French studies conference converges on Cardiff

Cardiff University recently hosted the 56th Society for French Studies Conference which took place at various locations across the campus.

During the three day conference which started on 29 June, 170 delegates from both national and international institutions attended including Vice-Chancellor, Colin Riordan, and plenary speakers Eric Méchoulan from the Université de Montréal, Peter Dayan from the University of Edinburgh, Mireille Calle-Gruber from the Université de Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle and Christie McDonald from Harvard University.

The conference provided an opportunity to celebrate French Studies in its breadth and diversity, and to acknowledge the contribution made by the community of students and scholars in the field of Arts and Humanities research more widely. Six colleagues from Cardiff presented their work: Professor Claire Gorrara, Dr Kate Griffiths, Professor Hanna Diamond, Dr Rachael Langford, Dr Anna Clayfield and Dr Charlotte Hammond together with two PhD students: Esther Liu and Ayshka Sené.

The President for French Studies, Professor Mairéad Hanrahan said: “It’s been wonderful to see so many young people, especially postgraduate students and early career researchers. We very much welcome the Vice-Chancellor’s support for the Humanities and Modern Languages community in particular. It’s great to see a vibrant, stimulating environment and the glorious weather which has showcased Cardiff beautifully.”

Professor Edward Welch, School of Language and Literature at Aberdeen University said that; “the conference captured the diversity of French Studies and it was pleasing to see people coming to Cardiff and exciting to get to know the departments. This has been a large and vibrant environment.”

Professor Claire Gorrara, Head of the School of Modern Languages remarked; “Delegates commented on how supportive and engaging the Vice-Chancellor was and how much he welcomed French Studies to Cardiff, building upon our recent research success in the Research Excellence Framework.”