HDR Symposium | University of Sydney | 3 December 2026
Organised in association with ANZSECS

The long eighteenth century was obsessed with the future. Writers, thinkers, and reformers envisioned new worlds, predicted paths of progress and decline, and debated what society could and should become. However, many of those futures never arrived, foreclosed by the violence of empire, the exclusions of the Enlightenment, or the unpredictability of historical change.

This one-day, in person, symposium hosted at the University of Sydney in association with the Australian and New Zealand Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ANZSECS) invites postgraduate research students working on any aspect of the long eighteenth century to come together, share their work, and think together about what the period means and what it can still offer today.

As a theme, Eighteenth-Century Futures is meant to be a generative, not prescriptive. We welcome papers that explore it in any direction, including:

• How did people of the period imagine, plan for, or resist specific futures?
• What possibilities were opened or foreclosed by the revolutions, reforms and upheavals of the period?
• How does the eighteenth century continue to influence our present, materially, politically, ideologically, or culturally?
• What are the futures of eighteenth-century studies, and how is new work changing how we understand the period?

We encourage proposals for 15-minute papers from postgraduate researchers working on eighteenth-century topics across the humanities, including literature, history, music, philosophy, art, and law.

We welcome submissions of proposals from the 1st August through 1st October.

This is a relaxed, genuinely low-stakes day, designed with HDR students at all stages in mind. We’d love to hear from you, whether you’re presenting for the first time, keen to test the argument of a thesis chapter, or interested in sharing a paper you’ve presented elsewhere with a local audience. And if you’re not ready to present, please still save the date: it will be a wonderful opportunity to hear what others are working on and to meet your peers. We look forward to facilitating and encouraging new opportunities for informal networks among students of the long eighteenth century, regardless of their disciplinary specialisation.

We also encourage all symposium participants to apply for the the new Gale-ANZSECS Fellowship for postgraduates and ECRs.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. In lieu of a registration fee, we’ll ask participants to join ANZSECS ($30 for a 3-year membership).

You can submit your 300 word abstract including a brief bio and your institutional affiliation through the form below.

Submissions will open on 1 August, and close on 1 October.

If you have questions, or to informally discuss a potential proposal, please contact one of the symposium conveners as listed below:

Nicola Parsons, ANZSECS Vice-President, nicola.parsons@sydney.edu.au

Hamish Wood, ANZSECS HDR Rep, hamish.wood@murdoch.edu.au

We look forward to reading your work!