2008 Congress: Information
Swansea, July 18–22, 2008
The Sixteenth International Congress of the New Chaucer Society will be held July 18–22, 2008 at the campus of the University of Wales, Swansea, Wales, UK. The Congress is hosted by the University of Wales, Swansea. We're looking forward to seeing you all there.
Registration is now open. Online registration and general conference information can be found at the University of Swansea's Conference Information Site.
The Program Committee members are Ruth Evans (Co-Chair), Stephanie Trigg (Co-Chair), Helen Fulton, Alexandra Gillespie, Ethan Knapp, and Diane Watt, with David Lawton (NCS Executive Director) and John Ganim (NCS President) ex officio (with administrative assistance from Sarah Noonan). The Advisory Committee members are Joyce Coleman, Cathy Sanok and Nicky Zeeman, with Frank Grady and John Fyler as ex officio members. The local arrangements will be organized by Helen Fulton, Ifor Rowlands, Liz McAvoy, Catherine Clarke, Deborah Youngs and Glyn Pursglove.
2008 Congress: Graduate Student Master Classes
On the afternoon of Thursday, 17 July, at the 2008 Congress, at the University of Wales, Swansea, Wales, NCS will be hosting Master Classes on the study of medieval manuscripts for graduate student members of the society.
The short introductory classes are designed to familiarise students, especially those who do not have access to medieval manuscripts or to classes in codicology or palaeography at their own institution, to the principles and methods involved in the study of medieval manuscripts. Members of the classes will work directly with some fifteenth-century manuscripts containing texts by Chaucer.
There will be five classes of forty-five minutes each, covering the following topics:
1. Principles of Description – Dr Daniel Wakelin, University of Cambridge
2. Manuscript Materials – Dr Orietta da Rold, University of Leicester
3. Palaeography: Identifying Scribes – Professor Linne R. Mooney, University of York
4. Language: Scribal Dialects – Dr Alison Wiggins, University of Glasgow
5. The Use of Digital Technologies in Manuscript Study – Professor Toshi Takamiya, Keio University
15 places are available to graduate student members of the New Chaucer Society for these classes. Applications are welcomed from any member of the society who will be, at the time of the conference, a doctoral student, working towards his or her dissertation, having completed all qualifying examinations. Preference will be give to students who demonstrate that manuscript studies are important to their doctoral research, and who are based at institutions at which access to resources and specialized courses for the study of medieval manuscripts is limited.
Applications should contain:
• a completed copy of the application form
• the applicant’s academic curriculum vitae
• the applicant’s doctoral dissertation proposal
• 1 letter of reference from the applicant’s doctoral dissertation supervisor (to be sent directly by the referee).
Applications should be sent, by email, to Alexandra Gillespie (University of Toronto/Program Committee, 2008 Congress), alexandra.gillespie@utoronto.ca. Reference letters should be sent directly to this address by the referee. Applications must arrive no later than March 14, 2008; late applications will not be considered.
15 students will be selected by a sub-committee of the Program Committee for the 2008 Congress in consultation with the class instructors. The sub-committee members are: John Ganim (President, NCS); David Lawton (Executive Director, NCS); Ruth Evans (Co-Chair, Program Committee, 2008 Congress); and Alexandra Gillespie.
The Master Class application form can be downloaded here.