Call for Papers

5th Oslo Student Conference on Medieval Europe

Close Encounters

12-14 March 2026 Oslo, Norway

Due by 12 December 2025

The Oslo Student Conference on Medieval Europe is an interdisciplinary conference on the study of the Middle Ages in Europe. We invite students at all levels to submit abstracts for a hybrid session held at the University of Oslo. This conference aims to provide an opportunity for Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral students, as well as those who recently graduated, to present their research. We especially welcome those who have not presented a paper at a conference before.

Whether with family, other cultures, or the spiritual, encounters of all kinds abound in the sources left to us from the Middle Ages. Families are feuding in Medieval Iceland, friendly and not-so-friendly Vikings arrive on the British Isles, and an Irish monk details an encounter with someone from the Otherworld. In many ways, the meetings between people shaped the way they understood the world. The Middle Ages were a time of change, both cultural and religious, and this change comes to light when examining interactions between people. This year, we invite you to explore the theme of close encounters of a medieval kind with us.

Examples of topics:

Transmission of Knowledge
Cultural Encounters
History from Below
Communities of Practice
Medievalisms
Global Middle Ages
Tradition vs Innovation
Folklore
Conversion
We also invite abstracts on other topics.

A proceedings volume of this conference will be published through the university's e-publishing portal.

Abstracts must not be longer than 250 words. Please also include a title, your name, home university, study program, and whether you plan on presenting in person or online. Papers will be 20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions. Please submit your abstract before the 12th of December 2025 to oslomedievalstudentconference@gmail.com. For questions, please contact us at the same email address.