IMS alumnus Dr Yinwen Mai reflects on the International Medieval Congress 2024

I came to study at the IMS in September 2019. I completed my PhD in 2023, which was centred around Bishop Gibert Foliot, Bishop of Hereford, and his charter collection, under the supervision of Professor Julia Barrow and Dr Melanie Brunner. I am now working as a postdoctoral researcher at Fudan University, studying a group of canon law collections compiled in English dioceses in the late twelfth century.

The IMC is a big social event. It helps to broaden horizons of what to study and helps others to know the trends of scholarship and identify the research that still needs to be done. For me, having the opportunity to interact with other academics in my field of study was important. I read a lot of scholars’ journal articles and meeting then in real life was very advantageous to my PhD and research. I got to ask questions I would have been able to ask and learn from them and how they study.

The interesting activities helped me to understand the perceptions of history in modern life and its reception, whilst adding to the medieval atmosphere.

I have been to a few round table talks, which discuss a topic of communal interest with the scholars. It made me aware of modern progress in medieval studies, the troubles the academics faced, errors in their research, their methods of research and how they do it. It was good to see how scholars use this time to discuss recent publications and celebrate the work of others and the research that has been undertaken.

I have attended 5 IMCs in total, two online and the rest in person. Online was incredibly beneficial when I was not able to travel due to the pandemic. Though I did miss out on the interesting conversations after, it was still exciting interacting and speaking with scholars despite being a great distance away.

I presented a paper in 2023 and it was a great experience! Being a PhD student, it was amazing to have done this as it gave me the opportunity to practice speaking in public; an important experience for starting a career. I learnt how to engage the audience and alert them to what I had been studying and why it is important. In the preparation of the paper, I got to understand my own progress and it was really helpful when preparing for questions at the end! It was a completely different experience to being sat in the audience.