Contents:
About
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Cambridge Undergraduate Conference in German Studies. This year’s theme is Recognition.
At a time when questions of how we define identity, subjectivity, and community are at the centre of political discourse, the power to recognise—or not to do so—is the power to determine what belongs and what does not belong. This power has shaped our perception of reality and the actuality of our past. How do we recognise ourselves? What cultural value do we ascribe to this recognition, and are we actually what we recognise, or are we shaped according to an idea of what we should be? These questions are fundamental to individual, cultural, and national identities and can be applied to bygone periods just as easily as they can to the modern day.
There will be a keynote from culture journalist and researcher Aida Baghernejad.
The conference will take place on Saturday 1st March 2025 at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
We are looking forward to hearing your insights and seeing you at the conference at the start of March! If you have any questions, please contact the Conference Committee.
Registration
Registration for university students is not yet open. This page will be updated with further information in due course.
Call for Papers
The 2025 Call for Papers is now closed. An archived version is available as a PDF.
Schools Programme
In addition to our general programming, the conference features a series of workshops and activities just for school students (and their teachers/guardians):
- Creative Translation Workshop led by Sophie Lau of the Stephen Spender Trust (Years 12 and 13)
- College tours including Cambridge Admissions Information Session (Year 12)
- Interactive workshop on Literary/Film Interpretation led by a member of the German Section at Cambridge (Year 13)
- 'AI and the New GCSE Curriculum' (CPD/PPD session, primarily for teachers) delivered by Ben Merritt, one of the authors of the new Pearson Edexcel GCSE German textbook
Please complete our schools registration form by Monday 10th February 2025.
Please use the sign-up form whether you are registering as a teacher with a group of students, or as a school student/ guardian of a school student. Please do not use this form if you are a university student or an academic: there will be a separate registration route.
This form will register you (and your students, if relevant) for spaces at the conference and you will be able to indicate your interest in a travel subsidy, should these be available. Subsidies are a Widening Participation measure. Availability is not guaranteed, and any subsidies will be allocated in accordance with our outreach priorities, so please consider your situation before applying.
Important note: You will need to sign up for the workshops on another form once the timetable has been confirmed. As space is limited, you must sign up separately for these additional sessions (workshops, information sessions, tours, etc) once booking is released. These sessions do not overlap with planned breaks, including lunch, but take place in parallel with undergraduate presentations, which, while not tailored specifically for school students, welcome all attendees.
Partners
Funding for the Conference comes from the Schröder Fund and the DAAD.
