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2026 CALL FOR PAPERS
Shakespeare Under the Microscope:
Surveillance, Observation, and Forensic Analysis
Across Shakespeare’s works and the wider early modern period, acts of watching, being watched, monitoring, and interpreting, shape the social, political, and theatrical landscapes. From the intimate scrutiny of lovers and rulers to the public gaze of audiences and authorities, surveillance - both overt and covert - structures relationships, knowledge, and power.
BritGrad 2026 invites delegates to explore how surveillance, observation, and systems of knowledge operate within the early modern world and its afterlives.
Call for Papers
BritGrad is delighted to announce that the Call for Papers for our 2026 conference is now open.
Full details - including plenary speakers, social events, registration, and pricing - will be released in the coming weeks.
Hybrid: Stratford-upon-Avon & Online
Dates: Thursday 18th – Saturday 20th June 2026
Deadline for Abstracts: Friday 20th March at 5pm GMT
This theme welcomes wide and imaginative interpretations, including (but not limited to):
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Early modern surveillance states and systems of control
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Audience surveillance and spectatorship in Shakespearean performance
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Close reading or “forensic” approaches to texts, bodies, and material objects
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The early modern body under examination: anatomy, medicine, gendered and racialised scrutiny
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Censorship, state monitoring, and textual transmission
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Digital surveillance and modern adaptations
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Technologies of seeing: optical devices, staging, props, illusions
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Meta-theatrical observation (eavesdropping, spying, overhearing)
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Privacy, secrecy, and revelation
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Modern surveillance culture (Big Brother, security, data cultures) refracted through Shakespeare
Delegates are encouraged to approach the theme capaciously: through creative, historical, performance-based, theoretical, digital, or practice-led work. While responses should meaningfully engage with the theme, we warmly welcome interdisciplinary interpretations from any field intersecting with Shakespeare, Renaissance, or early modern Studies.
Read how the committee chose this years theme here.
Who can apply?
We welcome proposals from:
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Graduate students at any stage of study (MA/MRes/PhD)
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Early career researchers
BritGrad remains committed to being interdisciplinary, international, and supportive - offering postgraduate researchers a platform to present work, engage with leading scholars, and participate in an active centre for Shakespeare scholarship.
Types of Proposals
BritGrad 2026 accepts submissions in the following formats:
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Research Papers (20 minutes)
Submit an abstract of 200 words for a 20-minute paper.
We welcome traditional research papers as well as work-in-progress presentations.
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Creative Workshops (30 minutes)
Proposals for creative sessions should take the form of an abstract of up to 200 words for 30 minute workshop. (Onsite only).
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Panels (3 x 20-minute papers)
Convenors may submit a full panel made up of three papers. This requires an abstract of up to 200 words for each paper, as well as a title and a rationale of up to 100 words for the panel. If you’re interested in proposing a panel session, please contact the Registrar.
For more information on what each session entails, please see our FAQ page. If you would like to propose another type of session that does not fit into the above categories, please contact our Registrar (Registrar.BritGrad@outlook.com).
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Why present at BritGrad?
BritGrad is a long-running postgraduate conference held annually at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.
Each year, the conference brings together an international community of researchers, artists, and practitioners working on Shakespeare, the early modern period, and their global afterlives.
Delegates are invited to:
- Present research in a supportive, friendly academic environment
- Participate in hybrid panels alongside international peers
- Hear plenary lectures from field-leading academics, directors, and practitioners
- Network within an active hub of Shakespeare studies
- Attend social events online or in-person.
Previous speakers include Prof. Farah Karim-Cooper, Sir Gregory Doran, Prof. Simon Palfrey, Erica Whyman OBE, Dr. Chris Laoutaris, Prof. Laurie Maguire, Dr. Andy Kesson, Dr. Paul Edmondson, Dr. Paul Prescott, and many others.
Whether attending online or in Stratford-upon-Avon, BritGrad offers postgraduate researchers a space to present their work in a supportive environment, connect with international peers, and engage critically and creatively with what Shakespeare, the early modern period, and Renaissance culture continue to mean today. The conference is designed not only to strengthen academic profiles and CVs, but to encourage new conversations, new friendships, and new ideas.
Contact
Mason Croft, Church Street
Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warickshire
United Kingdom, CV37 6HP
