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Renaissance Ecologies – 7th Conference of the Nordic Network for Renaissance Studies

Conference organised by the Early Modern Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 8-10 October, 2026.

Conference information - preliminaries

Although our conference is still a few months away, we thought we’d share some preliminary information in order to facilitate booking of travel and accommodation. The conference will take place at the University of Gothenburg’s centrally located Campus Humanisten, close to airport buses and other services. Lunches will be served here or in the close vicinity, and the conference dinner, on 9 October, is planned for the seafood restaurant Kajutan at the Gothenburg food market Stora Saluhallen, within walking distance from the university building.

The final programme will be posted by the end of August, but for now, it may be useful to know that the conference will begin at 9.00 on Thursday 8 October and end after lunch on Saturday 10 October.

For those of you who will arrive early on Wednesday 7 October, we are planning a visit to the Gothenburg Natural History Museum in the afternoon. If you are interested, please let us know no later than 31 May 2026 (send an email to renaissanceecologies@lir.gu.se).

Conference fee

There will be a conference fee of 900 SEK (Swedish Krona) / 700 SEK for PhD-students, which includes all conference sessions and material, lunches all days, reception on 8 October, coffee breaks and refreshments. For those wishing to participate in the conference dinner, a further 500 SEK will be charged. Please note that payments from outside of Sweden can only be made by credit card, and that 25% VAT will be added (according to Swedish regulations). Please use the payment link/s below (using credit card):

Conference fee: The link will be available soon

Dinner at Kajutan, Stora Saluhallen: The link will be available soon

The fees will need to be paid by 8 September, 2026!

Accommodation

While we’re not able to offer special deals for hotels via the university, here are some suggestions within walking distance of the conference venue (listed in approximate order of priciness):

Comfort Hotel Panorama

Hotel Lorensberg

Hotel Lemonade

Scandic Rubinen

Elite Park Avenue Hotel

Gothia Towers

For more suggestions, see https://www.gothenburg-hotels.com/all-hotels/

We are looking forward to seeing you all in October!

For questions, please contact us via renaissanceecologies@lir.gu.se

Our warmest wishes,

Cecilia and Per (for the conference organisation committee)

Call for Papers

Established in recent decades as a research area in its own right, the study of ecology in the Renaissance has diversified into several distinct but related fields. The conference aims at taking stock of the broad range of meanings, creating conversations between the existing areas and inquiring into possible directions onward. We suggest a range of both literal and more metaphorical conceptions of ‘ecology’ in which nature, broadly defined, may be considered both an object of study and an agent of change or stasis. The relationship between humans on the one hand and climate and the animate world on the other; the ability of humans to compete with or outdo nature; nature as both a physical and symbolic order; and the interest in hybrid forms, between human and non-human are among the topic areas the conference seeks to address. However, we welcome papers from scholars in and outside the Nordic countries on any aspect of ecology in the ‘long’ Renaissance, here understood as approximately the period 1400-1700.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Conceptions of ‘nature’ in the Renaissance world, and how these related to the human world
Climate theories in the Renaissance
Cold versus heat as metaphorical, theological and physiological phenomena, as represented also in the arts
Gendered ecologies, e.g. how nature as fertile or generative was gendered, and how the ecology of gender impacted scientific, theological and literary interpretations of the world
Revisiting genre conventions, including, but not limited to, pastoral genres
Animal studies, including conceptions of animal rights/agency
Sustainability as a literary and artistic topos
The material world interpreted as a symbolic order, in relation to e.g. divine transactions
Aesthetics of ars/technology vs. natura/nature/environment
Hybrid beings, cyborgs and automatons, including the blurring of boundaries between human and machines and depictions of ‘monsters’ or ‘aliens’

Confirmed keynote speakers include Sophie Chiari (Université Clermont Auvergne), Carin Franzén (Stockholm University) and Christopher P. Heuer (University of Rochester), David Dunér (Lund University).

Abstracts and panel proposals should be sent to following address: renaissanceecologies2026@lir.gu.se

We welcome abstracts of ca. 200 words together with a bio of ca. 50 words, to be submitted to the above addresses by 28 August, 2025. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes and 10 minutes Q&A. If you wish to propose a whole panel, the maximum number of presenters is three (or, alternatively, a two-part panel with 5-6 presenters). In such cases, in addition to the individual panels, please submit a general description of the panel of no more than 500 words. Decisions on accepted proposals will be communicated before the end of September, 2025.

Enquiries should be directed to Cecilia Rosengren (cecilia.rosengren@lir.gu.se) and Per Sivefors (per.sivefors@sprak.gu.se); please send any messages to both.

Last modified

7 April 2026