📍 Turku–Helsinki–Tallinn
📅 June 11–13, 2026
Subject Fields: Maritime History / Studies, Marine Archaeology, Ethnology, Cultural Studies, Multispecies History
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL NOVEMBER 1, 2025
We are pleased to invite presentation proposals for the international travelling conference Travellers of the Sea, exploring maritime history, marine archaeology, and ethnology from an interdisciplinary perspective. The event will take place across three cities—Turku, Helsinki, and Tallinn—and will bring together scholars and students to discuss sea travel in all its forms, from historical passenger voyages to the movement of ideas, cultures, and living beings. The conference is jointly organised by the Finnish Maritime History Association, Finnish Maritime Archaeological Society, Estonian Maritime Museum, and Maritime Centre Forum Marinum.
The theme is broadly defined: travelling by sea, across all time periods and regions. We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to: passenger trade, migration and mobility, and travel by sailors, ideas, and cultural influences. For example, presentations on passenger services abroad, travelling conditions on exploration and refugee voyages, and moving military troops by sea are very welcome.
We encourage anyone working with topics somehow relating to the sea and maritime travel to send proposals – previous experience with maritime history, maritime archaeology, or maritime ethnology specifically is not necessary. Individual papers, as well as full panels of 3–4 papers, are invited. Please send proposals (up to 500 words) by email to conference secretary Emilia Syväsalmi (talous@smhy.fi).
Submission deadline: November 1, 2025
Submit via: talous@smhy.fi (Emilia Syväsalmi, Conference Secretary)
Accepted participants will be notified by December 5, 2025. A selection of conference papers may be submitted for publication in the peer-reviewed journal Nautica Fennica (editorial decisions made by the journal board).
Please note the conference will be held in person, and hybrid participation cannot be guaranteed. The official language is English, except on June 11, when the new researchers’ meeting will be held in Finnish and Swedish.
Read more: https://www.smhy.fi/en/activities/travellers-sea-conference
