Posted by Gregory Lippiatt
12 May 2025This week, Gregory Lippiatt (Director of the Centre) shares the news about an exciting new series of events.
It is no secret that the challenges currently facing the humanities generally have put particular pressure on medieval studies in universities across the country. With ever shrinking budgets, it is increasingly difficult, for instance, to bring together scholars from different institutions to share their work as guest speakers at traditional research seminars. While we remain committed to hosting these events, which are an important part of our own research culture as well as a means of fostering cooperation with the wider community of medievalists, the Centre for Medieval Studies has decided that we will make a virtue of necessity and increase our awareness of the research that is happening here at Exeter.
Far too often we have only a vague idea of what our colleagues are up to, and this ignorance only grows when we look beyond our own university departments. So we have begun holding a series of ‘Bring-and-Share’ events at lunchtimes, in which a colleague will give a twenty-minute talk on their current research, followed by questions, all in an informal setting over brown bag lunches.
We had our first two ‘Bring-and-Share’ lunches in Lent Term. Dr Catherine Rider spoke to us about her work on perceptions of male infertility in the Middle Ages, while Dr Naomi Howell took us on a tour of the many meanings of cross cultural artefacts in medieval Europe. Both were fascinating insights into the outstanding work that our colleagues are doing, and the questions afterwards produced stimulating conversations sparked by interdisciplinary connexions.
We are very much looking forward to making these lunchtime sessions a regular part of our programme at the Centre; if you have work you would like to share with the rest of us, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at G.E.Lippiatt@exeter.ac.uk.
Featured image: Prof. Naomi Howell speaking at a recent ‘Bring-and-Share’ event.