{"id":6411,"date":"2026-04-17T12:27:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6411"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:27:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:27:49","slug":"conference-report-sea-changes-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6411","title":{"rendered":"Conference Report: Sea Changes Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Open Graves, Open Minds research group\u2019s 3-day conference\u00a0Sea Changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river<\/a>\u00a0at the British Library and online was a resounding success and an absolute pleasure to attend. It was a truly international affair: delegates came from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK and the USA. There were a healthy number of doctoral students from the UK and beyond. BARS generously funded the fabulous Sea Changes programme design, Teams backgrounds and posters. This meant the organising committee could release funds for postgraduate tickets. You can view the fantastic design for the illustrated\u00a0Sea Changes Booklet<\/a>\u00a0on the project\u2019s webpages. The printed souvenir posters were popular with delegates and a PDF featured in the online conference packs for those presenting on Teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Romanticism informed many of the papers from presentations on Hans Andersen to lively discussions of sea changes in Keats, Wagner and La Motte Fouqu\u00e9, and considerations of mermaids and other hybrid sea creatures in English, German, Polish and Czech Romanticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference began online with a full programme hosted by OGOM members Dr Daisy Butcher and Dr Ivan Phillips, of the University of Hertfordshire.\u00a0 There were panels on \u2018hybridity, monstrosity and taxonomy\u2019, \u2018aquatic romance\u2019, \u2018mermaids and otherness\u2019, \u2018romanticism and sirens\u2019, \u2018myth and storytelling\u2019, \u2018selkie stories from Scotland to the artic\u2019, \u2018The Little Mermaid\u2019 and adaptation\u2019, and \u2018mermaids, hybridity and aquatic environment\u2019. The first keynote speaker, Dr Katie Garner, seamlessly interwove her experience of humanities funding with her research into Romantic Scottish mermaids, to give a creative and informative talk for Postgraduates and ECRs. This was followed by the Sea Changes Flash Fiction competition and beautifully read fictional and biographical narratives from acclaimed writer Betsy Cornwell, author of\u00a0Tides<\/em><\/a> and the selkie-inspired memoir\u00a0Ring of Salt<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the second day the in-person event unfolded and there was a lot of excitement as  the Sea Changes signage went up at the British Library and the poster design and OGOM logo were projected onto large screens. There was an Open Graves, Open Minds display table with OGOM books, posters, postcards and fliers offering 30% off purchases for delegates from the publisher MUP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British Library days were hosted by the founders of the Open Graves, Open Minds project, Dr Bill Hughes and Assoc. Prof. Sam George. Proceedings got underway with an introduction to the OGOM Project and a slide show on its research strands, publications and mission statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Project extends to all narratives of the fantastic, the folkloric, and the magical, emphasising that sense of Gothic as enchantment rather than simply horror. Through this, OGOM is articulating an ethical Gothic, cultivating moral agency and creating empathy for the marginalised, monstrous or othered, including the disenchanted natural world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by Sam George\u2019s keynote on Ningy\u014d<\/em> or Japanese human fish yokai and the rise of the fake museum mermaid. Panels ran throughout the day on \u2018aqueous creatures and gender identity\u2019, \u2018hybridity and metamorphosis\u2019, \u2018re-enchanting nature\u2019, \u2018reimagining the merfolk of fairy tale\u2019, \u2018the gothic Little Mermaid\u2019, \u2018sirens selkies and the feminine\u2019, \u2018mariners and merfolk\u2019, and \u2018folklore, fairies and fish people\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was time for a few mermaid games and drinks at Mabel\u2019s Tavern before a well-attended and enjoyable conference dinner at Nonna Selina<\/em>, accompanied by some sea tunes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third day saw delegates contributing to panels on \u2018nation and nature\u2019, \u2018aquatic romance 2\u2019, \u2018the divine and monstrous feminine\u2019, \u2018mermaids of poetry\u2019, \u2018water women of Japan\u2019, \u2018oceanic post colonialism\u2019, \u2018selkies and ecocriticism\u2019, \u2018ambivalent selkies\u2019, \u2018traumatic water folk\u2019 and \u2018mermaids undines and the arts\u2019.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final keynote was presented by Prof. Catherine Spooner, of Lancaster University, a long-standing contributor to the OGOM project. Catherine spoke generously on how much OGOM had influenced the direction of her own research before delighting delegates with her analysis of terror and wonder and the sparklification of the mermaid figure in all its glorious manifestations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Bill Hughes gave the closing remarks, after presenting earlier on selkie romance novels, and attendees joined together to celebrate fifteen years of the OGOM project. The Sea Changes<\/em> edited book and special journal issue were announced, together with the planned publication of the Mermaid flash fiction shortlist. Sea Changes had a fantastic venue and striking visuals. It will be remembered for its lively theme, the quality and diversity of its papers and the kindness and warmth of its delegates. The event was made possible by the generosity of its sponsor BARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Sam George<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam George is Associate Professor in Research in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. Sam is known as the Convenor of the popular\u00a0Open Graves, Open Minds<\/a>\u00a0Research Project, founded in 2010. She has an unusual research specialism in literary vampires. This led to her featuring in the\u00a0BBC’s Seven of the Most Unusual Areas of University Research<\/a>. She is a champion of Public Humanities, successfully promoting public discourse, raising the visibility of humanities research and enhancing its impact by speaking to diverse audiences through her research. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Open Graves, Open Minds research group\u2019s 3-day conference\u00a0Sea Changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river\u00a0at the British Library and online was a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6413,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6411\/revisions\/6413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}