Workshop title: Practising Memory Studies
17 September 2026, 9:30 am - 4:15 pm
School of the Arts Library, University of Liverpool

This workshop will explore the methodological challenges of conducting research in the interdisciplinary and diverse field of Memory Studies. It will enable researchers and PGRs from a range of academic fields and specializations to come together to learn about and exchange experiences studying memory via a range of methods. These may involve the analysis of large-scale social practices, quantitative methods at the macro-level, or micro-processes of remembering at qualitative or even individual levels. The workshop will be structured around a series of themed conversations to cultivate discussions that address a range of methods and research areas, attending to broader theoretical concerns that resonate across both conceptual and practice-based arenas of memory studies.

Workshop programme:

09:30 Welcome and Introduction
09.45 Conversation 1: Using Filmmaking in Memory Research: Alyssa Grossman and Jordana Blejmar
10.45 Break
11.00 Conversation 2: Memory in (and of) Space and Place: Anna Saunders and Les Roberts
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Conversation 3: Museum Collections: Richard Benjamin and Claire Taylor
14.00 Impact Session: Jacky Waldock (HSS Faculty Impact Fellow)
15.00 Break
15.15 Breakout Sessions
16.15 Close and end

The event is funded by the engage@liverpool Methodological Innovation and Development Award Scheme (MIDAS), and isorganised by the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Memory (IAM) Network [https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/languages-cultures-and-film/research/research-groups-and-networks/interdisciplinary-approaches-to-memory-network/], a new network that has grown out of the Departments of Communication & Media [https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/communication-and-media/] and Languages, Cultures & Film [https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/languages-cultures-and-film/]. It brings together scholars from a range of fields and across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences to discuss issues related to the study of social and cultural memory. The network serves as a platform for debates, workshops, research collaborations and other activities to promote the exchange of ideas, approaches and challenges relevant to memory studies across disciplinary boundaries.

Queries can be sent to Alyssa Grossman ([email protected]) or Anna Saunders ([email protected]).

Financial support for PGRs

We are able to offer some small travel bursaries for PGRs attending from outside of Liverpool. If you would like to apply for support, please send the following details to Anna and Alyssa by Friday 19 June: Name, institution, how your research relates to the topic of the workshop and what you hope to gain from it (100 words maximum), cost of travel.

All welcome.