IMEMS Durham

22/06/2026

It was a privilege to welcome Anna Nsubuga, the UK Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, to IMEMS this morning, and to have her share some of her experiences in heritage and government with members of our community of academics, fellows, students and professionals.🌍

Anna will be delivering the inaugural annual lecture for Durham University's new Centre for Heritage (CHeri) this evening, titled 'World Heritage: When the vision meets reality. A Permanent Delegate's Perspective’.

Read more about Anna's work here: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/anna-nsubuga

19/06/2026

🎉 A new publication from the IMEMS Press with Boydell & Brewer is on the way! Elise Watson's 'Print and Catholic Persistence in the Dutch Golden Age' is released on June 30 and is available for pre-order here: https://boydellandbrewer.com/book/print-and-catholic-persistence-in-the-dutch-golden-age-9781914967252/?v=7885444af42e

16/06/2026

📸 Last week's British Academy and Wellcome-funded conference, 'Daphne and her Sisters: Framing gendered violence in Early Modern literature and art', brought together a global community of scholars to explore gendered violence, the purposes portrayals served in their historical contexts, and the implications of studying them today.

We look forward to seeing where the group's discussions around the enduring power and complexity of early modern representations of gender will lead. 📚🖌️

Find out more about our 'Daphne and Her Sisters: Framing Gendered Violence' project: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medieval-early-modern-studies/research/inventing-futures/daphne-and-her-sisters-framing-gendered-violence/

11/06/2026

Today, the is on Dr Erin Maglaque!

📖 Find out more about 'Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body' here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/465296/presence-by-maglaque-erin/9781787335356

Erin Maglaque is a writer and an early modern historian at Durham University. Her latest book is 'Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body', out later this month with Penguin . Erin’s research focuses on the history of gender, the body, and sexuality in early modern Europe, with a particular focus on Italy. Her first book, 'Venice’s Intimate Empire', was published by Cornell University Press in 2018. Her most recent scholarship has focused on the history of foundlings and care work in Catholic Reformation Europe.

Erin also writes for public-facing outlets, including the London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books , and The New York Times Book Review.

10/06/2026

📅It's the first day of our British Academy and Wellcome-funded conference 'Daphne and her Sisters: Framing Gendered Violence in Early Modern Literature and Art', part of the IMEMS Inventing Futures project of the same name.

📲Follow along on our platforms to learn more about the panels and speakers:
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/imems.bsky.social
X: https://x.com/IMEMSDurham
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-medieval-and-early-modern-studies/

Read more about the project here: https://durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medieval-early-modern-studies/research/inventing-futures/daphne-and-her-sisters-framing-gendered-violence/

02/06/2026

Today, we’re celebrating the news that two of our members, Professor John O’Brien and Professor Marc Schachter, have been awarded an Amy Wygant Bursary by the Society for Early Modern French Studies (SEMFS).

The bursary will support the publication, by the Durham University IMEMS Press, of their forthcoming edition entitled 'The Right to Resist: La Boétie’s "Of Voluntary Servitude" and Three Monarchomach Treatises'.

Find out more about the Durham University IMEMS Press here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medieval-early-modern-studies/publish-with-us/

Read about the SEMFS: https://www.semfs.org.uk/

Society for Early Modern French Studies The Society for Early Modern French Studies brings together scholars and specialists with a particular interest in France in the early modern period, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It is interdisciplinary in scope, covering literature, history...

28/05/2026

Warmest congratulations to IMEMS member Dr Lorenzo Dell'Oso (Durham Modern Languages and Cultures), who has been awarded the Pontremoli “Pier delle Vigne” Prize for Medieval Studies in the Young Scholars Category for his book 'Il poeta alle "scuole delli religiosi": Dante, Pietro delle Travi e il convento di Santa Croce (1294–1296)' (Carocci editore, 2026). 🎉

The volume provides privileged access to the intellectual world of the late Middle Ages, revealing a Dante capable not only of listening to and assimilating the thought of his time, but also of transforming it. Read more about Lorenzo's research here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/lorenzo-delloso/

19/05/2026

📢 Job Opportunity at Durham University

Bridging Fellow in Early Modern Italian Studies: https://durham.taleo.net/careersection/du_ext/jobdetail.ftl?job=26000582&lang=en

The Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies seeks to appoint a talented researcher and scholar to the role of Bridging Fellow in the Inventing Futures research programme. The Bridging Fellow will benefit from tailored support to strengthen their skills, will be provided with a range of academic opportunities, and will benefit from protected time to foster different aspects of their careers. We welcome applications from those with research interests in the broad field of early modern Italian studies.

Read more about Inventing Futures: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medieval-early-modern-studies/research/

Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

13/05/2026

📍This week, the team working on our Inventing Futures project 'Imagining Alternatives: Utopia in the World' have been on the road...

On Monday, Professor Richard Scholar, Dr Robert Twiss and Dr Laura Mattioli attended a conference at the Maison Française d'Oxford, 'Utopianism & Early Modern Scientific Collaboration'.

Tuesday saw the team participate in a workshop entitled 'Technologies of Wonder: Imagination and the History of Knowledge' at Queen Mary University of London, where they were joined in a panel discussion by Professor David Colclough.

Read more about 'Imagining Alternatives: Utopia in the World', generously supported by Joanna and Graham Barker, here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medieval-early-modern-studies/research/inventing-futures/imagining-alternatives-utopia-in-the-world/

07/05/2026

UPCOMING CONFERENCE: 'Daphne and Her Sisters: Framing Gendered Violence in Early Modern Literature and Art' | Durham University| 10-11 June 2026 📅

📲 Register now: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/british-academy-conferences/daphne-and-her-sisters-gendered-violence-early-modern-literature/

'Daphne and her Sisters’ investigates how gendered violence is represented in 15th- and 16th-century European literature and art. While these works are often critiqued for privileging male voices and perpetuating a male gaze that objectifies women, early modern texts and images continue to captivate global libraries, galleries, and audiences, with scholarly and public debate enhancing their cultural significance.

This conference brings together scholars to explore how these works portray gendered violence, the purposes these portrayals served in their historical contexts, and the implications of studying them today. Speakers examine specific texts and artworks, reflecting on the insights they offer and the ethical considerations they raise, fostering critical discussion about the enduring power and complexity of early modern representations of gender