We are delighted to announce that the fourth biannual English: Shared Futures conference is to be held at University of York 3rd-5th July, 2025.
English: Shared Futures 2025 builds on two previous Shared Futures conferences, hosted in Newcastle and Manchester. It is the UK’s largest conference in English Studies.
E:SF 2025 is co-hosted by the Universities of Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leeds Beckett, Leeds Trinity, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, York and York St John. Events will take place in York, and the conference will include opportunities to learn more about the richness of English Studies in the region, and about Yorkshire’s distinctive literary, linguistic and creative heritage — and its future.
We are pleased to share the new E:SF website with the Call for Papers (also below) and further information. Please keep an eye out on this for further updates.
English: Shared Futures 2025 CFP
What is the future of English Studies?
Who do we share our disciplines with and why?
English: Shared Futures is the UK’s largest conference for English studies, embracing creative writing, linguistics and literature. Based in York, the conference will bring together academics, authors, teachers, policy-makers, students and schoolchildren to celebrate the strengths of our disciplines now, tackle our shared challenges head on, and imagine a new future for the study of English from school to university and beyond.
Building on the success of two previous conferences, in Newcastle and Manchester, E:SF2025 is co-hosted by eight Yorkshire universities, and aims to explore the vibrancy of English Studies now, and what English Studies can do for generations to come.
We welcome proposals that relate to any area of English Studies, including creative writing, language, and literature.
Topics may include, but need not be limited to:
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new research from any area of our shared disciplines, including practice-led research;
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learning and teaching, from schools to universities and beyond;
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policy and practice. What policies do we need to ensure English Studies thrives? How can English Studies shape national, local and institutional policy?
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whose English? Whose future? How do we teach and study English in a time of climate crisis? What would an inclusive English studies look like? How do we decolonise our disciplines and practices?
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English with… Who does English Studies share its futures with and why? This can include other languages and literary traditions, other genres, forms, and media, journalism and publishing, other disciplines, and more;
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surviving English Studies: collective strategies for navigating academic life and teaching; combating precarity; rethinking practices and processes; and addressing the challenges of our shared disciplines and approaches.
In keeping with the ethos of Shared Futures, we welcome panels that prioritise marginalised and under-represented voices; bring together colleagues from language, literature and creative writing; unite colleagues from Higher and Further Education, schools, policy bodies and/or other institutions; reach across research, teaching and policy; and/or include student voices.
When: 3rd-5th July 2025
Where: York, UK
All sessions will last for ninety minutes. We welcome proposals for twenty-minute papers; panels of three papers; roundtable sessions; shared readings; salons; workshops; performances and readings; zine-making; interviews; lightning talks (5 minutes max); and other exciting, academically rigorous formats.
All proposals should include the name and brief biography (c. 50 words) for each speaker. Proposals for panels should include a summary detailing the aims of the panel as a whole along with brief descriptions of the individual papers, totalling not more than 500 words. All other proposals should not exceed 300 words.
We are keen to encourage underrepresented scholars and practitioners to submit proposals, and to encourage proposals from students and teachers. With this in mind, we will host a zoom session on preparing and submitting a conference proposal at 15.00 BST on Tuesday 17th December. There is no requirement to attend this session in order to submit a proposal, but if you would like some guidance, support and feedback please register here to join.
Please email proposals to proposals@englishsharedfutures.org
Deadline for proposals: Friday 31st January (midnight in your time zone).
