Hosting Vagantes 2025

We are pleased to announce that Northwestern University will be hosting Vagantes 2024!

Application to Host the 24th Annual Vagantes Conference in 2025

The Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies is now accepting applications for our 2025 host institution. Vagantes is an interdisciplinary graduate student conference showcasing graduate students’ research related to all topics focusing on the Middle Ages. Hosting the conference offers students a unique opportunity to showcase the Medieval Studies community at their institution while also gaining valuable professional development experience.

Applications for the 2025 host institution will be accepted until Friday, September 29th 2023 and will be reviewed by the Vagantes Board of Directors. E-mail submissions are required.

To apply to host the 24th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, please fill out the form below and send it to the Vagantes Board of Directors (vagantesboard@gmail.com). A digital copy of this form is accessible here.

  1. Name of university (may be a joint application with more than one university).
  2. Name of departments, institutes, and student organizations to be involved.
  3. Statement of interest that addresses the following questions:
    1. Why would your school be a good place to host Vagantes?
    2. What resources does your school have available (student interest, funding possibilities, museums, libraries, special collections, etc.)?
    3. Why would your school be a good venue for an international conference (accessibility, accommodations, transportation options, etc.)?
  4. The costs associated with hosting Vagantes have varied over the years, but on average have required an investment of about $10,000-15,000. How does your institution plan to raise this sum? Please name the chief source of funding you plan to rely upon to pay for the conference.
  5. Names and institutional affiliations of five graduate students who, by signing, will undertake the serious commitment of time to organize the conference. Please indicate and provide the email address for one of the students who would become the official host representative and immediately take up a three-year position on the Vagantes Board of Directors. You may appoint two students to this post if desired.
  6. Name of a faculty advisor who has agreed to be involved with Vagantes.
  7. Certify that you agree to the conditions listed below.

Applicants must agree to the following conditions:

  1. The conference will be free and registration will be open to the general public.
  2. The conference will run from a Thursday-Saturday in or around March.
  3. The conference will include a keynote by a faculty member from your school on the opening day and a final keynote by a faculty member from the future host school.
  4. The conference will conclude with a final banquet.
  5. Your school will send a faculty member to serve as a keynote at the current host school. You will provide the current host school organizers with the speaker’s name and contact information no later than November 15.
  6. Three graduate students from your school must agree to serve as abstract submission readers in November in the year before the conference is hosted, during the year the conference is hosted, and in the following year. The abstract submission review committee is comprised of members from the past host institution, current host, and future host institution.
  7. The host institution representative from your school must agree to serve a three-year term on the Vagantes Board of Directors.
    1. Year 1: the position of Future Host Institution Representative on the Vagantes Board of Directors begins as soon as the new host institution is named (c. June). Conference preparations begin.
    2. Year 2: the position becomes Current Host Institution Representative in May and continues for one year. Conference preparations continue; hosting the event occurs in or around March.
    3. Year 3: in May the Current Host Institution Representative becomes the new Chair of the Vagantes Board of Directors and serves in that capacity until the following May. The Chair is primarily an advisory role. The Chair ensures a smooth transition to the new host institution and supervises the operations of the Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies and its governing body.
  8. The host school will feature the Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies seal logo on the conference program and other print and electronic marketing materials.

The Future Host Institution Representative or his/her designee should plan to attend the Board of Directors Meeting at Northwestern University in 2024 (a virtual meeting is possible).

We encourage all potential applicants for the 2025 conference to take a look at previous host application proposals:

University of Minnesota

University of Toronto

University of Connecticut

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Case Western Reserve University

Future Host: 

Current Host: 

Northwestern University, March 21-23, 2024

Past Hosts: 

Harvard University, March 16-18, 2023

Case Western Reserve University, March 24–26, 2022

University of Wisconsin–Madison, March 18–20, 2021

University of Connecticut, March 19–21, 2020 [Canceled due to COVID-19]

University of Toronto, March 21–23, 2019

University of Minnesota, March 22–24, 2018

University of Notre Dame, March 9–11, 2017

Rice University, February 18–20, 2016

University of Florida, February 19–21, 2015

The University of Texas at Austin, March 20–22, 2014

The University of Wisconsin–Madison, March 21–23, 2013

Indiana University, March 29–31, 2012

The University of Pittsburgh, March 3–5, 2011

The University of New Mexico, March 11–13, 2010

Florida State University, March 5–7, 2009

The Ohio State University, February 28–March 2, 2008

Loyola University Chicago, March 1–3, 2007

The University of California, Berkeley, March 2–5, 2006

The University of Notre Dame, March 3–5, 2005

Cornell University, March 11–14, 2004

The University of Toronto, March 20–23, 2003

Harvard University, March 7–10, 2002

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