More than 150 delegates from six continents gathered at the University of Winchester for a major international history conference.
The University hosted “Britain and the World 2024” (20-22 June) an annual global gathering for scholars working on Britain’s international connections.
Historians from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania attended the three-day event. Britain and the World is an organisation dedicated to exploring Britain's interactions with the world from the sixteenth century to today. The organisation relies on the expertise of individuals from around the world who share a common interest in Britain, its history, and its interactions with the wider world.
Dr Xavier Guégan, Senior Lecturer in Colonial and Postcolonial History at the University of Winchester, co-led the organisation of the conference, which had been two years in the planning and whose packed programme featured 43 speaker panels.
Keynote speakers at the event included Professor Lucy Noakes, President-Elect of the Royal Historical Society, of the University of Essex, who spoke about Britain’s mass observation programme at the end of the Second World War, and Professor Anthony Bale, from Birkbeck University, whose lecture was entitled “The British Traveller Abroad: The Genesis of an Identity”.
For the first time event also included medieval history and Dr Katherine Weikert, Senior Lecturer in Early Medieval European History from the University of Winchester chaired a session called “Lives and Afterlives of King Alfred: Medieval and Modern Models”.
Bringing things right up to date, there were round table discussions on the forthcoming UK, US and French elections, and the current state of publishing in the field of history.
On the eve of the conference there was an icebreaker event at the St James Tavern and after the first day of the conference, delegates were invited to a reception at the Gurkha Museum (pictured). On the second night, historians attended the conference dinner held in the Shakespeare Room at the University’s Business School.
Following the final session on Saturday afternoon more than 50 stayed on to enjoy a guided historical tour of Winchester conducted by Xavier.
“This was a very prestigious event for Winchester. We are the smallest institution to have hosted this conference,” said Dr Guégan.
Praise from the event from attendees included:
“Definitely one of the most friendly conferences I've been to.”
“I enjoyed many of the papers more than I expected to. I think my main takeaway from the conference is that these kinds of events don't have to be austere or overly serious, I was so impressed by the opportunities we had to socialise and meet new people.”
“The conference was excellent - very enjoyable from start to end. I have never had so many kind and affirming comments from attendees as I received for my two presentations here, which is very flattering. It has such a positive community feel to it…”
Dr Guégan praised the work of the University’s conference team led by Gemma Wheeler and thanked History PhD students Jorgia Vilarrubi and Patricia Silver-Warner for their assistance throughout the event.
Britain and the World is an organisation dedicated to exploring Britain's interactions with the world through history. In addition to holding an annual conference it publishes a journal and books series.
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