LHPC 2025 Recap: Thirty Years of LHPC

Jude Rowley | Lancaster University

At the end of June, over 50 Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) and emerging historians gathered in Lancaster for the Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference (LHPC) 2025. LHPC is an annual academic conference for researchers working on all periods of history and topics of historical interest that has been hosted by History PGRs at Lancaster University since 1995. This year, however, marked a particularly special running of LHPC, commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the conference.

The special thirtieth anniversary logo for LHPC 2025, designed by Sebnem Balim Capkan.

To mark the occasion, the organising committee resolved to make it the biggest iteration of LHPC yet, celebrating both the longevity of a thriving postgraduate community at Lancaster and the range and diversity of excellent historical research being carried out by PGRs across disciplines further afield. Thus, a two-day conference became a three-day conference, one keynote speaker became two, presenters were invited from more countries than ever before, and panels were packed in to a busy schedule.

The conference began in the time-honoured surrounds of Lancaster Castle, a medieval landmark befitting a historical conference. Security was slightly more lax than it had been for the royal visit of King Charles earlier that month and those who arrived early were treated to an impromptu tour of the Castle grounds in the hands of LHPC’s capable heritage expert, Luke Howarth. Once inside the Castle and welcomed to LHPC by the organising committee, attendees were introduced to the first keynote speaker of the conference, in Dr Richard Benjamin of the University of Liverpool. Now a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Museum Practice, Richard served as the Head of the International Slavery Museum between 2006 and 2021 and distilled his expertise and experience into a lively and thought-provoking discussion on museum practice. Richard retraced the steps of his personal journey through heritage, commemoration, and community, discussing his work in museum practice and raising important questions about the future of museum studies in uncertain times, focussing especially on the complexity of museums and their interactions with wider societal developments.

Dr Richard Benjamin delivering the opening keynote to conference attendees at Lancaster Castle. (Photography by Michael Vsemirnov).

Richard’s discussion of the work he has done with a range of communities across the Liverpool region and beyond left the audience with plenty of questions and sparked an open and engaging conversation about history, museums, and heritage. There could scarcely have been a better introduction to the conference and this year’s theme of ‘Lived Histories: Peoples and Cultures’.

Day two of the conference picked up where Richard left off, with a wide range of panels bringing interdisciplinary historical discussions to Lancaster University’s campus, ranging from philosophy and its entanglements to historicising urban experiences across geographical and temporal contexts. Afternoon panels included fascinating presentations of original research on travel, public health and education, class and identity, literature, and museums and heritage. As this demonstrates, for all the changes to the scale and organisation of the conference, the broad range of historical topics and periods covered by presenters remains a key strength of LHPC thirty years on from the first Histfest at Lancaster.

The conference was also a decidedly international affair, with researchers from institutions in nine different countries presenting their work. It provided an excellent opportunity for postgraduate and early career researchers working across all manner of historical periods, topics, and interests to come together and share their research with a supportive audience, while also meeting fellow historians from across Europe and beyond.

It also provided attendees with an insight into the possibilities of historical research beyond academia. The second keynote speaker was Yvonne Morley-Chisholm on the final day of the conference, who introduced her pioneering work on the ‘A Voice for Richard’ project. Yvonne is an experienced vocal coach who has spearheaded the internationally acclaimed project to recreate the voice of King Richard III by combining cutting edge technology with a strong sense of historical awareness. Yvonne demonstrated the ‘living’ avatar of Richard III, discussing its significance and some of the challenges encountered in delivering the project. It was especially striking that the keynote was as engaging to modern historians as to medievalists more familiar with Richard and his context, with the range of questions put to Yvonne by the diverse audience demonstrating the broad appeal of such ground-breaking work.

Yvonne Morley-Chisholm delivering her keynote presentation on ‘A Voice for King Richard III’ at LHPC. (Photography by Michael Vsemirnov).

With the final panel sessions following the keynote, LHPC was brought to a close for another year. The conference was an emblematic success, and hopefully did justice to the thirtieth anniversary of LHPC. Though the three days of the conference went by in a flash, it was the product of several months of planning and labour by the conference organising committee, whose collaboration made the event possible. Led by a veritable triumvirate of co-chairs in Angelina Andreeva, Alex Pomeroy, and Jude Rowley, the committee was completed by MA students from the History Department, chiefly Aimée Wilkinson, Luke Howarth, and Jimyeong-Kim Jin. Long-time LHPC stalwart Edward Moore provided invaluable input, including designing the conference programme, while Sebnem Balim Capkan served as the committee’s graphic designer, producing the new LHPC anniversary logo. It would have been impossible to deliver the event without each member of this committee, who worked together diligently to pull off the biggest conference in LHPC’s history.

Conference photographer Michael Vsemirnov ensured LHPC 2025 was captured for posterity, while the committee is especially grateful to the panel chairs who volunteered to facilitate sessions and allow for engaging discussions. The conference was generously supported by funding from the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and by funding from the North West Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership, part of the Economic and Social Research Council, which made the event possible. EPOCH’s Editorial Board also co-operated closely with the organising committee and upcoming issues of EPOCH will bear articles adapted from papers delivered at LHPC, as has become tradition.

As this all suggests, LHPC was a collaborative endeavour, delivered by a broad and diverse team and bringing together an even more diverse mix of presenters and audience members in the name of historical research. It was designed to capture the essence of all that LHPC has stood for since its early Histfest days: collaboration, community, and high-quality original research. In doing so, it has hopefully set the scene for the next thirty years.

Institutional landscapes will change, but there will always be historians. What better way to celebrate all that is great about history than bringing together emerging historians from far and wide to share their work on a welcoming and supportive platform?

The LHPC 2025 Organising Committee in front of the John O’ Gaunt Gate at Lancaster Castle. Left to right: Jude Rowley, Alex Pomeroy, Edward Moore, Aimée Wilkinson, Angelina Andreeva, Luke Howarth, and Jimyeong-Kim Jin. (Photography by Michael Vsemirnov).