As part of the ANZAMEMS Postgraduate/ECR Travel Bursary Funding for 2015, bursary recipients are required to submit a brief report about the recent 10th ANZAMEMS Conference and PATS at The University of Queensland in July 2015. Over the next few months these reports will be posted to the newsletter as part of the ANZAMEMS member news section. First up are Julie Anne Davis (University of Melbourne) and Julie Robarts (University of Melbourne). Thanks to you both.

Julie Anne Davis, Doctoral Candidate, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne

The biennial ANZAMEMS Conference is, to me, one of the most significant conference events in our field. I believe that having the opportunity to talk with a variety of specialists from around the world is very important for emerging scholars, as is meeting other postgraduate students from other universities. Every two years ANZAMEMS provides the opportunity for friendships to be forged and renewed and a forum in which new research can be both tested and absorbed. I was particularly pleased this year to meet several of the Queensland based scholars who I have, as yet, not been fortunate enough to encounter in person though I have been engaging with their work for several years.

I also appreciate the collegial environment fostered by ANZAMEMS that promotes, for by far the most part, constructive and supportive feedback that encourages both speakers and listeners to continue to develop and improve their work. Observing the discussion about other people’s work, even when not directly related to my own, is something that I find is always valuable, encouraging me to find new angles from which to explore and assess my own work. I feel that I learnt a lot over the course of this conference not only from the discussion of my own work, but also from the exposure to a variety of other fields, methodologies and approaches.

Given the importance of this event I do have some concerns that it is becoming more difficult for postgraduate students to attend. The student rate for ANZAMEMS is now significantly more for postgraduate registration than other similar conferences including AHA and ANZASA. I would like to thank the Committee for offering the bursaries which I am sure helped make all the difference for many of the recipients. I would, however, also like to ask the Committee to please consider revisiting the subsidisation of the postgraduate rate to ensure that the student discount is making a genuine difference and not being cancelled out by rate exclusions so that as many emerging scholars as possible can continue to benefit from this wonderful event.

Julie Robarts, Doctoral Candidate, Italian Studies, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne

Thanks to the bursary granted by the ANZAMEMS committee I was delighted to be able to attend the Tenth Biennial International Conference at the University of Queensland between 14-18 July, 2015, and the PATS on the Monday following. It was a great pleasure to meet scholars and postgraduate ANZAMEMS members that I have not seen since Tasmania 2008, while working on my MA. Presenting a portion of my PhD research on the first day of the conference was a new and welcome experience, and meant I was free to engage fully in the intellectual stimulation of sessions and keynotes, and opportunities for socialising offered by the meal breaks. The excellent time-keeping of those chairing panels made it easy to make the conference one’s own, for those who choose to panel hop. I am grateful too, for receiving a ticket to the magnificent conference dinner, in the magnificent Customs House. At the PATS on Monday the 20th, post-graduates benefited from the generosity of our three conference keynote speakers, Prof. Alexandra Walsham (University of Cambridge), Prof. Laura Knoppers (University of Notre Dame), Prof. Jesse Anne Owens (University of California, Davis), and CHE UQ visitor Prof. Graeme Boone (Ohio State University) as they engaged with each of the eighteen attendees about our research, and shared their insights on methodologies to inform and challenge our work. Dr Dolly MacKinnon and the UQ organising committee were an inspiration throughout the week, modelling the energy, warmth and hospitality that inform the emotional bonds of the ANZAMEMS community.