CALL FOR PAPERS
Voluntary Action History Society’s 8TH International Conference: ‘New Ways of Doing Voluntary Action History? University of Liverpool, UK, 2-4 July 2025
The Voluntary Action History Society’s 8th International Conference will take place at the University of Liverpool between 2 and 4 July 2025. The conference will return to the University, site of previous friendly and successful conferences, most recently in 2022.
The Conference will explore the historical development of voluntary action in all its variety in terms of subjects, types of activity, time periods, locations and uses.
This conference will, for the first time, foreground our sources and methodologies and the challenges arising from ‘critical’ rethinking of subjects; ongoing debates about the efficacy of empirical and theoretical approaches; changes in the context of research such as different sources of funding, issues of autonomy, social responsibility and academic freedom; and the expectations of unfamiliar audiences. The changes in our environment suggest that we cannot remain ‘the way we were’ but should embrace – at least to a debatable extent – new ways of doing voluntary action history.
We are looking for an eclectic mix of papers which:
- approach voluntary action history from local, national, international or transnational perspectives
- explore subjects in a range of time periods, from the Middle Ages (or earlier) to the near-history of the twenty-first century
- are accessible to a broad audience of practitioners, activists, students, academics and people who are just interested in the subject
We would especially value assessments of traditional ways and explorations of new and innovative ways of doing voluntary action history, which might involve:
- different sources – archival, oral, material culture, online
- different perspectives – micro or macro, top down or bottom up, horizontal analyses or singular instances
- different methods – qualitative, quantitative, mixed, multi-disciplinary.
The conference programme is open to a range of subjects, familiar and unfamiliar, such as:
- the meaning, significance and scope of voluntary action
- the locations of voluntary action between and among the public, private and voluntary sectors as well as the informal and personal world of individuals, families, mutual aid and self-help groups
- motivating factors for voluntary action
- the roles of philanthropy and giving
- contributions to social justice and social change
- experience of dealing with bad actors and the ‘dark side’
- the value of expressive behaviours and leisure activities
- the importance of community-building and social resilience
- collection, maintenance and availability of source materials.
This list is indicative: we would very much welcome proposals for topics we haven’t thought of!
Format of the conference
Our intention is to hold the conference in the traditional way, face-to-face, in Liverpool, but there will be opportunities online for presenters of papers who are not able to attend in person.
Submitting an abstract
If you would like to propose a paper, please submit on our online form an abstract (500 words maximum) and a short biography (50 words maximum) later than 28 February 2025. Use our online Google form to submit your abstract.
We will be happy to consider proposals for panels of up to four papers on a similar subject, although if this is your intention, please submit an abstract for each of the proposed papers.
If you have any queries or if you wish to discuss a proposed paper’s suitability, please contact us at vahsconference@gmail.com
Attending the event
Booking will open once the programme is finalised. Please note that all speakers must register for the conference.