Call for papers now OPEN for this year’s Uni of Bristol Centre for Medieval Studies PGR conference, the longest running medieval PGR conference in the UK! This year, organisers invite proposals which reflect on the theme(s) of power and/or performance in medieval studies. We have just announced our first keynote Dr Eleanor Janega, and will be announcing the other keynotes shortly!
The conference will take place 30th March — 1st April, and the deadline for the cfp is Friday 9th January at 17:00. Please email cms-conference-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk with any further questions!
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Bristol CMS PGR Conference 2026 Call for Papers:
The University of Bristol Centre for Medieval Studies is delighted to announce its call for papers for our annual medieval PGR conference, which will be held in-person on 30th March – 1st April 2026. This year, we invite proposals for papers and posters which engage with the theme of ‘Power and Performance’. We are especially interested in how people in the Middle Ages perceived, interacted with, and responded to the ideas of power or performance. Consideration of how the two topics intersect with one another is also encouraged.
We welcome papers from postgraduate researchers, Master’s students, early career researchers and independent scholars. Papers will be 20 minutes long, and we warmly welcome poster presentations. Poster proposals and paper abstracts should be sent to cms-conference-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk and should not exceed 300 words. Deadline for abstracts is Friday 9 January at 17:00.
Possible fields and topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Power affecting medieval life (socio-cultural, historic, legal, literary, economic, religious etc.)
- Performance of power (on stage, in visual arts, in literary texts or music, and in material culture at large)
- The substance and significance of performance throughout the medieval world
- Power in history (State, Church, battlefield, etc.)
- Power of history (reception studies, the classical world in medieval thought, medievalism etc.)
- Religious influence(s), church ritual, and devotion
- Medieval law and legal enforcement
- Power relations in literary texts
- Linguistic power and/or performance
- Geographies of power
- Gender and sexuality
- Literal and symbolic power
- Authority and vulnerability
- Disability studies
- Court ritual and behaviour
- Perception and composition of power
- Medievalism and media
- Creation and material studies
