SIS Conferences

The Society for Italian Studies supports research across the discipline by holding three conferences: the Biennial Conference; the Themed Conference (previously known as the Interim), and the Postgraduate Colloquium. The Society also supports research by providing some funding to conferences and symposia run by SIS members.

Society for Italian Studies Themed Conference (previously known as the Interim Conference)

The Society holds a smaller, themed conference on alternate years to the Biennial Conference.

The 2023 SIS Themed Conference  ‘Affect, Emotion, Sensation’  took place on the 7–8 September 2023 at the University of Cambridge, Selwyn College.

Over recent years, a growing interest in affect theory and history of emotions has enriched the scholarly discussion on Italian literature and art, offering innovative interpretive perspectives. However, in certain branches of Italian Studies, a rigorous working out and historicizing of terms like emotion, affect, and sensation is still in its earliest phases. Whilst affect theory has had a significant impact in some fields of research, in other areas, there has been little sustained engagement with either affect theory or the history of emotions and sensation.

This conference wanted to promote a fruitful dialogue on the perception and the representation of emotions between scholars working across different periods and different media. It  investigated how emotional repertoires and vocabularies for identifying affects and sensations evolved and changed in Italian language, literature, and the visual arts, from medieval to contemporary production. In order to further enrich the discussion, the conference  included comparative sessions with colleagues working on other Romance literatures, thus offering a comprehensive overview of ‘Italian’ thought before, after, and beyond the concretization of national boundaries.

You can find the  conference programme here: https://shorturl.at/cqrCV 

The conference was organised by Prof. Heather Webb, Dr Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė, Dr Nicolò Crisafi, Dr Alessia Carrai, Dr Giulia Boitani, George Rayson, and Orsolya Petocz. 

Biennial Conference  (19–21 June 2024 Royal Holloway, University of London)

The organizers of the SIS biennial conference at Royal Holloway welcome proposals for panels and single papers on any topic within the broad area of Italian Studies. Proposals are due by 15 December 2023.

The conference organizers strongly encourage submissions reflecting a variety of formats. In addition to the traditional 90-minute format (three speakers, 20 minutes each, plus a chair), panels might also, for instance, consist of two main speakers plus a respondent (usually an expert in the field) or a roundtable of up to six participants (plus a chair). There will also be some sessions of 60 minutes each for briefer discussions, in which you are encouraged to experiment with formats such as dialogues, debates, interviews, question/answer sessions, etc. Papers may be delivered in either English or Italian.

All work presented, regardless of the format, must be based on original and as-yet unpublished work. We highly encourage panels and papers that demonstrate interdisciplinary research and that engage with novel methodological approaches, e.g., visual culture, material culture, creative practice, and Digital Humanities. Research on pedagogy and language learning is also welcome.

Strong preference will be given to panels that: a) include participants at different career stages: no panel should consist entirely of speakers at the same career stage, e.g., all doctoral students or all senior academics; and b) reflect diversity: organizers should avoid all single-gender and all-white panels where possible.  Individuals may not present more than one paper during the conference, although they may appear up to twice on the programme (for instance, as paper presenter and chair of a panel, or twice as panel chair). Additionally, the same individual may organize up to three panels (but not chair a panel they have themselves organized).

Paper presenters who have not found an appropriate home panel may submit an individual paper proposal. The organizers will try to combine these into suitable panels, if at all possible. Panel proposals are likely to be given priority in the selection process.

The conference will take place in person on the Royal Holloway Egham campus, on 19–21 June 2024.

In order to contain the number of cancellations and consequent changes to the programme, panel organizers are reminded that the submission of a proposal indicates a commitment in good faith to attend the conference.  All attendees of the conference must be current members of the Society for Italian Studies.

Reduced fees will be available to support attendance by PGRs / ECAs and unwaged academics.

Proposals must be made using the appropriate form below and must be sent as a single attachment (either Microsoft Word or PDF) , by 15 December 2023.

Please complete the SIS Biennial 2024 – CONFERENCE application form and send your proposals to to SIS.biennial.2024@rhul.ac.uk

For further information and queries, please contact: SIS.biennial.2024@rhul.ac.uk

Postgraduate Colloquium

The Society holds an annual Postgraduate Colloquium. See this page  for further details.

Hosting the SIS Biennial Conferences

The form for the registering of interest in holding the Biennial Conference is available below.  Please complete the form as fully as possible, bearing in mind that not all questions will be relevant to the Biennial Conference (the form covers both this and the Themed Conference) and return to Gigliola Sulis, as Hon. Secretary at g.sulis@leeds.ac.uk.

Download the Conference Subvention Application Form

SIS Previous Conferences

Previous Conferences

  • The 2019 Conference was hosted by the University of Edinburgh from 26th-28th June 2019. The programme is available to download here.
  •  The 2017 Conference was hosted by the University of Hull from 27th– 30th June 2017. The programme is available for dowload is available to download in PDF format.
  • The 2015 Conference was hosted by the University of Oxford from 28 to 30 September 2015. The programme is available for download in PDF format.
  • The 2013 Conference was hosted by Durham University from 8 to 11 July 2013. The programme is available for download in PDF format.
  • The 2011 Conference was hosted by St Andrews University from 6 to 9 July 2011. The programme is available for download in PDF format.
  • The 2009 Conference was hosted by Royal Holloway University of London, from 16 to 19 April.

Previous Themed Conferences

SIS Gender Policy

Conferences and events organised by the SIS will respect the following norms:

  1. as far as possible there will be a balance in the number of male/female speakers and session chairs;
  2. single-sex panels will be avoided wherever possible;
  3. panel chairs will be briefed on how to ensure inclusive and balanced discussion;
  4. where there is more than one keynote speaker efforts will be made to ensure gender balance.