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CFP: Doing Women’s Screen and Media Histories 2027, Exeter, UK, June 16-18, 2027

Call for papers: Doing Women’s Screen and Media Histories 8 (formerly ‘Doing Women’s Film and Television History’ DWFTH)

Archiving and Curating Women’s Media Histories: Feminist Challenges, Approaches, Practices, Possibilities
Wednesday 16th June – Friday 18th June, 2027
University of Exeter, UK

Deadline for paper proposals:
Monday 2nd November, 2026, 17.00 GMT

We are pleased to announce that the 8th iteration of the Women’s Film and Television History Network UK and Ireland conference will take place on 16th-18th June, 2027 at the University of Exeter, UK.

A key theme of the conference will be ‘Archiving and Curating Women’s Media Histories: Feminist Challenges, Approaches, Practices, Possibilities’. The theme will foreground the importance of archivists and curators in the dynamic processes of doing women’s media histories. The archival turn in women’s media histories has produced a rich tradition of new work and has enabled innovative methodologies. This conference seeks to foster further dialogue between researchers and professional archivists and curators in media heritage collections to more fully understand the ways that the discovery and recovery central to feminist film historiography is always intertwined with labour, practices and processes. The conference aims to explore feminist approaches to archival and curatorial practice, and to acknowledge the importance of archivists and curators in the shared project of Doing Women’s Screen and Media Histories.
As is the custom with this conference, papers on feminist media histories outside of the key theme will also be welcomed. Our definition of women is inclusive.

Building on the success of the 7th conference at the University of Lincoln in 2025, this three-day event will again be in person and will welcome international scholars, archivists, curators, and practitioners to create conversations and collaborations within and outside the panels.

The conference is the key event for our Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project entitled ‘Women’s Screen Work in the Archive Made Visible’ and is a collaboration in association with the Women’s Film and Television History Network – UK/Ireland (https://womensfilmandtelevisionhistory.wordpress.com/), which sponsors the conference every two years. It is hosted by the project team and is organised by Helen M Hanson, Shelley Cobb, Lisa Smithstead and Felicity Ward.

Confirmed Keynote: Professor Melanie Williams (University of East Anglia). Further confirmed keynote speakers will be announced in due course.

We are calling for papers on all aspects of feminist media histories, but especially those that respond to the theme, on topics such as, but not limited to:

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
We welcome proposals in the following three formats:

Individual 15-minute presentations,
including the following information:
title
250-word abstract
brief biography of the author(s).

pre-constituted panels with a maximum of 4 speakers (panel length will be 90 minutes and should include at least 15 minutes for discussion).
Pre-constituted panel proposals should include:
short (250-word) rationale statement, explaining the constitution of the panel and types of contributions it will include.
individual abstracts (250 word)
brief biography of all contributors.

*Panels can also be constituted as roundtables, workshops or other non-standard forms. Please contact the organising team to discuss ideas.

Practice-led contributions which address women’s histories in film, television and audio/visual media are encouraged.
Please submit:
a 250-word description
running time
display requirements
links to an excerpt and/or full work
brief biography of creator(s).

Please submit proposals via this form.Please send any enquiries to: WomensScreenWork@exeter.ac.uk