13th Biennial European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Conference 

Climate Histories

The European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) is pleased to invite proposals for sessions, individual papers, roundtables, posters, and other, more experimental forms of communicating scholarship for its upcoming biennial conference in Uppsala. The theme of the conference, “Climate Histories”, aims to synthesize historical research on climate variability with present-day lived experiences, to further discourse and enrich perspectives on contemporary climate change. The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2024, 23:59 CEST.

The Conference Theme

The conference theme of “Climate Histories” puts narratives at the center to represent experiences of living with climate uncertainties. These include climate reconstruction and climate-society histories, the historiography of climate research, oral history and storytelling, as well as counter-narratives to the Eurocentric Anthropocene narrative. How might we rethink the written and material records of social adaptabilities and transformations to understand better what it means to live through an era of rapid climate change? How can we understand such experiences? How has unpredictability been explained and discussed in the past? How can written sources be used to reconstruct climate variabilities and their responses? The historical disciplines, with their vast record of human experience, provide excellent means of understanding how humans mitigated and responded to climate variability, the influence of the rate and scale of change, and the importance of individual action and social structure for shaping responses. Collaborations across disciplines – between history, archaeology, palaeoclimatology, anthropology and the broader field of the environmental humanities – are called for to explore the material records of climate change.

The theme of “Climate Histories” mirrors the research and educational focus of the ESEH 2025 hosts, the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History and the Department of History at Uppsala University, the Department of History at Stockholm University, and the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at KTH. The theme of Climate Histories also speaks to the long history of climate science in Uppsala, from Anders Celsius’ climate records in the 18th century to Svante Arrhenius’ model of atmospheric carbon dioxide and rising Earth surface temperature in the late 19th century and to the networks, organizations and institutions of earth system governance that emerged in the 20th century in the Uppsala-Stockholm region. ESEH 2025 aims to initiate collaborations with the arts, the sciences, and the broader public to explore these entangled climate histories.

​​​Possible topics to be discussed as part of the conference’s thematic focus on “Climate Histories” include, but are not limited to:

• Written and material records of social adaptabilities and transformations in relation to climate change, rapid social change and crises; 
• Reconstructions of the climate change-human history nexus; 
• The historiography of human-environment interactions and related research; 
• Migration and movement in response to climate change, rapid social change and crises; 
• Storytelling in terms of the historical and present experience of living with climate uncertainty, biodiversity loss, or rapid landscape change; 
• Didactics and themes for teaching climate history with practical examples of approaches and pedagogics; 
• Counter-narratives to the Eurocentric-Anthropocene narrative, based on labour history, social movements and indigenous history. 

In addition, we warmly welcome papers, provocations and presentations on environmental history beyond the conference theme. We also invite contributions to teaching and communicating environmental history to a wider public (e.g., schools, university pedagogics, public outreach, and citizen science). Furthermore, we encourage submissions from related academic disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.

An Inclusive and Diverse Conference

While ESEH believes in the value of a physical conference, we continue to acknowledge how sustainability issues relating to international conferences may affect the possibility for all to attend in person. The conference will thus offer the chance to integrate the virtual and face-to-face experience in a hybrid format that will allow as many scholars as possible to attend talks, keynotes, and plenaries. Online-only participants will be offered a reduced conference fee.

Commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion is at the heart of ESEH. We recognise the unique contributions of every member of our society and seek ways of ensuring that people of all identities and in all circumstances can contribute to our biennial conference and to the wider life of our society. We strive to promote equality and diversity at our conference, in relation to conference participation, and the composition of topics comprising the conference programme. We also endeavour to create a platform to encourage active and sustained debate on issues of marginalisation and accessibility amongst our members. 

We want to create a set of inclusive conference practices and ‘resist the normality’ of hierarchies and thematic silos. 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 use of emergent scholars as facilitators or session chairs. Graduate students will be offered a special reduced fee.

Travel Grants

A limited number of grants will be available for ESEH members who would not be able to attend the conference without external support. These travel grants are intended for graduate students, independent scholars, and those from low-income countries. Applications for these grants will be made as part of the submission process. 

The ESEH Summer School on Anthropocene History will be organised subsequent to the ESEH conference. A call for participation will be launched in the fall of 2024. Summer School participants will be fully reimbursed for their travel costs to Sweden but are not eligible for another ESEH travel grant. 

Formats

The conference provides for both hybrid and in-person only alternatives (both in-person and virtual participation, for both presenters and audience). Session holders will be asked to decide if their session should be made hybrid or in-person only. Panel debates may be recorded, in which case panel participants will be asked for permission. 

Conventional Discussions

We are looking for panel session, individual papers, roundtables, posters and other, more experimental sessions. Of course, panels and roundtables are indispensable and constitute much of the conference, but we need new modes of conversation. Therefore, we encourage submissions that introduce a productive conflict of views, interpretations, or methodologies: 

1. Panel Sessions

Sessions are 3 papers of 20 minutes each or 4 papers of 15 minutes each. Other formats (debate panels, roundtables) should be submitted under the Roundtable or ‘Different World’ session categories. Session proposals will include a session title and session abstract of 250 words; a list of contributors and a chair; and individual paper titles and abstracts of around 250 words each. Session proposals may also include a commentator/discussant in place of the fourth paper – or not. Please remember, all sessions should include sufficient time for general discussion. 

2. Individual Papers

Contributors may also submit individual papers of a maximum of 20 minutes, which will be combined into sessions of three to four papers in case of acceptance. However, the scientific committee prefers session submissions and cannot guarantee thematic coherence for the combined sessions. Paper proposals are to consist of an abstract of 250 words. 

3. Roundtables

Scholars can also propose 90-minute roundtables, consisting of panels ranging from 3-6 people and a chair who speaks to a common question or theme. Successful roundtables involve interaction between the panelists, an active chair who shapes the conversation, and time for the audience to interact with the panel. Roundtable proposals are to consist of an abstract of 250 words.

4. Posters

Poster proposals will include an abstract of 250 words. Poster sessions will be on-site only. There will be a designated display area, and a special plenary session for all poster authors to present their research in 5 minutes time per poster. The Environment & History Poster Prize sponsored by The White Horse Press is awarded to the best poster (€100 award) and the 2nd place poster (€50 award). 

Different World Sessions

In the spirit of rethinking the conventional, we welcome proposals for unorthodox, full sessions with creative formats. To submit a proposal for a special session, please provide a 250-word abstract, describing the activity, including any special logistics you might need. Ideas include, but are not limited to:

History Cafes

A facilitator provides a question on a predetermined topic or proposes a problem that needs solving. The group divides into smaller groups, discusses, and submits feedback to the larger group at the end. Conversation and participation are the key processes and collaborative projects are stimulated. 

Speakers Corner/Poetry Slam

In this rapid dissemination format, you have 2 minutes to represent your project idea/results or a research problem without digital tools.  

Book Lounge

We encourage authors to offer a reading from their recent book. Shared discussions of a single book, major paper, movie, or even primary source are also welcome. 

The Historian in the Mirror

Reflective roundtables that examine our own academic practices, activism and ourselves.

Public Debates

Reflective panel debates that examine the role of climate histories research, in relation to present and ongoing climate crises. This is where academia meets policy makers and the public for a reflective debate on the current crises.

Artistic Interventions

• Exhibitions, film, performances 
• Art and science collaborations, presentations and exhibitions 
  

Skills Workshop

• Teach others your skills (e.g. in writing, GIS, or digital humanities) or offer mentorship or field-work tips. 
• New research tool demonstrations 
• Pedagogy and dissemination workshops 
• Policy interaction workshops 
  

Submissions

Each person can be a primary presenter in only one session proposal, but can also serve as a chair/commentator in a second session proposal. In addition, a presenter of a conventional session can submit a proposal or participate in a ‘Different World’ session as well. All submissions should include an abstract of about 250 words and at least three keywords. The conference language is English; no submissions in other languages will be accepted. All proposals will be reviewed by the ESEH Programme Committee. All proposals have to be submitted through our online submission system:

The submission deadline is 31 October 2024. 

Notifications will be sent out by mid-January 2025. 

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