A one-day colloquium for PhD, MA and undergraduate students of Leeds Trinity University, Bishop Grosseteste University and Newman University

Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, Leeds Trinity University

Friday 13 May 2016

Keynote speaker: Dr Trev Broughton, University of York

It had altered already, and would alter more. Its gold would wither into grey. Its red and white roses would die. For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness. But he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience.[1]

Alas, in Oscar Wilde’s iconic novel neither Dorian Gray remained true to his word nor his representation remained changeless, which brings us to the theme of our colloquium, Victorian Representations. The Victorians were inaugurators of, as well as witnesses to, a plethora of representations, rendered through a vast and proliferating array of mediums and technologies, and ranging from introverted reflection to trans-cultural infatuations. So too do we ourselves experiment with diverse ways of representing and investigating the Victorian past. Exploring the period through its representation, whether contemporaneous or contemporary, thus provides a fertile arena for research and debate in Victorian studies.

Accordingly, we would like to invite paper proposals or poster presentations on the broad topic of ‘Victorian representations’ for a forthcoming colloquium at Leeds Trinity University, home of the Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies. The event is ideal for PGR and MA students, as well as final year undergraduates thinking about pursuing further study at a CREST institution, so we would particularly welcome abstracts, and/or expressions of interest in attending, from students who fit these criteria.

Twenty-minute papers on the theme of the colloquium are invited, which may be based around, but not limited to, one or more of the following areas:

* Representations of/in Literature and art

* Material culture representations

* Representations of the body/medicine

* Representations of science

* Representations of work, gender, and identity

* Representations of empire/the imperial world

* Representations of the Victorians overseas

* Representations of history/representing the Victorian past

* Representations of the environment

* Victorian representations of themselves

* Victorian representations of Europe

* Representations of/in education

* Contemporary representations of the Victorians

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words, and/or expressions of interest in attendance, to Victorianrepresentations@gmail.com by 1 March 2016.

This promises to be an exciting event: alongside panels and poster presentations, there will also be a keynote talk by Dr Trev Broughton of the University of York, as well as professionalization workshops led by Liz Cable and Lachlan Smith on the topics of writing bids for research funding and the use of social media to boost academic/research profiles. Above all the colloquium will offer a friendly and relaxed environment in which researchers can share their work and experiences.

The event is being supported by the CREST Researcher Mobility Scheme.

[1] Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ed. by Isobel Murray (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 91-92.