The two-day doctoral and postdoctoral conference ‘Dante Futures 2025: New Voices in the UK and Ireland’, hosted by the University of Warwick on 21-22 November, was the fourth annual gathering of emerging researchers in the field of Dante Studies in Ireland and the UK. ‘Dante Futures’ was previously held at University College Cork (2022), the University of Leeds (2023), and King’s College, University of Cambridge (2024). This year’s edition welcomed numerous doctoral scholars from eight universities, who had the opportunity to present their latest research, engage in constructive discussions with peers, and receive feedback from experienced researchers.
Six panels were held during the conference, addressing a diverse array of subjects in Dante Studies, from theology and lyric poetry to new theoretical frameworks and reception. The event saw the participation of 13 early career researchers acting as discussants and several other senior scholars and academics. The event included a keynote lecture delivered by Dr Julia Hartley (Glasgow) and a cultural event.
The conference was co-organised by the University of Warwick (Gennaro Ambrosino and Enrica Leydi) and the Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland (Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė, Elisa Rosati, and Chiara Valcelli). It was sponsored by the Society of Italian Studies (including the SIS EDI Conference Fund), the Italian Cultural Institute of London, and the University of Warwick (Humanities Research Centre and Italian Studies Section). The scholarly meeting was organised under the auspices of the Società Dantesca Italiana.
The event began on Friday 21 November. The first panel of the afternoon, focusing on Dante’s comparative and transcultural reception and chaired by Dr Federica Coluzzi (Warwick) and Dr Katherine Travers (Oxford), featured papers by Francesca Sartori (Bristol) and Chiara Valcelli (UCC). The second panel, ‘Senses and Performance’, was chaired by Dr Ryan Pepin and Dr Sean Wyer, and included papers by Kate McKee (Oxford) and Giuseppe Christian Distefano (Madrid). Then, there was the lecture by Dr Julia Hartley, entitled ‘The Orientalist’s Dante: Historical Antecedents and Future Possibilities’. The day concluded with a book presentation centred on Los límites y el mar (2022), a fictional narrative with a Dantean subtext by Dr Esteban Catalan Muñoz (Warwick). The discussion involved Enrica Leydi (Warwick) and included contributions from Dr Macarena Miranda Mora (Fondecyt / Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), Ian Nixon, and Prof. Fabienne Viala (both Warwick). Readings were presented from the Spanish original and from the forthcoming French and English translations.
The second day consisted of four panels. The first panel, ‘Vision and Female Mediation’, was chaired by Dr Alessia Carrai (Padova) and Dr Lorenzo Dell’Oso (Durham), and included papers by Elizabeth Bratton (Bristol) and Elisa Rosati (UCC). The second panel, chaired by Dr Frey Kalus (Cambridge) and Dr Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (CDSI), featured a presentation by Ruoci Song (Cambridge), examining Dante’s theatrical productions in China. The third panel, chaired by Dr Gianluca Caccialupi (Tours) and Dr Leyla Livraghi (Pisa), included papers on the political and utopian Dante by Berenice Daniele (TCD) and Giulia Depoli (Warburg). The fourth panel, chaired by Dr Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (CDSI), Dr George Rayson (CDSI), and Dr Serena Vandi (TCD), included papers focused on spectrality and Dante’s visionary poetics by Francesca Luppino (Warwick) and Roberto Galleran (Pavia).
‘Dante Futures’ 2025 successfully showcased the best of recent PhD and postdoctoral research in Dante Studies within Anglophone Europe, fostering sustained dialogue between institutions and early-career scholars in Ireland and the UK.