Waves breaking on rocks.

Since the first explorations from Europe to the Americas, the Atlantic world has become a unique nexus of economic, literary, cultural and political exchange and debate. The Transatlantic Exchanges forum brings together scholars working across different disciplines in the field of transatlantic studies. Our aim is to facilitate original research collaborations in this field.

Current research interests:

Anglo-American colonial experience and legacies

Contemporary Poetry

Environmental literatures

Visual Art and Culture

Current projects:

An aerial photograph of Plymouth naval base. Photo: LA(PHOT) Paul A'Barrow./MOD [OGL (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/)], via Wikimedia Commons

15th Annual Transatlantic Studies Association conference, Plymouth University, 4-6 July 2016 

A call for papers is now available on the Transatlantic Studies Association website.

Keynote Lectures:  The Mayflower Lecture: Mary Nolan (NYU), SHAFR Lecture: Barbara Keys (University of Melbourne), Fionnghuala Sweeney (Newcastle University)

Plenary Roundtable: The State of the Art: The United States and Transatlantic Relations as an Academic Field (with representatives from BAAS, HOTCUS, BrANCH, USFPWG, APG, Eccles Centre)

Mayflower 400 image - for use on Transatlantic exchanges forum only

Mayflower 400

As the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower voyage approaches, we are working with partners in the US, the city, local schools, and regions across the country. We are developing research projects and public engagement initiatives with all our partners to mark this historic voyage and its legacies.

Further information about the Mayflower 400 celebrations.


Typewriter and student writing

British and American writing and the Sea

‘British and American writing and the Sea’ is our new collaborative research project and will be led by Mandy Bloomfield. The project is interdisciplinary and will bring together scholars from literary, historical, artistic, scientific and environmental studies. Contact Mandy Bloomfield for further information. 


Plymouth University based contributors

Contributors from other institutions

Contributors to the Transatlantic Exchanges forum are not limited to Plymouth University, we have a diverse community that spans the Atlantic as well as other UK based institutions

Doctor Helen Cowie, Lecturer in Early Modern History, University of York.

Doctor Maeve Pearson, lecturer specialising in nineteenth-century American literature, University of Exeter.

Doctor Karen Sánchez-Eppler, Professor of American Studies and English, Amherst College, Massachusetts.

Doctor Renée Bergland, Professor of English, Simmons College, Boston. 

Melissa Adams-Campbell, Assistant Professor of English, Northern Illinois University.

Doctor Julia Straub, Senior Lecturer in Literatures in English, University of Berne, Switzerland.

Catherine Armstrong wrote her PhD on 'Representations of 'place' and 'potential' in North American Travel Literature 1607-1660'.