Simon Barton Postgraduate & ECR Conference Prize
Applications for the 2025/26 competition are now open. Follow us on social media for updates.
Society for the Medieval Mediterranean offers grants to assist postgraduate students and early-career researchers with the financing of small conferences, symposia and workshops.
This grant was established in 2017 by Professor Simon Barton, former President of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean. Support for early-career scholars was one of his priorities, as this grant – now dedicated in his memory – suggests.
The proposed research event, organised by the postgraduate or early-career applicant, may include conferences, symposia, workshops and/or outreach/public engagement initiatives/exhibitions, which should align with the aims and scope of the Society. In-person, blended, and online events are all eligible. For online events funds may be used to support the creation of digital resources related to the event and/or to promote inclusivity. Funds will not be awarded to finance honoraria nor travel expenses for keynote speakers or other senior, salaried researchers.
The event should be dedicated to explore any aspects of Mediterranean history and culture from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries C.E.
All events sponsored by the SMM must comply with the SMM Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity policy.
The award will be up to £1000.
Events funded in this round must be completed before 30 April 2026.
Eligibility:
Applicants should be enrolled in a Postgraduate programme (both Masters and PhD programmes are eligible) or should be an Early Career Researcher* at the time of submission of their application. *Early Career Researchers for the purposes of this grant include those who are within 4 years of the award of their PhD degree at the time of applying and who do not hold a permanent position.
Selection criteria:
The event organised by the applicant should:
align with the aims and scope of the Society by fostering cross-cultural investigation and encouraging interdisciplinary debate, providing a forum to share ideas on the multiple aspects which characterised, shaped and defined society, politics, economy, religious and cultural movements within and beyond the medieval Mediterranean;
involve both established and early career scholars, as well as students, interested in the history and culture of the medieval Mediterranean;
be feasible and coherently structured;
offer postgraduate students and early career researchers an opportunity to present and gather feedback for their research, while also enhancing their research networks.
Outputs:
Successful applicants will be required to write a blog post about their funded event (up to 2000 words, which could include images and videos) within one month of the date of the event.
How to apply:
Please, complete this application form by 31 January 2025.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application as soon as possible after the submission deadline.
Any queries should in the first instance be emailed to: socmedimedit@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Threads
Previous awardees
simon barton conference prize 2024
The 2024 Simon Barton Conference Prizes were awarded to:
"L. Vanvitelli”, 'Peregrinatio transmarina: East and West, bringing cultures in the Medieval Mediterranean and the Holy Land through texts and documents' organised by Federico Guariglia (Università di Genova) and Matteo Parodi (Università degli Studi della Campania)
AND
‘Between East and West: The Mediterranean as a Space of Transfers among Eastern and Western Christianity during Late Antiquity (500-800)’ organised by Daniel Montiel Valadez (University of Granada) and Javier Soto Martínez (University of Granada)
Smaller contributions were awarded to:
‘Only Medinas? Defining habitats and rural space between North Africa and Al-Andalus (7th-13th centuries)’ organised by Silvia Berrica (University of Alcalá) and Luis-Gethsemaní Pérez-Aguilar (University of Alcalá)
‘The Times They Are a-Changin-Change in Medieval Mediterranean' organised by Phoebe-Irene Georgiadi (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Konstantinos Karatolios (University of Crete)
‘25 Years After Hillenbrand: New Approaches to Sources, Translation and Perspectives' organised by James Wilson (University of Konstanz)
simon barton conference prize 2023
The 2023 Simon Barton Conference Prizes were awarded to:
'Perceptions of Justice in the Christian and Islamic Mediterranean (500-1200)' organised by Javier Albarrán (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) & Pablo Poveda (Universidad de Valladolid)
AND
'Circulation of goods and technical knowledge in the Islamic Mediterranean, 8th-11th centuries' organised by Silvia Berrica (Alcalá University, Madrid) & Francesca Colangel (SPFS Department, Tor Vergata University of Rome)
Smaller contributions were awarded to:
‘Studying Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages from a comparative, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective’ organised by Leticia Tobalina-Pulido (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Inicpit (Santiago de Compostela))
‘Historiography at the End of Antiquity – Concepts, Audiences, and Regionality in the Broader Eastern Mediterranean, 500 – 700’, organised by Jakob Riemenschneider (Universität Innsbruck)
simon barton conference prize 2022
The 2022 Simon Barton Conference Prizes were awarded to:
‘The Adriatic between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages - Space of Transfer of Ideas and Forms’ organised by Ana-Marija Krnic (Université de Franche-Comté), Filip Lovric (Institut des Sciences et des Techniques de l’Antiquité (ISTA UR 4011), University of Zagreb) & Palmira Krleza (Institut des Sciences et des Techniques de l’Antiquité (ISTA UR 4011), University of Zagreb)
AND
‘Filomena Barros. In memoriam. Todas as minorias, toda a História’ organised by André Filipe Oliveira da Silva (University of Porto) & André Filipe Madruga Coelho (University of Evora)
Smaller contributions were awarded to:
‘The Theory and Practice of Royal Rulership in Medieval Europe and Beyond: Heiresses and Female Rulers (c.1000-c.1400)’ organised by Dr Anaïs Waag (University of Lincoln)
‘Forming Words, Forming Things: Changeable Forms across the Mediterranean, 500-950’ organised by Gabrielle Russo (University of Cambridge) & Harvey Phythian (University of Cambridge)
‘Cross-Cultural Entanglements in the Mediterranean and Beyond, 1200-1600’ organised by Elvira Tamus (University of Cambridge), Nicola Carotenuto (University of Oxford), & Stanislaw Banach (University of Cambridge)
simon barton conference prize 2021
The 2021 Simon Barton Conference Prize was awarded to:
‘Identity Abroad in Europe and the Mediterranean, 11th - 15th centuries’ organised by Teresa Barucci (University of Cambridge) & Susannah Bain (University of Oxford)
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‘Greek Islands under the control of foreign rulers (13th-15th century). Searching for their identity through their patronage’ organised by Maria Vavva & Dr Michail I. Asfentagakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
A smaller contribution was awarded to:
‘New approaches in the study of medieval settlements(V-XV century)’ organised by Dr Leticia Tobalina Pulido (Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour/ University of Navarra)
simon barton conference prize 2020
The 2020 Simon Barton Conference Prize was awarded to:
‘Polyphonic Communities: Ways of Belonging in the Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World’ organised by Laurence McKellar (University of Oxford)
Click here for the Programme
AND
‘Digital Humanities: New Approaches to Research and Teaching of the Medieval Mediterranean’ organised by Nerea Fernández Cadenas (Universidad de León)
Click here for the Conference website
Smaller contributions were awarded to:
'Staging the Ruler's Body in Medieval Cultures: A Comparative Perspective' organised by Gohar Grigoryan Savary (University of Fribourg)
Click here for the Programme
AND
‘Oxford Medieval Graduate Conference 2020: Translation’ organised by Jose Andrades Porras (University of Oxford)
Click here for the Programme
Click here for the Conference report
simon barton conference prize 2019
The 2019 Simon Barton Conference Prize was awarded to the workshop ‘Crossing Boundaries: Trade & Connections in the Medieval Mediterranean’ organised by Jessica Tearney-Pearce (University of Cambridge, Woolf Institute) & Dr Mike Carr (University of Edinburgh, Leverhulme Trust)
This conference shed light on the lives of the peoples involved in maritime mercantile activity in the medieval Mediterranean and the worlds which they occupied, especially as they relate to boundaries in the context of cross-cultural and inter-confessional exchanges.
The Mediterranean Sea in the Middle Ages remains a rich subject of research. The discovery of new sources and the development of new methodologies have ensured that discussions around the Sea and the people who occupied its shores are as lively and cutting-edge as ever. To add to this, current events in the region make now an especially pressing time to revisit key debates surrounding the medieval Mediterranean, namely the influence of conflict and opportunity on the movement of people across its waters, the existence of trade as a connector of different peoples, and the role of merchants in working together – or, at least, trading with one another – in times of tension.
These debates, however, presuppose that the medieval Mediterranean was a sea of boundaries: boundaries between religions, boundaries between cultures, and boundaries between rival powers. Although obstacles preventing communication and connection across the Sea certainly existed in this period, it is difficult to clearly define Mediterranean ‘boundaries’ or to identify where they lay, if at all. States and institutions, for example, certainly aimed to construct boundaries through the regulation of contact and exchange, but with the absence of any pan-Mediterranean maritime law, or the ability to effectively police the Sea, this was never fully achieved.
Recent scholarship has shed some light on the crossing of perceived boundaries, but this has largely taken an “official” or “top-down” approach. For example, much attention has been given to the formal commercial agreements made between states of different cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as to the activities of their representatives in overseas port-cities and foreign courts. While this is important, comparatively little attention has been paid to the people who actually crossed these boundaries and those intimately involved in such crossings, or their collective exploits on and around the Sea. These were not only merchants, and neither were they all frequent seafarers – in fact they could be anyone from a maritime customs official in Barcelona to a ship’s cook from Crete – but their experiences are excellent perspectives from which to approach many practical aspects of medieval maritime mercantile history, including the existence, or absence, of Mediterranean boundaries.
This conference aims to highlight the lives of the peoples involved in maritime mercantile activity in the medieval Mediterranean and the worlds which they occupied, especially as they relate to boundaries in the context of cross-cultural and inter-confessional exchanges. Particular attention will be paid to merchants and trade as connectors of peoples between whom boundaries and obstacles preventing communication and connection can be perceived.
Click here for the Programme
Click here for Conference report
simon barton conference prize 2018
The 2018 Simon Barton Conference Prize was awarded to the workshop ‘After the Conquest: converging approaches to the study of the Iberian Reconquista, 9th–14th centuries’ organised by Rodrigo Garcia-Velasco (University of Cambridge, Woolf Institute)
Write here…
Click here for the Programme
Popularly known as the Reconquista, the Christian conquest of al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula has long been a popular area of research. Although there have been some major breakthroughs over the past thirty years, an historiographical impasse has hindered transnational collaboration between different scholars and schools of thought.
A fundamental aim of the workshop was to go beyond the dominant narrative of conquest, that has framed the Christian military advance in terms of change versus continuity: whether the Christian takeover amounted to a military, feudal conquest breaking with the Islamic past; or whether Latin rule was mitigated by surrender treaties, hybrid ethno-cultural institutions and pragmatic tolerance or coexistence, known as 'convivencia' among scholarly circles and in popular culture.
The workshop started from the premise that this debate has become somewhat sterile, and aimed to go beyond the established paradigm by bringing advocates from different scholarly camps together. The two-day gathering comprised archaeologists, historians and art historians discussing different types of evidence, approaches and methodologies, during the different stages of the Christian conquests of Islamic Spain.