Call for Papers - Environment and the Sea

Posted: Thursday 12th June 2025

Event date: 4-5 September 2025

Location: University of Liverpool 

Organisers: CPMH

Centre for Port and Maritime History Annual Conference 2025

The Centre for Port and Maritime History (CPMH) encourages submissions to its 2025 Annual Conference on the theme of Environment and the Sea.

The 2025 Conference theme draws upon the rich vein of scholarship across the arts, humanities, and the social and environmental sciences which have approached the ‘ocean’ as a social and a natural environment. This work has fostered new knowledge of maritime environments as diverse, multi-species spaces which challenge many traditional disciplinary boundaries. The scope of this research is necessarily broad, from: studies of environmental and climate change in particular oceanic contexts; explorations of the roles animals play in sustaining ecological and social systems (e.g. as ships mascots); intersections between maritime art and the environment; historical studies of the environmental and other natural sciences, to name only a few. Through this conference theme, we seek to explore how understanding the histories of oceanic and marine environments are crucial to the past and our future.

The CPMH has a well-established reputation as a supportive and collegial arena for postgraduate and early-career submissions and presentations, and we welcome submissions from independent scholars. Previous CPMH conferences have led to publication in the CPMH Book Series, which we would be keen to explore if suitable content emerges from the 2025 submissions.

Potential Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Environmental Histories of Littoral, Sea and Ocean Spaces
• Histories of Science and Technology at Sea (including biographical approaches)
• Environmental and Climate Change at Sea (including ship-logs and other archival sources of past climate)
• More-than-human histories of the ocean
• Art, history and ocean environments
• Terraqueous and/or archipelagic histories which challenge the distinction between land and ocean
• Activist histories of/on/around sea or ocean environments
• Indigenous knowledges of the seas and oceans

We also welcome ideas/proposals for presentations in alternative formats to traditional academic papers (e.g. exhibitions, videos, artistic pieces) – please discuss your ideas with the Conference Organiser, Dr Andy Davies, who can advise about what is possible.

The Conference will take place at the University of Liverpool on the 4th/5th of September 2025.

There is a Conference Registration Fee of £20 to cover Conference Catering for waged/funded conference attendees. This will be waived for unwaged or unfunded attendees.

The Conference will allow for remote/hybrid presentation, but in order to foster a collegial and supportive atmosphere, as well as provide the best opportunity for discussion and networking, we encourage and recommend in-person attendance in Liverpool.

Submission deadline
Please submit an abstract to Dr Andy Davies (addavies@liverpool.ac.uk) by Wednesday, July the 30th 2025.