Module 6 of the RSPH Training Program, entitled ‘International Networking and Working in an International Academic Community’, took place on 6 and 7 February in Antwerp. Amanda de Lannoy, one of the participants, wrote a brief report on this module.

This module on international networking and publishing prompted me to reflect more explicitly on how I position my research within broader international historiographical conversations, and how that positioning shapes concrete publication strategies. The advice to “publish in the venues you read” was particularly clarifying. It reframed journal selection not as a strategic afterthought, but as an integral part of scholarly engagement: journals are not just outlets, but communities of debate.

Across the workshop, three small groups of PhD candidates worked intensively on the assignment of reframing their wide-ranging doctoral projects for an international conference on “Dynamizing and Decentring Empires: A Recalibration of the History of the Political.” Rather than simply aligning topics with the conference theme, the groups focused on sharpening arguments and identifying points of historiographical intervention that could speak across subfields. This collective exercise foregrounded the challenges of translation inherent in international conferencing: how to render diverse empirical work legible and compelling to an audience not primarily invested in one’s specific case or geography. The process was marked by a balance of critical engagement and collegial generosity – participants openly shared doubts, tested conceptual language, and helped one another reduce jargon without sacrificing analytical precision – illustrating in practice how academic collaboration can both improve individual work and sustain a shared intellectual community.