Discussion, conversation and thoughtful debate are central to historical research practice and fuel the liveliness of our field.
After the success of last year’s workshop scheme, the Editors of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society are now launching the 2023 call. They seek proposals for one-day workshops in which participants engage with a historical, methodological, or pedagogical problem with the intention of publishing the outcomes in the journal.
About the Workshop Open Call
To support this, the Society will fund four academic workshops — to the sum of up to £1000 per event — to bring together scholars to facilitate debate, and lead to publication of proceedings as article/s in a future issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. This call is open and not restricted by historical subject or approach.
By offering up to £1000 per workshop, the journal’s Editors — Harshan Kumarasingham and Kate Smith — seek to support colleagues in developing ideas for a discussion, review, or roundtable piece, which will then be submitted to the journal.
In terms of submission this could take the form of a single article-length piece or shorter contributions from a limited number of participants. It would also be possible to propose a ‘mini special issue’ with up to four article-length pieces. The structure of the submission, and how it can include contributions from several different authors, is open for discussion and development and should be addressed in the proposal.
Workshops funded by the scheme will need to take place by 31 December 2023, with resulting content submitted to the journal at a time agreed with the Editors.
Points to consider when submitting your Workshop proposal
The Editors encourage submissions from scholars at all stages of their career, including the early stages, and reflective of the full diversity of colleagues working in the discipline.
They particularly welcome proposals for workshops that will bring together scholars at different stages of their careers. Also welcome are proposals that connect historians working in professional sectors alongside Higher Education: for example, heritage, archives, broadcasting, public and community history, or curation.
The Editors likewise seek a wide range of formats for published content. This breadth of options reflects a move at Transactions to more innovative forms of publishing (which go beyond the traditional article format) and so best communicate a topic. In line with this Workshop call, the Editors are keen to highlight new research, methodologies, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and historical practice both in higher education and related sectors.
Applications are invited from groups of scholars and practitioners currently working either in the UK and/or overseas.
Funding is intended to cover the costs of running a one-day workshop: for example, publicity, venue hire and catering, technical support, travel and accommodation for those taking part to meet in-person. For workshops where travel is impractical, selected participants may of course attend online to foster the best possible discussion. Where convenient, the Royal Historical Society’s offices at University College London may also be used to host a workshop.
Workshop organisers are free to choose if their event is open for public attendance, or restricted to the participants discussing the chosen topic. However, funding from the Royal Historical Society will only be for the bringing together of participants, rather than supporting audience attendance.
How to apply
If you have an idea for a workshop and would like to submit a proposal, please provide a 750-1,000 word statement. This should outline:
- the academic focus of the workshop and the historical subject / methodology under discussion
- the purpose and proposed outcome from the workshop in terms of published content in Transactions
- costings for holding a one-day event
- the lead organiser(s) and proposed participants who would be involved in the workshop
- the proposed date of the workshop
- the proposed date for submission to the journal
Proposals should be submitted via the Society’s online application system by the deadline of 23:59 on Friday 5 May 2023.
Decisions will be communicated to applicants by Friday 2 June 2023.
Recipients of the 2022 Transactions Workshops Grants
The following four projects were awarded funding in the first round of Workshops:
- ‘Transnational Activism in a Divided World: the Regional within the Global’ — lead organisers: Daniel Laqua (Northumbria) and Thomas Davies (City, University of London)
- ‘The Future of Our Past: Where is Environmental History Heading?’ — lead organiser: Alexander Hibberts (Durham)
- ’80 Years of the Bengal Famine (1943): Decolonial Dialogues from the Global South’ — lead organisers: Priyanka Basu and Ananya Jahanara Kabir (King’s College London)
- ‘Parliamentary Culture in Colonial Contexts, c.1500–c.1700’ — lead organisers: Paul Seaward (History of Parliament Trust), Pauline Kewes (Oxford) and Jim Van der Meulen (Ghent)