MEMRN Winter Conference 2026: Otherworlds

The MEMRN Committee Winter Conference event is returning for a third year.

Broadly conceived, the theme invites participants to consider the creation of literary & artistic otherworlds, abstract otherworld journeys, or mythical, spiritual and social otherworlds. We encourage practice and industry-based researchers to consider historic buildings, museums, and modern media forms such as period television, film, historical fiction writing, theatrical performance and videogames as windows into the ‘Other’ worlds of the past. Narratives of travel, conflict, colonisation and encounter can be explored as the intersection of ‘Other’ worlds colliding. We look forward to seeing how our brilliant community responds to this invitation and interprets the theme within the context of their own research projects. 

We welcome papers on a range of topics within medieval and early modern studies for this interdisciplinary conference, including:

  • History and politics 
  • Philosophy and theology 
  • Literature, drama, performance culture and music 
  • Latin and vernacular languages 
  • Art history, architecture and archaeology 
  • Manuscript studies and book history 
  • Museum & heritage studies
  • MEMs in the modern world

We invite abstracts of up to 300 words for individual research papers of twenty minutes in length (or 700 words for a panel of three people presenting on a particular subject or sub-theme). 

The MEMRN conference, kindly sponsored by the CHASE doctoral training partnership (AHRC), is open to all UK and overseas postgraduates, professionals & practitioners. This includes independent researchers who are unaffiliated at this time.

To submit your abstract: email your submission to chasememrn@gmail.com, with your name & ‘Conference Paper Submission’ in the subject line.

When submitting your abstract, please indicate whether you plan to present in-person or remotely; include your institution (if applicable) and, if from a CHASE-affiliated university institution, whether or not you are directly funded by CHASE.

Deadline for submissions: Midnight on Friday 25th September