The Military History Consortium (MHC), which connects institutions, academics, and students engaged in the study of warfare and/or military organisations in the past, is to hold its first conference at Lancaster University next month.

Together with colleagues from Stellenbosch University, the Universities of Amsterdam and Calgary, and Sciences Po Aix, Professor Marco Wyss, from Lancaster University’s Centre for War and Diplomacy, will be running the MHC’s inaugural conference from June 6 to 8 at Lancaster.

The dual aim of the conference is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas to strengthen international research co-operation and a framework for joint teaching initiatives and programmes.

“The MHC’s membership is international, and its scope is global,” explains Professor Wyss.

“While the consortium’s teaching and research agendas focus on the past, it seeks to address contemporary security challenges and inform related policy debates.

“It is only the study of war and the military in the past that enables us to understand and contextualise the present and thus prepare for the future.”

The MHC aims to:

• Organise an annual conference, which is held by its members on a rotating basis, and provides a welcoming platform for early career researchers
• Host regular online research seminars for postgraduate research students
• Develop a handbook on the global history of warfare and military organisations, jointly edited and authored by the MHC membership