Chers Collègues, Chères Collègues,
Welcome to the ASM&CF website. I am delighted to have been elected as the fourth honorary president of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France. I feel very honoured to be following in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessors who founded the association, David Hanley, Siân Reynolds and the late and very much missed Douglas Johnson.
Although not a founder member of the association I have been a regular attendee of the annual conferences. These events have been academically stimulating and are usually 'great crack'. I have been a key player having served on the executive (1986-1995), the editorial board (1995-2004) and co-organised the 1995 conference in Newcastle. The meetings of the Association have a unique friendly and supportive atmosphere. As an active member of ASM&CF I have been able to witness first hand how instrumental the Association has been in facilitating scholarly research exchanges and professional support for academics working on contemporary France.
While most of the Association's membership is based in the UK, our annual conferences attract international interest from scholars and our reputation is such that we can rely on regular support from the French Embassy to invite international experts from France. Our members are frequently invited to participate in conferences abroad. Our journal Modern and Contemporary France is continuing to extend its international readership, particularly in North America. We have expanded our support programme for regional events organised by postgraduates and established academic staff and would encourage members to take full advantage of our offer to support research meetings. You will find details of our funding schemes on the website. In addition we encourage postgraduate membership of the Association by offering reduced rates for subscription to the journal, membership of the Association and attendance at our conferences.
I look forward to meeting colleagues at our annual conference.
Máire Cross
Professor of French Studies
University of Newcastle upon Tyne