BAAS Annual Conference 2026 Conference Announcement
The College of Arts & Humanities and Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies at the University of Glasgow are delighted to host the 71st annual British Association for American Studies conference at the University of Glasgow, to be held from Thurs 9th to Sat 11th April 2026. We look forward to welcoming the international American Studies community to our beautiful West End campus.
This will be the first BAAS conference in Glasgow since 1999, and the first in Scotland since 2008. The conference coincides with the 250-year anniversary of 1776 and thus offers opportunities for new scholarly appraisal; 2026 also marks the University of Glasgow’s 575th Anniversary. We are delighted to announce Professor Mia Bay (Cambridge), Professor Sinéad Moynihan (Exeter), and Professor Simon Newman (Institute for Research in the Humanities) as, respectively, the 2026 Journal of American Studies, Eccles Centre and Andrew Hook Centre keynote speakers.
The University has long been a hub for the study, understanding and teaching of American, Transatlantic, Canadian, and Caribbean Studies. The College of Arts & Humanities at Glasgow is strongly committed to interdisciplinary studies and we work in long-term partnership with the cultural sector (both locally, for example, we are home to the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery – and thus important Whistler and Charles Rennie Mackintosh collections) and internationally. We are renowned for our pioneering research on Glasgow’s – and Scotland’s – Atlantic history, particularly in relation to slavery, and we are home to the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies. We also host the Scottish Council on Global Affairs with its expertise in diplomacy, politics and intelligence studies, and the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts & Humanities, currently the only national DTP and a hub for PhD students from 17 institutions across Scotland. The Andrew Hook Centre is Scotland’s only centre for American Studies, and sponsors an extensive lecture and seminar series, which is open to academics, students and the general public.
The conference programme draws on all of the above interests and will take the broader context of Scottish-American history, culture and exchange as a key theme. However, the conference will also feature panels and papers on other current and emerging area of American Studies, as broadly conceived. The programme includes a range of papers across eras, geographies, and disciplines and those that take a comparative approach and address American Studies pedagogy, impact and knowledge exchange, and the shape and future of the discipline. We look forward to welcoming activists, teachers, artists, and other community practitioners alongside academic colleagues.
The conference will take place on the University’s Gilmorehill campus; the opening evening will be marked by a Civic Reception at Glasgow’s City Chambers. Overnight accommodation is plentiful in Glasgow. The Glasgow visitor bureau provides useful links. Glasgow is easily accessible by rail or coach with direct services from across the UK. Public transport within the city (by subway – the famous Clockwork Orange – or by bus) is straightforward. For more information on travel and accommodation, conference rates (including subsidised rates for Postgraduate Research Students and Early Career Academics), details of keynote speakers, networking opportunities, and social events, please visit the Booking Pages, which will be updated regularly. Please note that by registering for the conference, you are agreeing to abide by BAAS’s Code of Conduct. This can be found on the relevant page of our website.
Please address further enquires to: UofGBAAS2026@glasgow.ac.uk
View the Eventbrite for the Conference and register your place.