We’re excited to share that the project DiDip and the Commission Internationale de la Diplomatique (CID) will co-host the next major conference on Diplomatics, titled “The Methodology of Diplomatics”, to be held 22–24 July 2026 at the University of Graz, in honour of the 200th birthday of scholar Theodor Sickel (1826–1908).

The conference aims to explore how traditional methodologies, such as paleography, chancery-practice analysis and textual criticism, have been supplemented or even transformed over time.

In recent decades, diplomatic studies have expanded beyond medieval charters — embracing contextual, legal, social and cultural dimensions. More recently, digitisation and digital tools have opened fresh perspectives: “digital diplomatics” seeks to adapt classical methods to online archives, digital documents, and the new challenges of authenticity in the digital age.

For this conference, submissions are invited on a wide range of topics: from historical developments of diplomatic methodology, to case studies showing how older or new methods fare when applied to different material, and to explorations of novel digital approaches suitable for diplomatics.

If you are working on charter analysis, digital archives, editorial methods, or the intersection of historic diplomatics and digital humanities, this promises to be a landmark event for the discipline and an excellent opportunity to contribute to shaping its future.

Read more about the call for papers and corresponding instructions and deadlines here.