Date: Friday 28th November 2025
Venue: St Mary’s University, Twickenham
In November 2024, St Mary’s University, Twickenham hosted a conference on the Commonwealth of Nations. In the feedback, participants valued the opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary conversations on the Commonwealth and asked the organisers to hold the conference again this year.
While 2024 marked the 75th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Nations, 2025 marks two major anniversaries: the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Commonwealth Secretariat to support member countries to achieve the Commonwealth’s aims of development, democracy and peace and act as “a visible symbol of the spirit of co-operation that animates the Commonwealth”; and the 30th anniversary of The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration (CMAG), which established the criteria for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations.
There are a range of views and disciplinary perspectives on the value of the Commonwealth. While some scholars consider it an embarrassing legacy of the British Empire that has no place in the 21st century, the modern Commonwealth of Nations has grown from seven member states in 1949 to 56 today, including countries that had no colonial or constitutional links with the United Kingdom. Other countries have also expressed an interest in joining.
While last year’s conference was originally intended to focus on international relations scholars’ perspectives, it attracted applications from a number of other disciplines which resulted in interdisciplinary conversations covering a wider and richer mix of academic perspectives.
Topics of Interest for the 2025 conference include (but are not limited to):
- Different theoretical perspectives on the Commonwealth.
- Policy analysis and public policy papers related to contemporary challenges to the Commonwealth
- Innovative frameworks in Commonwealth studies.
- Interdisciplinary approaches to issues affecting the Commonwealth as a whole or its member states, including, but not limited to, climate change, democratisation, cultural exchange, education, human rights, development, civil society, business development, and international trade.
- Comparative studies that bring the commonwealth as an organisation into dialogue with each other international organisations or non-Commonwealth countries.
- Research applying innovative or historically grounded methodologies, ideologies, or epistemic principles.
- Investigations into the role of the commonwealth within global contexts.
Submission guidelines:
- Please send an abstract of no longer than 250 words that explains how your research relates to the Commonwealth.
- Additionally, please include a brief biography (up to 150 words), considering your academic affiliation, research interests, and contact information.
- Please send your proposal to [email protected] and [email protected] (subject line: Interdisciplinary perspectives on the Commonwealth) by 31 August 2025.
- Notification of acceptance will be sent in September 2025.
Selected papers from last year’s conference are being peer reviewed for inclusion in a special edition of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and Policy Studies. In 2025, we hope to select papers for inclusion in a book or special edition of a journal and look forward to receiving your research proposals.
