Conference | PhD Workshop
Materiality and Historical Research
- Date
- Wednesday 29 April 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden - Room
- Conference Room (2.60)
We are pleased to inform you that the Leiden University Greek and Roman History Research Team will host a PhD workshop on Wednesday 29 April, reflecting on the topic of materiality and its presence in historical research.
The workshop will consist of short (15-minute) presentations by PhD-candidates on a single object, or group of objects, that can demonstrate the importance of materiality in historical research. This can include clothing, jewellery, documents, paintings, etc. We encourage presenters to speak about material from a range of historical periods and historical themes (e.g. religion, imperialism, gender), and we invite presentations from researchers from all methodological backgrounds. Presenters and attendants are invited to contribute to discussions around the importance of materiality and human sensory engagement with objects in the research of their historical themes, and what engagement with materiality might reveal about their chosen subject in ways other approaches might not.
We intend for this to be a low-stakes environment where PhD-candidates can present their research and gain feedback from their peers.
Submissions should take the form of an abstract of 100-150 words, submitted to Cameron Heagney (cjh546@student.bham.ac.uk) or Geert Ham (g.a.ham@hum.leidenuniv.nl) by Wednesday 8 April 2025, 17:00. We will confirm your participation by Tuesday 14 April, 17:00.
Those interested in only attending are also welcome; we request that you inform us via the same email addresses by Tuesday 28 April at the latest.