Founded in 1990 in Rome, the European Society for the Study of English is the largest and most comprehensive organization for university teachers and researchers in English Studies, including literature, linguistics, and cultural studies, throughout Europe. The Society has more than 7,000 members. It is an association conformable to articles 60ff of the Swiss Civil Code with its seat in Basle.
National associations
ESSE is an alliance of the following European national associations: Armenian Association for the Study of English, Austrian Association for University Teachers of English, Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education, Bulgarian Society of British Studies, Hrvatsko drustvo anglistickih studija, Cypriot Society for the Study of English, Czech Association for the Study of English, Nordic Association for English Studies, Finnish Society for the Study of English, Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur, Deutscher Anglistenverband, Hellenic Association for the Study of English, Hungarian Society for the Study of English, NAES, Associazione Italiana di Anglistica, Lithuanian Association of University Teachers of English, Zdruzenie na Anglisti na Makedonija, Association for the Study of English in Malta, Polish Association for the Study of English, Associação Portuguesa de Estudos Anglo-Americanos, Romanian Society for English and American Studies, Russian Association for English Studies, Udruzenje anglista Jugoslavije, Slovenska asociacia pre studium anglictiny, Slovensko Drustvo za Angleske Studije, Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, SWESSE, Swiss Association of University Teachers of English, English Language and Literature Research Association, Ukrainian Society for the Study of English, and The Council for College and University English. ASSE, the Albanian Society for the Study of English has been accepted as a full member of ESSE as from 1 January 2011.
The past Presidents of ESSE have been Piero Boitani, Helmut Bonheim, and Adolphe Haberer. The current President is Prof. Fernando Galván. The President leads an Executive which also includes a Secretary and Treasurer. The Executive meets regularly with the ESSE Board, which consists of representatives from each of the national organizations.
Activities
The activities of ESSE include providing a network for communication between individuals working in English Studies, publication of journals, allocation of bursaries to support young academics, book prizes to outstanding works in the field of English studies, and regular international conferences.
Publications
ESSE publishes a biannual journal, The European English Messenger, edited by John A. Stotesbury, and is closely associated with the European Journal of English Studies, published by Routledge.
Conference
The Society holds a biennial conference with approximately 400-700 participants. The conference consists of seminars, round tables, lectures and other events covering all aspects of English Studies including literature, linguistics and cultural studies. ESSE conferences have taken place in Norwich, Bordeaux, Glasgow, Debrecen, Helsinki, Strasbourg, Zaragoza and London. The Ninth International Conference of the European Society for the Study of English took place at the University of Aarhus in 2008, with guest speakers including Steven Connor, Nigel Fabb, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Toril Moi, Mark Turner, and Jenny Uglow. The 2010 Conference of the European Society for the Study of English took place in Turin in 2010. In 2012, the ESSE-11 Conference will take place in Istanbul, and be organized by Boğaziçi University and by .
