On 23 June 2007, representatives from several East Midlands universities (De Montfort; Leicester; Loughborough; Nottingham; Nottingham Trent) met at Loughborough to discuss establishing an interdisciplinary East Midlands Early Modern Colloquium (EMEMC). Various suggestions for taking this idea forward were proposed at this preliminary meeting, and it has been decided to establish a steering group of ten people (two from each institution) to arrange a first one-day event at which researchers and postgraduate students from the region will meet to hear a series of papers and discuss research interests. It was decided that the EMEMC would meet for a one-day event once a year.

In addition to this event, it was also decided that a central directory of research activities, research students, and contact details would be compiled, and would be made available on a website: this has already been done by Gabriel Egan (Loughborough): http://www.gabrielegan.com/EMEMC/index.htm

EMEMC members have voted for their preferred format for the first event, and have decided that the event will take the form of a morning session including two research papers, and a ‘Masterclass’ in the afternoon, for which participants will be asked to read in advance a primary text or a secondary work (to be decided). The date of the event has yet to be determined, but is planned for either early or late summer 2008.

Funding

We are applying for a start-up funding award from the SRS to help establish this first meeting of the EMEMC. At the meeting in June 2007 we discussed holding the meeting at the University of Loughborough; any funding awarded would help to pay for the costs of room hire and catering. We would also hope to fund the travel expenses of speakers in the morning session, and to offer bursaries to postgraduate students in order to fund their attendance at the meeting.

We will also seek financial support from those departments and institutions involved in the EMEMC. Any remaining funds would be used to support future events, since we hope that these annual meetings will continue and that the EMEMC may in time come to organise other events related to Renaissance studies.

A report of the colloquium will be published in the October 2008 issue of the Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies.

We would like to apply for a grant of £550 from the Society to fund this initial event.

Our estimated budget is as follows (based on attendance of 30 participants):

Room hire £0

Catering arrangements:

Lunch (£6 x 30) £180

Morning and afternoon coffee/tea £80

(£40 x 2)

Delivery of catering £30

Speakers’ travel expenses £60

(£30 x 2)

Postgraduate travel bursaries £20 x 10 = £200

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Total £550