COVID-19 and SFS activities

Dear members, colleagues, and friends,

Due to the ongoing crisis relating to COVID-19, the Society for French Studies has taken the decision to cancel this year’s postgraduate conference, and its annual conference, which was due to take place in July in Bath.

We hope to be able to reschedule the postgraduate conference later in the year; our next annual conference will be in Belfast in 2021. Speakers due to attend the Bath conference have already been contacted by email, and the hope is that many will be able to present their work at Belfast. A new CFP for Belfast will also be issued in due course.

In the coming months we may have to adjust deadlines for some of the Society’s other activities in response to ongoing developments, although we hope that the schedule for all of our prizes will remain the same. We would like to reassure members who currently hold offers of funding from us (including for research, and conferences and workshops), that where activities have had to be postponed due to COVID-19, we will still honour our original commitment and are happy for funds to be spent at a later date. Where members with offers of funding from us have booked tickets and yet not been able to travel due to COVID-19, and are unable to have their tickets refunded, we will also cover these costs. Members in this situation will not be prevented from reapplying for further funds from us to cover the same research activities, once travel restrictions are lifted.

If you have any questions about a particular funding scheme, please contact the member of the SFS executive committee responsible for the scheme; contact details are available via the relevant prizes pages of our website.

Unfortunately Oxford University Press have had to temporarily suspend print production of French Studies and French Studies Bulletin, due to supply chain issues. Members still have full access to these publications online, via the OUP website, throughout the crisis.

We hope that all our members are safe and well, and send you our warmest wishes.

The SFS executive committee