About us
CARMEN links research institutions, universities, interest groups and individuals with a common scholarly interest in the study of the Middle Ages. It encompasses scholars from all continents to create an open and truly international platform for co-operation in the field of medieval research.
CARMEN brings together scholars from universities and academic organisations who are actively involved in research on the Middle Ages (c. 400-1500 AD/CE). We access half of the global body of about 20,000 researchers, with important contributions from Europe, North America, East Asia, Australasia and Latin America. CARMEN successfully promotes the construction of major scholarly collaborative projects. Its Executive Group directs strategies, disseminates information, reports to national associations and major conferences, and organises an annual meeting. It assists nascent projects to reach critical mass and tries to pro-actively shape research agendas.
Mission statement
CARMEN seeks to bring medievalists together both with other medievalists and scholars and specialists outside medieval disciplines, to form international collaborative research projects and research-related activities.
CARMEN helps in identifying sources of large-scale international research funds and grants, and helps research groups apply for such money. CARMEN can help instigate and co-ordinate the international network behind such projects and facilitate communication during the application process.
CARMEN recognises that large-scale projects have often gestated over a long time, and helps foster such initiatives as they grow from an initial idea to the level of maturity desired by the participants.
CARMEN helps shape the research environment for medievalists, by brokering funding opportunities with national and international agencies, and identifying relevant research trends. CARMEN envisages the next phase of development for the scholarly field as:
- Engaging with those responsible for developing public policy and research agendas, particularly, members of national research-funding agencies, selected National Contact Points for FP8 programmes, the European Commission’s Research Directorate-General and EASH (European Association for the Social Sciences and Humanities).
- Realigning scholarly interests and developing projects which clearly address issues at the heart of current and future public policy, whilst helping shape these future directions
- Moving from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research within the Humanities, to cross-faculty research, engaging most particularly with Finance (https://buffett.online/), Medicine, the Social Sciences, ICT and Applied Science.
- Maximising the public impact of research by developing partnerships with public and private bodies outside academia, including media, broader educational organisations and through knowledge transfer activities, and with tourism and heritage partners.
CARMEN envisages promoting research topics which are likely to fall under one of these over-arching themes:
- The nature of health, human well-being and social welfare, and the role of education and lifelong learning in human self-fulfilment
- Cultural interaction and diversity
- Communities under stress
- Cultural memories
- Basic research on medieval cultures
Activities
CARMEN brings medievalists, scholars and outside specialists together to form international collaborative projects and research-related activities.
CARMEN helps identify large-scale international research funds and grants, and helps research groups apply for such money. We have provided a context to network for HERA, ARC, Horizon 2020, ERC, and Marie Curie grants.
CARMEN helps instigate and co-ordinate the international networks behind research projects and facilitate communication.
CARMEN helps shape the research environment for medievalists by identifying funding opportunities and new research trends.
CARMEN regularly distributes information about funding and job openings for medievalists.
You can learn more on CARMEN here (CARMEN: Collaboration in the Face of Contemporary Challenges by Simon Forde).
Administration
CARMEN agrees policy at its Annual Meeting. In the intervening time, there is an Executive Committee to implement policy, and to help in developing CARMEN’s activities.
List of Active Participating Institutions
For a list of participating national associations see the list at http://www.carmen-medieval.net/cz/forum-for-national-associations-1404041404.html.
Western Australia - ARC CE History of Emotions, University of Western Australia, http://www.historyofemotions.org.au
Arizona - Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Arizona State University, http://www.acmrs.org
Swansea / Abertawe - Arts and Humanities, Swansea University
Porto - CEPESE, University of Porto, http://www.cepese.pt/portal/front-page-en?cl=en&set;_language=en
Lisbon - The Instituto de Estudos Medievais- FCSH/ Universidade Nova de Lisboa, http://iem.fcsh.unl.pt
Bristol - Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, http://www.bristol.ac.uk/medievalcentre
York - Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, http://www.york.ac.uk/medieval-studies/
Glasgow - Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of Glasgow, http://www.gla.ac.uk/research/
Western Australia - Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of Western Australia, http://www.mems.arts.uwaedu.au
Lleida - Consolidated Medieval Research Group Space, power and Culture, University of Lleida, http://www.medieval.udl.cat/
Budapest - Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, http://www.medievalstudies.ceu.hu/
Utrecht - Department of History, Utrecht University
Elbasan - Department of Foreign Languages, University of Elbasan, http://www.uniel.edu.al
Hagen - Geschichte und Gegenwart Alteuropas, FernUniversität Hagen, http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/geschichte/lg1/
Ghent - Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies, Ghent University, http://www.pirenne.ugent.be
Alba Iulia - History and Letters, "1 Decembre 1918" University of Alba Iulia, http://www.istorie.uab.ro
Salzburg - Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, University of Salzburg, http://www.imareal.sbg.ac.at/home/
Leeds - Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims
Zhejiang - Institute of English Literature, School of International Studies, Zhejiang University
Michigan - Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, http://www.wmich.edu/medieval
Wisconsin - Program in Medieval Studies, University of Wisconsin - Madison, http://www.medievalstudies.wisc.edu/
Copenhagen - Centre for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals, Department of Church History, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, www.teol.ku.dk/english/dept/cskmr/
Tallinn - Institute of History, Tallinn University, http://www.tlu.ee/en/institute-of-history
Stirling - Centre for Enviromental History and Policy, University of Stirling, http://www.stir.ac.uk/cehp/
St. Andrews - School of English, University of St. Andrews, http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/english/aboutus/
Poitiers - Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Poitiers, http://cescm.labo.univ-poitiers.fr/
Tampere - Trivium: Tampere Centre for Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Tampereen Yliopisto, University of Tampere, http://www.uta.fi/trivium/
Stockholm - The Centre for Medieval Studies, Stockholm University, http://www.medeltid.su.se/English/
Essen - Departements of Medieval History, of Medieval German and English Literature, Faculty of Humanities, University of Duisburg-Essen, https://www.uni-due.de/geisteswissenschaften/en/index.php