Economic and Social History Workshop

The Cambridge Economic and Social History Workshop welcomes works on any topic of social and economic history, from ancient times to the twentieth century. Contributions can focus on any geographic region. Methodologies can be both quantitative and qualitative, typical of the field of social and economic history or borrowed from related disciplines. We are keen to host a diverse field of presenters, not limited to those who would normally identify as social or economic historians.

The Workshop provides a friendly, collaborative environment, and is usually also attended by members of the Faculty. It is an ideal occasion to complement input from supervisors with constructive feedback from a wider audience, boosting one’s network as well as their research. The Workshop seeks to particularly support early research efforts by MPhil and PhD students from the University of Cambridge, and we strongly encourage MPhil students to present part of their dissertation in Easter Term. At the same time, presentations given by students from other institutions are more than welcome, and constitute a substantial share of the total every year. All presenters are encouraged to release their work as a working paper in the Cambridge Working Papers in Economic and Social History series.

Sessions are held on Fridays, from 2.00pm to 3.00pm in Room 11 (Faculty of History, Sidgwick Site), starting from October 25th. The Workshop is held in a hybrid format, but in-person participation is highly recommended for both speakers and attendees. Online attendance is possible at this link. Below is our term card for Michaelmas 2024:

Each session can feature either

• two papers. Each speaker is given 20 minutes for presentation, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A from the audience.
• one paper, with the participation of a discussant. Presentations by the speaker and the discussant are allocated 30 and 10 minutes respectively, followed by 20 minutes of Q&A from the audience.

The deadline for applications to present in Michaelmas and Lent Terms was October 18th. For Cambridge students only, we will consider late applications for Lent Term until December 31st. Those interested in presenting in Easter Term can apply by January 31st. Applications should include a CV and an abstract of approximately 500 words. Please indicate preferred dates for presentation in the application, which can be directed to the convenors: Michele Bolla, mb2589@cam.ac.uk; Guillaume Proffit, gpap3@cam.ac.uk.

Some previous term cards from the archive: