MRC at 50 – Conference & Special Issue Contribution Launch

Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/

MRC anniversary celebrations set the scene for an exciting future journal volume.

Yesterday I attended the 50^th anniversary symposium in honour of the Modern Records Centre (MRC) at Warwick. If you’re not been previously aware of the MRC and its work, the website and indeed the Centre itself is most certainly well worth a visit: if only to marvel at the variety and breadth of their collections. This diversity was a key element reflected across the spread of topics discussed at yesterday’s event. Speaker’s talked about their research which had all been generated – in part or in its entirety through usage of the MRC’s collections. From sex workers to trade unions through the French Resistance, disability and cycling: it was an undoubted smorgasbord of themes.

I recall, many years ago and in a previous post at Warwick, I had the opportunity to be walked through the MRC’s archive itself by the then Archivist. It was a rare opportunity to get ‘up close and personal’ with the ephemera, communications and collected papers of many significant figures in political, social and national history alike. Certainly, being that close to historical documents was a thrilling moment.

Since its founding though, the MRC has clearly had an impact far beyond Warwick itself. This was undoubtably reflected through the international scope of the discussions and presenters represented yesterday. I shan’t try and capture the essence of the day: there was so much to take in. Plus, I suspect offering this kind of perspective is an element which the special issue call we informally launched yesterday will do to a greater degree.

An archive of thinking and research to honour the archive itself!

Hence, we will be approaching all of the presenters, and a few other selected people too, over the coming weeks to invite them all to contribute a paper to this forthcoming special commemorative issue of Exchanges. I can assure readers that if its contents are anything like as engaging as yesterday’s talks, then you are in for a real treat! We hope to bring you the issue sometime in early to mid-2024, so watch out on our social media for more news as we get closer to the launch date.

My thanks to Pierre Botcherby and the whole MRC team for inviting Exchanges to form a modest but valuable marker of the MRC’s first 50 years of success!

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For more information on the MRC’s work or collections, visit warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/ or contact archives@warwick.ac.uk. For more about the forthcoming special issue, contact Exchanges at exchangesjournal@warwick.ac.uk.

Gareth Johnson : Today 10:41 |  Tags: Archives Collaboration Conference History Issue Launch Mrc Special |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Crafting Future Themed Calls for Exchanges

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/about/submissions

Can themed calls encourage more submissions to a journal?

This week we hosted the semi-annual Board meeting(s) for Exchanges, wherein all our Board members and associate editors are invited to catch up with events and progress on the journal, and also bring new ideas to the table too. One recurrent theme, for us and indeed most smaller journals, is maintaining the amount of manuscripts we receive for consideration as papers. While Exchanges is blessed with a strong and steady flow of special issues [1], as Chief Editor I am always concerned about the amount of potential content we get which will be potentially appearing in the issue after next.

In the past we used to do semi-regular themed calls, but with the advent of the special issues programme in 2019, these have been largely – if not entirely – phased out. [2] However, after discussions at the Board we agreed it was perhaps a good time to try again. Of course this is where the question arises: for a broadly, interdisciplinary and general journal – what topics would interest the broadest spectrum of potential authors?

There were a few suggestions in the meeting on the day, but as not all of the editors were present I decided to poll them all on their thoughts and ideas – not just for this issue but for future ones too. It’ll be very interesting to see what ideas come forward, and even more fun shaping this into our first themed call for easily a year.

If you’ve any thoughts about the kinds of themed and focussed calls for papers you’d like to see from Exchanges, then please comment below – or get in touch via the journal. I’d love to hear from you!

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Endnotes

[1] A lot of news about developments in this respect coming soon!

[2] The forthcoming autumn issue for example has a number of papers responding to our birthday call.

Gareth Johnson : 07 Sep 2023 10:37 |  Tags: Calls Consultations Papers Submissions Themes Topics |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

For a Few Board Members More

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/about/editorialTeam

One more new Board member brings us up to strength.

Over the summer we had an open call out to early career researchers based at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia to join our Editorial Board. Monash was the first of Warwick's partner institutions we recruited people to the Board back in late 2017, and over the years the team members there have made a stunning contribution to the journal. A couple of the longer standing Monash-originated members stood down from the Board earlier this year, and so the time was ripe to open the books to see if any new blood could be recruited from our Australian partners.

I am pleased to report that Jacob Thomas (Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science) came forward, and has as of the end of August joined the Board. Jacob's going through their induction and training period at the moment, but you'll be please to know you can read all about their career and research over on the Exchanges Board Profiles. And while you're there, why not refresh your memory about all the wonderful people who help make Exchanges the success it is today!

Gareth Johnson : 06 Sep 2023 09:55 |  Tags: Board Members Monash New Recuritment |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Exchanges and the International Advisory Committee Visit ‘23

An international event leads to discussions around the journal for the future.

Last week, the IAS – Exchanges’ host department – hosted a two-day event which incorporated a visit from its august International Advisory Committee (IAC). Despite our regular programme of workshops and symposia facilitated by our associated research fellows, and supported by the IAS, this was the first time we’d had help an event such as this as a department. Consequently, myself and my IAS colleagues were excited [1] to welcome such senior, internationally recognised scholars to Warwick to contribute to discussions, reflections and interactions. Day one was given over to a showcase symposium of presentations from various IAS’ fellows concerning their work, concluding with a poster presentation from a selection of our other scholars. Day two though, this was scheduled to have a greater focus on the work, ambitions and direction of the IAS itself, and to be fair, was the part of the scheduled visit in which I had the most interest.

As, a modest but mighty [2], aspect of the IAS’ activities, Exchanges – as represented by me – had the chance to sit in on these second day strategic discussions between our own Director and the IAC themselves. This was fascinating, as it gave a really clear picture of the direction of travel for the IAS in the coming years, and where our current director would like to see us heading in the decade or so to come. As a report on this part of the visit and IAC discussions will appear from the IAS in due course, I won’t cover it here [3]. However, towards the tail end of these discussions I was fortunate enough to be able to briefly talk to the IAC members about Exchanges and some of the work we do.

Given there was only so much time which could be allocated across two very busy days, we kept the discussions fairly light, although I will say it was a pleasure having the chance to discuss Exchanges with a group of interested scholars and gain a little of their insights. Especially, as readers of this blog and podcast listeners alike will know well, there’s nothing I enjoy more than talking about Exchanges!

Now while there weren’t any drastic revelations or suggestions in these debates, my work and naturally by extension that of our editors, reviewers and authors alike, came in for some justifiable praise from the IAC. In particular, there was an especially warm reception for our ‘developmental rather than metric-chasing’ ethos which the journal embraces. Given this attitude alongside our overarching ‘academic altruism’ ideology lie at the heart of our operations, this felt like a validation of our longstanding efforts.

I am definitely looking forward to talking to the IAC again during next year’s visit. Having explored the basic remit of Exchanges this year, I am hopeful that we could move on to explore some of our more active developments. Perhaps even our ambitions for future growth! I’m hopeful the IAC might have some valuable suggestions for us to consider in achieving these goals too.

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[1] And maybe a little apprehensive.

[2] Probably EIC bias there.

[3] I wasn’t taking accurate enough notes to properly represent these discussions anyway.

Gareth Johnson : 05 Sep 2023 15:38 |  Tags: Discussions Iac Ias Review Symposium Visit |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

50th Podcast Episode: Across Two Professional Worlds

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

Exchanges’ podcast hits its 50^th episode with a very special guest.

It is with some measure of joy I can announce that we have released the 50^th episode of the Exchanges Discourse podcast. I am pleased that over the past three and a bit years we have grown this offshoot of the journal into a thriving and complimentary collection of scholarship, insight and discussion across our contributing community. When we started out I rather feared a lot of the episodes would be me replicating blog posts as a monologue.

While this was initially true as in the early days there were a few of those kinds of episodes, since then we have increasingly transitioned to featuring conversations with our contributing community about their lives, professional work and insights into the broader academic world.

I had originally been planning a reflective 50^th episode, looking back over the past few years of the podcast, but then I got an offer to interview someone on the podcast who hadn’t been an author in the journal – but rather the subject of a past paper. It felt rather serendipitous that this rather unusual guest would therefore occupy the 50^th episode focus, and despite a few hiccups in arranging a suitable interview time we finally came into sync recently.

Here's the episode details and link

Across Two Professional Worlds: In Conversation with Intissar Haddiya: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exchangesias/episodes/Across-Two-Professional-Worlds-In-Conversation-with-Intissar-Haddiya-e27v3a1 [24:34]

For our 50th Episode I’m in conversation with Intissar Haddiya (Professor of Nephrology, Oujda, Morocco) about her twin lives as a practicing scholar and fiction author. Intissar featured as the subject of a recent paper in Exchanges – The Doctor-Writer Experience of Intissar Haddiya – and hence that’s why she’s appearing in discussion with us today. We discuss balancing her professional roles, and how the insights from each help inform her work in the differing sphere. We touch too on her experiences with professional publishing, and the advice she has for other scholars and writers of fiction looking towards their first work.

Given we’re into the summer break season, and then heading into the new academic year, I suspect it’ll be a while before our next episode – so a perfect time to listen to this and catch up on any previous episodes you might have missed!

Gareth Johnson : 15 Aug 2023 08:14 |  Tags: Celebration Episode Interview Nephrologist New Podcast Writer |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Editorial Board Members Welcomed

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/about/editorialTeam

A new crop of editors has joined our Board.

We are very pleased to announce that three more new Editorial Board members have joined Exchanges. This is as a result of our programme to both continue to bring in new insights to our editorial team, and also to replace some of our long-standing editors who have stood down from the Board in recent months. So, it is a hearty and warm Exchanges welcome to:

• Dr Bing Lu, Faculty of Arts, University of Warwick, UK
• Dr Louise Morgan, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, UK
• Dr Ute Oswald, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, UK

You can read about all three of these editors, and all our Board members, on our Board Profile page: https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/BoardProfiles

These three new editors represent the first time we have directly recruited from Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study’s early career fellows programme for some years. Given Exchanges longstanding relationship with this community as chief editor I am especially delighted we have strengthened our links here. I am sure Bing, Louise and Ute will have many useful insights and contributions to make over the coming years.

Meanwhile, we are also in the process of recruiting editors from Australia’s Monash University, long time home to our very first international Editorial Board members back in 2017/18. As Monash has become a little less represented on the Board over the past year, I am pleased to have been able to reach out to potential editors over there, through the agency of our mutual International Office colleagues. Hopefully, in a month or two I’ll be able to share more about our next crop of editors!

Gareth Johnson : 19 Jul 2023 10:33 |  Tags: Ecrs Editors Fellows New Recruited Warwick |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Special Issue – Celebrating 50 Years of the Modern Records Centre

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/special-issues

Wouldn’t you know, it’s another special issue announced!

Following hot on the heels of our other special issue project announcement, I am delighted to announce that we have a second new special issue in production. This time we are partnering with the Warwick Modern Records Centre (MRC) as part of their 50^th Birthday celebrations, to produce a volume incorporating reflections, insights and narratives inspired around the MRC’s work over the decades. I am especially pleased as the lead collaborator, Pierre Botcherby, is someone I worked closely with on the Then & Now Special Issue a year or so back.

The special issue is going to specifically driven by the papers and speakers who appear at the MRC’s birthday conference (The MRC at 50: Research Informed and Inspired by the Modern Records Centre) this September (20th), and will be primarily critical reflections. The idea being in this way we can more rapidly produce the issue, and share it with the world before too many months have gone by. I am also pleased to note we’ve already recruited three associate editors to work on the issue, and am looking forward to training and working alongside them on the issue.

Naturally, more news on this and the conference over the next month or so, but for now, and just before your EIC heads off on a couple of weeks of leave, it is fantastic to have these two new and exciting projects in the offing!

Gareth Johnson : 19 Jul 2023 09:29 |  Tags: Announcement Birthday Issue Mrc Special |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Special Issue in Research Cultures Announced

Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/research/supporting-talent/research-culture-at-warwick/

A new special issue project represents an exciting long-term collaboration between the journal and Research Culture programme.

We are delighted to let you know that we have partnered with Warwick’s Research Culture programme and the forthcoming Research Cultures Forum to produce a special issue. This issue, which we hope will mark the first of a series of annual collaborations, aims to comprise a range of critical reflections drawing on the sessions and speakers contributing to the conference. The conference itself is to be held Mon 25^th September 2023, details of which can be found via the link above.

One reason I am especially delighted to announce this collaboration, is due to the centricity of research culture work at Warwick at the moment. Personally speaking, research cultures were the area which triggered my PhD studies a decade ago – in my case relating to open access publishing habitus of scholars in the UK.

Naturally myself and the rest of the Editorial Board are looking forward enormously to working closely with the Research Cultures team over the coming months. With any luck, the issue itself should be out in the first half of 2024, and naturally I’ll be updating readers about progress both here, in the journal editorials and our monthly newsletter too.

Meanwhile in the background, the reviewers, authors, associate editors and myself are working feverishly to bring you the long-anticipated Pluralities of Translation special issue in the latter half of 2023. More concrete news on that exciting issue, as soon as I know more.

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For more on special issues and how they come about - visit our IAS pages. Or to see the past and future special issues programme, see the journal site itself.

Gareth Johnson : 04 Jul 2023 09:00 |  Tags: Announcement Collaboration Culture Issue Research Special Warwick |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Episode: Orwell & Modern Political Speech

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/podcast

Podcast episodes are like buses, all of sudden two come along at once! After our last recent Exchanges Discourse episode, we are pleased to be able to bring you a chat with another of our recent authors. This episode I’m in conversation with past journal author Imogen Birkett. Our conversation is framed around her paper: Literature in Politics: The Appropriation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in contemporary British parliamentary debate, which appeared in the most recent (V10.3) of Exchanges.

Taking as its core theme, Imogen’s work around contemporary British parliamentary speech we consider her findings, and the avenues for future work, particularly within the realm of social media. Naturally, as with every episode of the podcast we also touch on words of advice for graduate and early career researchers approaching their first journal articles.

Orwell & Modern Political Speech: In Conversation with Imogen Birkett

Listen in via either of the following links:

• https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exchangesias/episodes/Crossing-the-Creative-Frontier-In-Conversation-with-Sonakshi-Srivastava-e25va0h
• https://open.spotify.com/episode/1EO7zB57rxUvgJXOnsxLmz?si=KYF2I5-lTyaFYqrRe4dIzQ

For those looking to jump directly to the key points, here are the main episode signposts.

• 0:00 Opening
• 1:59 Paper
• 8:08 Public awareness of Orwellian concepts
• 10:43 Why Orwellian speech matters
• 13:26 Developing further research themes
• 15:16 Orwellian social media discourse
• 16:48 Advice for authors
• 20:26 Closing

Gareth Johnson : 22 Jun 2023 09:00 |  Tags: Episode Orwell Parliament Podcast Speech |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

New Episode: Crossing the Creative Frontier

Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/ias/exchanges/podcasting/

A new episode of the podcast discusses creative and academic writing, and the role inspirational novels play in shaping our thinking and research.

Once more it’s time to announce the release of another new episode of the Exchanges Discourse podcast. This time I’m in conversation with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University based scholar Sonakshi (Sona) Srivastava about her writing and research work.

Naturally, we discuss the paper she authored entitled Res(crip)ting the Gaze: Agency and the aesthetics of disability in ‘Animal’s People’. This paper appeared in our special issue on the Anthropocene and examined the writing of author Indra Sinha around the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

Alongside this we talk about the crossover between creative and academic writing, and the related roles novels and languages can play in shaping thinking and perceptions. Naturally, Sona also offers a range of advice on approaches towards publication especially for early career scholars and first-time authors.

Listen in here:

Crossing the Creative Frontier: In Conversation with Sonakshi Srivastava [34:35]

• https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exchangesias/episodes/Crossing-the-Creative-Frontier-In-Conversation-with-Sonakshi-Srivastava-e25va0h
• https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SC4BRGDLV3cM06rldXK7I?si=b6y6F6PWQEmEvjaClVk7_g

And to help you jump right to the key points - here's the episode index:

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:43 Introductions
• 4:26 Exploring Sona’s paper
• 9:10 Other publications & creative writing
• 19:20 Positive publishing experiences
• 23:58 Advice for authors
• 33:41 Closing

As I’ve already got the next episode recorded, we will hopefully be back before too long with our next instalment of the Exchanges Discourse!

Gareth Johnson : 20 Jun 2023 16:12 |  Tags: Bhopal Creative Discussion India Novels Podcasting Writing |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem