MRDS continues its annual tradition of inviting all scholars new to the field of early drama studies—especially graduate students, recent PhDs, and early career researchers (within four years of receiving the degree)—to submit their work to the panel. The panel will consist of four papers and commentary from a respondent.

MRDS welcomes all approaches to early drama studies for this open-topic session. Proposed papers do not have to speak to the Congress’s proposed topic of “temporalities,” however, papers related to this general topic will be especially welcome.

Please send a proposed title and brief abstract of no more than 100 words to Dr Daisy Black, at d.black3@wlv.ac.uk, by Wednesday, 15th September 2025.  More information the Leeds Congress, themed around "temporality," may be found here: https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/

Please follow the IMC guidance in your proposal:

Written expression of abstracts should be clear and accurate, avoiding the overuse of specialist jargon and abbreviations, in order that it can be easily understood by a wider medievalist audience.

Abstracts should be kept as close to 100 words as possible.

Please include your:

• full name;
• email address;
• postal address;
• telephone number;
• affiliation details (department and institution)

This information is required so that the conference can ensure that all participants are correctly attributed in the programme, that name badges for delegates display accurate names and affiliations. The conference also need to be able to reach participants quickly via email or telephone, should there be any queries or information to share with them.