BARS Blog

This has been a very difficult year for BARS members working in universities, with every day seeming to bring news of new cuts and threats of redundancies.  BARS is keen to support members under pressure.  We have written by request to institutions considering cuts to the arts and humanities forcefully underlining the contributions made by Romantic Studies scholars; we would be happy to do this for further institutions if such interventions would be helpful.  In these straightened times, we hope we can also keep research conversations going through our in-person and online events and through our provision for Conference and Seminar support.  We would like to remind early career scholars in particular that the Stephen Copley Research Awards are available to support those with good ideas and limited resources; we also offer a number of other forms of funding detailed on our website, with a particular focus on postgraduate and early career opportunities.  Schemes are advertised through the mailbase, blog and social media whenever a deadline is coming up.

Despite the circumstances, the Exec has followed up on our ‘Romantic Making and Unmaking’ conference in Glasgow by forging ahead with several initiatives – scheduling digital events and symposia, co-ordinating our next conferences, running rounds of our funding schemes, supporting several successful events (including the recent Anna Barbauld and Global Austen conferences) and working to make sure that BARS’ finances and future plans remain on a secure footing.

Upcoming Conferences and Symposia

We were glad to be able to announce earlier this year that the next BARS International Conference, ‘Romantic Retrospection’, will be held at the University of Birmingham on the 29th, 30th and 31st July 2026.  Many thanks to the Birmingham conference team (Jessica Fay, Andrew Hodgson, Matthew Ward and latterly Laura Blunsden) for all their hard work.  At the General Meeting, the organisers also announced that we have three exciting keynotes confirmed: Ruth Abbott, Richard Cronin and Mary Favret.

BARS’ 2025 Early Career and Postgraduate Conference, ‘Romantic (Un)Consciousness’, will take place at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge on 4th and 5th September and online on 12th September.  Kate Nankervis, Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman and Zooey Ziller have put together a brilliant programme.  Registration remains open until midnight on 1st August, and full details can be found on the conference site. 

This week, BARS will also host two Digital Symposia: ‘Global Romanticism’ (Wednesday July 23rd) and ‘Expanding Queer Romanticisms’ (Friday July 25th).  These events are free to attend for BARS members; Zoom links will be circulated to the membership.

In the next few months, BARS will circulate a call for expressions of interest in hosting the 2028 International Conference, with the aim of returning to pre-pandemic practices and announcing the 2028 venue at the Birmingham conference.  If you have questions about the possibility of hosting the 2028 BARS conference, we are very happy to discuss – please just drop me an email (matthew.sangster@glasgow.ac.uk).

Members’ Survey and Responses

Earlier this year, we conducted an extensive survey to find out which aspects of BARS’ work are most important to our membership.  The results showed strong support for the full range of BARS’ activities.  International Conferences, Early Career and Postgraduate Conferences, bursaries for postgraduate and early career researchers, financial support for conferences and seminars, the Open Fellowship, the President’s Fellowship, fellowship opportunities with partner institutions (such as the Wordsworth Trust and Chawton House), the Digital Events programme, the First Book Prize, international collaborations and the mailbase were all most commonly rated in the highest importance category, with substantial majorities in the top two categories.  There was considerable enthusiasm for the website, blog and BARS’ social media accounts, but the results make it apparent that not all members regularly engage with these channels.  While we will continue to provide information through these means, the survey clarified that the mailbase should remain BARS’ primary means of circulating information.  A couple of written responses recommended that BARS withdraw from X/Twitter – we have followed this advice and will keep our regular social media presence focused on the Facebook group and our Bluesky account.

We also asked about digital provision at future BARS conferences.  28.6% of respondents favoured a fully hybrid conference; 43.7% favoured a conference with in-person and digital days, with digital access to a selection of recordings from in-person sessions; 22.5% were unconcerned about digital provision; and 7% expressed no preference.  In line with these views, we will ask future BARS conference organisers to include digital elements, but will allow their precise form to be determined by the capacity of the team and institution.

Written requests from members suggested an international board member (Francesca Saggini has been serving in that role); formalising the number of sessions people can apply to be part of at a single conference (the Birmingham team is looking into this); and further work with undergraduates and schools (something our new Education and Schools Liaison, Charlotte May, is working on).  There were also a series of suggestions about additional activities BARS might undertake – we will consider these, although we will also take to heart the cautions raised by several respondents about the possibility of the Executive taking on too much.

Fees

The members’ survey also consulted on a necessary increase to BARS’ membership fees.  A fee increase at this time is not something we undertook lightly, but BARS has not changed its fees since 2011 and has considerably increased the range of activities it funds in recent years (through initiatives including the President’s Fellowship, the Open Fellowship, the resumption of support for scholars at Chawton House, and increased budgets for conference and seminar support and for the Copley scheme). Without a fee increase at this point, the Association risks running out of funds in the next couple of years.

Through the survey, our members indicated that they would like BARS’ current activities to continue and were happy to pay increased fees to support this (8.5% of respondents supported a low increase, with the budget to be balanced using cuts; 67.6% a fee increase that maintains BARS’ current level of activity; and 23.9% a large fee increase to boost the funds available through BARS’ various schemes).  In line with this response, we have increased our fees to a level that should allow us to keep doing broadly what we do now for the next four years (after which, we will review the fees again).  We have increased the general annual fee to £37 while maintaining a considerably lower fee of £17 for postgraduates, retired members, those in part-time or impermanent positions and unwaged members.  The survey also indicated that some members would be happy to pay more to help support BARS’ activities, so we have now instituted a Sustaining Membership rate (£57) – this will always be entirely voluntary, but allows those with the means to make a higher regular payment to BARS.  Full information can be seen on BARS’ How to Join page.

Constitution and Elections

At the General Meeting on 30^th June, the members present approved revisions to the BARS Constitution to bring it in line with current practices and to make the Executive more open and accountable to the membership.  The revised Constitution can be viewed here.

We will shortly be opening nominations for the Executive roles up for election in this cycle; we will also be seeking expressions of interest from people who’d like to chair or serve on the jury for the BARS First Book Prize.  Further details will be circulated in the next few days.

Many thanks to all members for your support for BARS – as always, the Exec welcomes feedback, which can be sent to me as President (matthew.sangster@glasgow.ac.uk), to Andy McInnes as Secretary (bars.secretary@gmail.com) or to the appropriate officer (listed here).

With best wishes,

Matthew Sangster (on behalf of the BARS Executive)

Dear BARS,

As we announced at the General Meeting in Glasgow and when we circulated the members’ survey earlier this year, BARS is currently in a position where it needs to increase its fees, which haven’t risen since 2011.  In the past few years, we have expanded the range of fellowships and funding we offer substantially, spending down a surplus that had built up, but we are now at a point where we must raise fees to keep the association on a secure financial footing.

To guide us in pursuing a course in line with our members’ wishes, we asked about the level of fee increase we should implement in the members’ survey.  The vast majority of respondents (91.5%) were happy with a fee increase that will allow us to sustain BARS’ current level of activities, with those who favoured a larger fee increase outnumbering those who favoured a smaller increase (which would mandate cuts) by three to one.

In line with these results, the BARS Executive has determined that the fees will rise to the following levels as of 1st July 2025:

• Waged: £37 (from £25)
• Unwaged: £17 (from £10)

The members’ survey also indicated an appetite among some members (23.9%) for an easy means of making a larger yearly contribution to BARS; for these people, we will be setting up a new Sustaining Membership at £57.  No one will ever be obliged to pay at this level, but if you’d like to make a larger regular donation to BARS, subscribing at this level will help support additional fellowships and allow BARS to plan activities over a sustained period.

For members who have already paid this year, current subscriptions remain valid until 31st December 2025.  Please note that receiving this email does not necessarily mean that your membership is up to date.  If you haven’t yet paid your subscription for the calendar year 2025, you have until 30th June to do so at the current rates (this may be especially relevant for postgraduate and early career members attending Romantic (Un)Conciousness).  After that point, we will change the How to Join page to charge the new rates and will adjust all existing PayPal subscriptions.

If you have an ongoing subscription, you will be automatically notified when this is amended.  If you’re happy to continue as a member at the new rate, you don’t need to do anything further, but you can also cancel your subscription if you wish.  If you’d like to change the rate at which you subscribe (either because your circumstances have changed or because you’d like to subscribe at the new Sustaining Membership rate), you can cancel your subscription and then rejoin BARS using the links on the page.  For honorary members, there is no need to contact us individually.

We realise that raising fees at a time of considerable uncertainty is far from ideal, and we wouldn’t be doing so if there were other options.  However, membership fees comprise the entirety of BARS’ regular income, supporting the association’s full range of activities, from conferences to fellowships and from The BARS Review to the Digital Events programme.  Without this increase, we would need to cut back drastically.  With this increase, BARS can continue to flourish; we are confident that we will not need to increase fees again in the short term, and do not plan to review them again until 2029.

Many thanks for your continuing support, and best wishes,

Mary Fairclough (Treasurer), Yimon Lo (Membership Secretary) and Matthew Sangster (President), for the BARS Executive