History Lab Plus 2023 Early-Career Conference: Making History CALL FOR PAPERS

Call for Papers

History Lab Plus 2023 Early-Career Conference: Making History

Senate House, London

27-28 July 2023

Deadline for submissions: 8 May 2023

Contact email: MakingHistory2023@gmail.com

History Lab+ is a national network, affiliated with the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), that supports early-career historians working within and outside of academia. History Lab+’s committee works with the IHR, learned societies, academics, and professionals across multiple sectors to provide members with tailored support including training and networking opportunities, resources, and a programme of events showcasing recent historical research and projects. On 27 and 28 July of this year we will be hosting our first annual conference.

Ours is a time of challenges. The value of historical caretaking, research, and teaching is increasingly being measured and questioned. Jobs are scarce and too often fixed-term; never has it been more expensive to pay for accommodation and utilities, even to eat. It is surely time to tackle an urgent, complex question head-on: how, where, and why do humans ‘make’ history?

Proposals might address, but are by no means limited to, histories of

• traditional and non-traditional research and learning spaces: libraries and archives; schools, universities, and homes; museums; minds; virtual realities;
• academic disciplines;
• history and History pedagogies;
• the historiographical canon, what and who it excludes;
• how history has been shared or made public;
• the role of history and historians within societies;
• industrial action in the academic, heritage, and publishing sectors;
• health and history-work;
• history making.

We also welcome proposals relating to any historical research that fits one or more of the following criteria:

• applies atypical methods and/or technologies;
• results from collaboration between job sectors or countries;
• is interdisciplinary;
• has attracted new audiences.

Please send either an individual proposal or a proposal for a panel or roundtable to MakingHistory2023@gmail.com by 23:59 on 8 May 2023.

Individual proposals should contain: an abstract (250 words), a short biography (100 words), and, in order of preference, how you are able to present your research (in a 20-minute paper, 10-minute paper, 5-minute lightning talk, or a poster).

Panel or roundtable proposals should contain: a description of the panel or roundtable theme and format (250-words) and, for each speaker, an individual abstract (250 words) and a short biography (100 words).

For either proposal type, please also indicate whether and why you would like to be considered for financial support to attend this conference, should funding become available.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at the same email address.