal? Watch our short promotional film for Volume 11 to find out more about STAAR and the writing and editorial processes.
Fresh Academic Voices podcast seriesA series of conversations with five of the academic writers in Volume 11, to demystify some of the world-class research conducted by graduates at St Anne's College, Oxford. We join forces with St Anne's MCR Podcast (STAMP) to give you special insight on a range of topics – from human emotions and genetics, to Medieval French literature and the varieties of Spanish being spoken across the world.
Browse the STAAR Archives |
New articlesRESEARCH PAPER
Experiencing Time with Trees and Swans: Understanding Climate Change through Two Contemporary NovelsCharlotte Fraser, School of Geography and the Environment
'Contemporary literature can help to foster alternative conceptualisations of the environment. [...] the humanities play a particular role in this process, for they ‘frequently pose normative questions that, rather than being resolved, can only be better or more deeply understood’. This results in the generation of introspective ‘self-knowledge’ which in turn can motivate climate action.'
RESEARCH PAPER
Viral-Mediated Gene Therapies for Paediatric Neurological DiseasesTheodora Markati, Department of Paediatrics
'Several therapeutic approaches using viruses as delivery platforms are emerging for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system. Gene therapy bears promise for the treatment of several paediatric neurological conditions, especially those associated with a single gene. [...] Viruses as vectors aim to deliver therapeutic protein coding sequences, small RNAs, or tools of genome engineering in the non-dividing cells of the central nervous system.'
SPARK REVIEW
Football by the Numbers: How Liverpool's Data-Based Approach is Changing the GameYin Cong Zhi, DPhil candidate in Machine Learning
'Many have argued that the managerial appointment of Jurgen Klopp was the key to Liverpool’s recent success. Yet, it may surprise readers to know that this appointment was not owed to Klopp’s reputation, but rested on match statistics modelled by Liverpool’s data team.'
Volume 10 | October 2020 |
