Call for Papers: BAA at the 2027 International Medieval Congress, deadline 21 September 2026

The British Archaeological Association invites paper proposals for potential BAA-sponsored sessions at the 2027 International Medieval Congress (IMC), taking place at the University of Leeds from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 July 2027.

The International Medieval Congress is one of the world’s largest gatherings of medievalists, bringing together scholars from across disciplines and geographical areas. The special thematic focus for 2027 is ‘Communities’.

IMC 2027: Communities

Communities can be formed around ethnic, linguistic, social, political, professional, spatial and religious identities, with individuals often belonging to multiple and overlapping groups. The 2027 thematic strand asks how communities emerged, defined themselves and were maintained; how collective identities were expressed and remembered; and how communities interacted, overlapped or came into conflict.

For scholars of medieval art, architecture, archaeology and material culture, the theme opens up a particularly broad range of possibilities. Papers might consider, for example:

• the material and visual expression of communal identities;
• religious, monastic, ecclesiastical and parish communities;
• communities of artists, craftspeople and makers;
• spaces and buildings created for communal life;
• communities of knowledge and practice;
• commemoration, memory and collective identity;
• inclusion, exclusion and belonging;
• ritual, liturgy and performance;
• travelling or migrating communities;
• relationships between individuals, objects and communities;
• the role of art, architecture and material culture in creating, maintaining or challenging communities.

These suggestions are not exhaustive, and we welcome proposals approaching the theme from different methodological, geographical and chronological perspectives within the BAA’s areas of interest.

BAA-sponsored sessions

The BAA hopes to organise several sessions at IMC 2027, with successful proposals grouped into coherent panels according to their subject matter or methodological approach.

Proposals should include:

• Paper title
• Name and affiliation (if applicable)
• Contact details
• Short abstract of 50–100 words

Please send proposals to comms@thebaa.org by Monday 21 September 2026.

Prospective participants should familiarise themselves with the IMC’s conference fees and bursary arrangements before submitting a proposal.

The wider IMC welcomes proposals across all areas of Medieval Studies and in all major languages. Further information about the Congress and its 2027 theme is available on the IMC 2027 website.