Rachel Allerton, MA Research candidate, Macquarie University

As my first introduction to ANZAMEMS, I found the 2015 10th Biennial Conference programme crammed full of fascinating papers on medieval and early modern topics. It was an educational and useful experience for me as a postgraduate, and I benefited enormously from meeting and hearing established academics in my field talk about their research and theories.

The round table discussions on global medievalism and post PhD employment were specifically aimed at emerging scholars and bore fruit in opening the topic to greater thought and dialogue. I believe ANZAMEMS is in a unique position to provide guidance to emerging scholars and I saw this occurring through the interaction of established academics and postgraduates.

I was also pleased at the initiative in women’s networking undertaken by Dr Dolly MacKinnon (UQ) and Dr Clare Monagle (Macquarie University) with the formation of the Maddern-Crawford Network (MCN) in fostering support and guidance for women in the the field of historical research. This is an enterprise close to my heart as a female postgraduate.

While this was my first attempt at presenting a paper I feel that I gained experienced in not only writing and presenting my research and argument, but also connecting with other scholars and working collaboratively.

I hope to attend the next ANZAMEMS in 2017 in New Zealand. I will start saving now!