BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for the Best PhD Student Conference Paper

In 2025, BAVS launched a second prize named after the Professor/Reverend Rosemary Mitchell (1967-2001), who was a brilliant scholar and served on the board of BAVS. The BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for the Best PhD Student Conference Paper honours her generosity as an inspiring supporter of younger scholars. Funded by the legacy donated by Rosemary Mitchell, the prize awards £210 to the winner (£10 to cover a year’s subscription to BAVS).

The BAVS Executive Committee piloted the BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for the Best PhD Student Conference Paper at BAVS 2025 when 39 PhD students took part. To ensure consistency in observing PhD students’ conference papers, the panel focuses on 3 areas: Argument, Scholarship, Knowledge and Understanding; Communication, Clarity and Presentation; and Engagement with the audience, peers and questions. The panel members are current or past members of the BAVS Executive Committee.

BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for the Best PhD Student Conference Paper 2025

The first winner of the BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for Best PhD Student Conference Paper in 2025 was Chandrica Barua (University of Michigan). Her conference paper was entitled, ‘Plantation Commercials: Advertising tea, empire, and racialized labour’.

The Runner-Up was Claudia Sterbini (University of Edinburgh). The title of her conference paper was ‘Nonsexuality and “The Real Demi-Vierge”: George Moore’s ‘John Norton’ (1895) as a Sexological Case Study’.

BAVS-Rosemary Mitchell Prize for the Best PhD Student Conference Paper 2026

The BAVS Committee looks forward to running this year’s BAVS annual conference together with our hosting colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University where the conference will take place from 27 to 29 July 2026.