Call For Papers, RAF Museum Conference 2025

Published on: 4 March 2025

Organiser: Royal Air Force Museum

Conference: New Research Perspectives in Military Aviation Research

Place and Date: Royal Air Force Museum London, Thursday 4 – Friday 5 September 2025.

Application deadline: 25 April 2025.

Submission Type: Abstract, plus a biography and talk title.

Form of Submission: Maximum 300 words in English. Biographies should be no more than 200 words. Talk titles should be no more than 80 characters.

Applications to be sent to: megan.kelleher@rafmuseum.org

Overview

The RAF Museum is pleased to announce a call for papers for its conference entitled ‘New Research Perspectives in Military Aviation Research.’ This event will be held on Thursday 4-Friday 5 September 2025. The keynote for this year’s conference will be presented by Prof Holger Nehring and Dr Sam Alberti on material memories of the Cold War.

Image shows an F-35B Lightning Jet creating a vapor cone as it flew past the Aircraft Carrier during flight deck operations which took place over the two days where the Jets conducted vertical landings, take offs, and hot pits (refuelling). Personnel from 617 Squadron, RAF Marham, deployed on board HMS Queen Elizabeth for a number of days in July 2023 for the Aviation Integration Period, in preparation for the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 2023 Deployment. RAF Marham is the home of the F-35B Lightning, a 5th Generation, multi-role, stealth fighter. RAF Photographic Competition 2023 Winners: Category D: Peoples Choice Judges Nominations Award: 10 Image title: Vapor Cone Photographer: AS1 Natalie Adams — Crown Copyright/AS1 Adams, Open Government Licence V3

This conference will present research that offer new perspectives on military aviation, challenge the accepted historical consensus and review the powerful legacies of air power. The conference will have an interdisciplinary approach, including papers from history, international relations and defence studies among other disciplines.

Aviation was the defining technology of the 20^th Century, but its relevance to contemporary history remains imperfectly understood. In particular, the conference will explore how the media – both of its time and in later commemorations – have shaped the standard view of Air Power. This aspect of history was used in the past and present to shape the narrative and memory of particular historic events, yet is an underrepresented field of study in Air Power.

The organisers welcome proposals that approach the conference’s broad theme of new perspectives in Air Power research. Proposals should demonstrate how their paper considers at least one of the following:

Challenges standard views, as opposed to reinforcing the current consensus.
Tests established explanations utilising methodologies not previously applied to the topic.
Creates new interpretations of previously studied historical events.
Studies Air Power from non-traditional perspectives.

Organisers would welcome proposals on:

Reconsidering doctrine and procurement.
The environmental impact of modern warfare.
The intersectionality of Air Power research and modern military strategy.
The representation and commemoration of events relating to Air Power.

Please send a paper title, abstract and biography to the Museum’s Historian and Academic Access Manager, Dr Megan Kelleher megan.kelleher@rafmuseum.org by Friday 25 April 2025.

Proposals for papers of 20 minutes should consist of a title, 300-word abstract, and a short biography (maximum 200 words).

We would particularly welcome papers from Doctoral Researchers, in addition to Early Career Researchers. There are a limited number of bursaries for those requiring financial support to present at the conference; please speak to Dr Megan Kelleher for more details.

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