Dear all,

we are pleased to remind you about the international symposium Urbanisation in the British Isles: a historical and interdisciplinary perspective, which will be held at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) from 22-23 April 2016.  This two-day symposium aims to bring together scholars working on any aspect of urbanisation and migration in the British Isles and offers a forum for researchers working in the fields of geosciences, historical archaeology, (historical) sociolinguistics and social (and economic, legal) history who seek to explore the processes and forms of industrialisation and migration, as well as their effects on urbanisation and language variation and change. Both synchronic and diachronic approaches are welcome.

             The symposium is motivated by the increasing awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of urbanisation and migration. It is thus hoped that the symposium will provide a platform for researchers from different disciplines to work at the interfaces of those disciplines in order to address complex questions and problems related to urbanisation in the British Isles. More specifically, the symposium invites discussion on issues concerned with archaeological, economic, legal, linguistic, political, social, spatial and infrastructural implications of industrialisation and urbanisation.

Confirmed plenary speakers for this symposium are:

-     Paul Belford (Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust): Title to be announced

-     David Fitzpatrick (Trinity College Dublin): Divided Lives: Irish Survival Strategies in Nineteenth-Century Britain, America and Australasia.

-     Michael Pacione (University of Strathclyde): The making of urban Britain: Urbanisation, industrialisation and migration in the contemporary British city

-     Laura Wright (University of Cambridge): Urbanisation and house names  in London 1700-1900

We invite submission of abstracts for papers on any topic relevant to the conference theme.

The abstracts for papers (20 mins presentation + 10 mins discussion) should not exceed 400 words (exclusive of references). All abstracts will be peer-reviewed by the scientific committee.

Abstracts can be submitted from 1 September to 30 November 2015 through the abstract submission facility EasyAbs: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/urbanisation2016

Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent out by 5 January 2015.

If you have any queries please contact Anita Auer and Marije van Hattum by e-mail at urbanisation2016@gmail.com. ​