14th Biennial European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Conference

General Information

The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) is pleased to invite proposals for panel sessions, individual papers, book presentations, posters, roundtables, and more experimental presentation formats for its upcoming biennial conference. The conference theme, Environmental History Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries, aims to highlight and reinforce the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature and culture of environmental history.

The Conference will be held in Salzburg, Austria, from 7 to 10 September 2027. It is organised by the ESEH and the University of Salzburg.

The deadline for submissions is 15 October 2026, 23:59 CET.

Notifications will be sent out in February 2027.

Submit: https://www.conftool.pro/eseh2027/

The Conference Theme

Environmental history deals with the mutual interactions between humankind and the rest of nature in the past. It studies people and the rest of nature as intertwined. It includes material, cultural, intellectual and political aspects. Environmental history has been an interdisciplinary endeavour from its beginnings. The field developed in conversations between historians and scholars from other disciplines in humanities, social and natural sciences. In addition to its distinct interdisciplinary nature, environmental history is characterized by transdisciplinarity – research at the intersection of academia and non-academic actors. Environmental history has emerged in tandem with environmental movements and continues to place high value on science communication and public engagement. The strong inter- and transdisciplinary traditions make environmental history a unique field of research looking at the past and its relevance today.

The complexity of environmental history as an inter- and transdisciplinary field is, however, also a challenge. This is particularly true in times when academic debates face populist attacks and budget cuts disadvantage interdisciplinary endeavours as funding is to a certain degree ringfenced in disciplinary silos. Against this background it is especially important to foster research practices that transcend such boundaries in order to raise the understanding of the complexities of the real world.

Following the conference theme, the call for papers is directed at participants from a wide range of disciplines as well as practitioners in the realm of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary environmental history research, teaching, and outreach. It invites contributions dealing with socioecological formations over time (such as past environments as a result of coevolution between humans and the rest of nature; human attitude toward the rest of nature, etc.), and more-than-human approaches. The conference invites empirical and/or reflexive theoretical, methodological, or epistemological contributions, as well as those dealing with research ethics in environmental history.

Environmental history can be written by experts in humanities, natural, or social sciences but best results are often achieved by interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary teams. We encourage the organisers of panels, roundtables and ‘different world’ sessions (see below) that link more than one presentation to frame sessions in ways that bring multiple disciplines and diverse perspectives in dialogue. At the same time, authors are encouraged to think of possible coauthors to increase the inter- and/or transdisciplinary nature of their contributions. As for the ‘different world’ sessions, the conference particularly welcomes transdisciplinary workshops with non-academic participants, presentations focused on science outreach, knowledge coproduction and teaching. We will consider all historical periods, all geographical areas and all disciplines. To bolster diversity at the event and promote new forms of networking, we strongly encourage panels/interventions where the presenters come from different regions, generations, genders, different institutions or different disciplines. We also encourage demographic balance and the engagement of emergent scholars as facilitators or session chairs. Graduate students will be offered a special reduced fee.

Abstract Guidelines

The criteria for the evaluation of abstracts will be environmental history content, quality, originality, and thematic relevance (in the context of existing environmental history scholarship and/or relevance of the topic today). Environmental history scholars evaluating the abstracts are committed to open-minded, inclusive and welcoming definitions of our research field.

Each research-based proposal should present (at least some) new research insights, based on primary research or sophisticated literature reviews. In your submissions, please describe the sources and methods (details are welcome) used to develop these insights. We discourage presentations of research proposals or research plans.

If the presentation is not research-based but has different objectives, such as environmental history teaching, outreach, knowledge co-production or scholarly debates, different world sessions (see above), roundtables, or posters are more suitable presentation types than panel sessions or individual papers. Such abstracts clearly state what the content will be, what the goal of the contribution is, why that goal is relevant from an environmental history perspective, and how that goal will be achieved.

The official conference language is English. If your transdisciplinary guests are not fluent in English, simultaneous translation into English is expected.

Maximum number of submissions per person: Each participant can be first author of only one panel paper OR one individual paper OR one book presentation OR one poster. In addition, the same person can participate in one roundtable OR in one ‘different world’ session OR serve as commentator in a second session proposal.

If you participate only in different world sessions/roundtables, the upper limit is two contributions per person. The number of chairings is unlimited.

The number of second, third … authorships is unlimited.

All proposals have to be submitted through our online submission system: https://www.conftool.pro/eseh2027/

Questions about proposals should be directed to the Chair of the Programme Committee, Dr. Žiga Zwitter, through the email conference@eseh.org.

Source and submission: https://eseh.org/cfp-14th-biennial-european-society-for-environmental-history-eseh-conference/