Durham MEMSA

Medieval and Early Modern Student Association Visit the post for more.

Keep an eye out on social media to keep up to date with all things MEMSA, including our Seminar Series, Blog, Community Course, and of course next year's conference!

You can find us on X (@DurhamMEMSA), Instagram (@Durhammemsa) and our website: durhammemsa.wordpress.com

At the beginning of this week we hosted the 19th Annual MEMSA Conference.

We would like to thank our supporters: @sshmedicine.bsky.social, Durham's Faculty of Arts and Humanities, @durhamhistory.bsky.social, Durham Castle and of course @imems.bsky.social

MEMSA Conference 2025

Final photo of the conference, thank you to everyone who came over the two days - whether for the whole conference or popped in for part of it.

Safe journey home

And that's a wrap, thank you to everyone who has been involved in the conference this year!

Finally, we have closing remarks from this years MEMSA co-chairs Lottie Thompson and Isaiah Silvers!

‘Creatures of Power: Animals, Ecology and Humanity in the Medieval World’

While at the same time delegates are also hearing from Dr Victoria Burns-Price, Dr Daniella Zaidman-Mauer and Dr Grace Catherine Greiner on ‘More than Meets the Eye: Imagining and Imagined Connections between Magic and the Natural World;

It is now time for the final session of the conference. Our first panel is titled ‘Creatures of Power: Animals, Ecology and Humanity in the Medieval World’ with Rosalind Philips-Solomon, Jennifer Coulton and Amanda Boeing.

‘The Green Arcana: Herbs as Tools of Transformation in Magic and Ritual’

In the castle, we are also hosting a session on ‘Publishing Your Research For Postgraduate and Early Career Professionals’ in association with Boydell and Brewer.

After a busy morning, are are now at the fifth panel of the conference with ‘The Green Arcana: Herbs as Tools of Transformation in Magic and Ritual’ with Aphrodite Skarpa, Gretchin Kepplinger and Heather Taylor

Our keynote from Dr Yarí Pérez-Marín

We are now about to listen to the second keynote speaker of the conference from Dr Yarí Pérez-Marín who is delivering a talk on “The Hidden Nature: Observation and Vulnerability in Early Modern Surgical Writing”

MEMSA Conference ‘Poetry as Natural Philosophy: Reimagining Life and Death in Verse’

Simultaneously in the Castle, there are papers from Emily Whittingham, Maria Del Mar Yunis and Kenzie Scott in the panel ‘Poetry as Natural Philosophy: Reimagining Life and Death in Verse’

Alongside hosting the conference in Durham Castle, our other panel is held in 7 Owengate, the home for the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Here are some of our talks taking place there yesterday

Kicking off proceedings bright and early on day 2 of our conference we have the first panel on: ‘Myths and Legends: Exploring the Boundaries of Folklore and Science’ with papers from Valentina Majolo, Thomas Banbury and Charles Marshall.

We are rounding up our panels for the day. Here are some more pictures from our speakers from sessions held in the Bishop's Dining Room in Durham Castle

At the same time we have ‘Gardens of Resistance: Fertility, Faith, and Female Agency’ with speakers Jessica Weiss, Charlotte Whitney-Brown, Nanna Emtoft and Ana Aldazabal

We have arrived at our final session of the day! This includes a panel Sacred Seeds and Transplanted Truths: Nature’s Role in the Human Condition with papers from Francis Taylor and Sabrina Hogan

Concurrently we have the panel on ‘Reading the Natural World: Re-Envisioning the Medieval Landscape with papers from Kieran Brooker, Emilija Jovaišaitė-Martišauskienė and Gwennffrewi Morgan.

Starting proceedings this afternoon, we have one panel entitled ‘Bodies of Belief: Medicine, Disability, and Devotion in the Pre-Modern Body’ featuring papers from Emily Kapuscak, Lalie Constantin and Olivia Bennison

Some highlights from our panel this morning on 'Listening to the land'

At the same time we have a panel titled ‘Listening to the land: Nature, spirit, and Sacred Geography across Cultures with speakers Vittoria Faga, Andrea Cartia and Virginia Ghelarducci

After a short break we are now ready for our first two panels of the day. The first panel is titled ‘Transmuting Knowledge: Alchemy Across Text, Image and Identity’ where he will hear from Dr. Sergei Zotov, Laurence Chen, and Francesca Ferrato

Dr Seb Falk delivering the first keynote in Durham Castle

Our first talk of this year's conference is the first of our two Keynotes. This morning, we are hearing from Dr Seb Falk, who will be discussing “(How) Did Medieval People Actually Do Science?”

We are currently hearing from this year's Conference Convenors - Kenzie Scott, Harriet Stahl and Bailey Leis as they welcome us to the conference and start off proceedings.

It’s the first day of the MEMSA conference. We have two days of exciting panels on this year's theme: Illuminating Nature: Explorations of Science, Religion, and Magic. Delegates are currently at registration before things kick off at 10.15!