In late 2011, staff of the Naval Historical Foundation began working closely with Dr. Gary Weir on a proposed re-design of the website hosting the International Journal of Naval History. IJNH was launched in 2002 to provide a pre-eminent forum for works of naval history researched and written to demonstrable academic standards. The Journal is a digital publication, providing scholars and history buffs full access to all IJNH content online through a website. The website was designed in 2002, and has been hosted by NHF ever since. From 2002-2010, IJNH published 2-3 online issues per year, containing original articles, book reviews, editorials, and news from the naval history community. 2011 saw the Journal on a hiatus, but new content is planned for 2012.

At the end of January, we launched a completely overhauled website for IJNH. Back issues are available as PDF files that can be downloaded and printed - several hundred articles in total. We hope that you will check out the new website, and contact the editorial board at IJNH if you want to get involved in future issues.

Visit the new website at www.ijnhonline.org.  

Conference to be held at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland on 20th and 21st October 2012.

The conference will be hosted by the Centre for Military History and Strategic Studies at the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM) and is held in partnership with the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies at King's College London, the Centre for Applied Research in Security Innovation (CASI) at Liverpool Hope University and with the Irish Naval Service.

This conference will address the role and activities of small navies in the past and the present at the national, regional and inter-national level. It will focus, in particular, on the different ways in which such navies identify and address national and international security challenges and the way in which they interact with other navies and security agencies. In addition to examining traditional 'hard security' roles such as coastal defence, guerre de course, sea control, sea denial and power projection the conference will also explore the relationship of such navies with non-military organisations, institutions and bodies in pursuit of goals relating to broader maritime security concerns including governance, surveillance, environmental protection, economic wellbeing, seaport security etc. It is intended to include panels focusing on current and future concerns in addition to others that address the history of small navies in peace and in war.

It is not intended to be prescriptive about what constitutes a 'small navy' beyond acknowledging that the term implies some limitation in size, role, reach, and/or capability vis-�-vis large (i.e. the US) and medium sized (i.e. the British, French and Indian) navies. One of the aims of the conference will be to identify areas of commonality in the experience and activities of smaller navies and also to establish the main differences between themselves and also between small navies and their 'larger' counterparts. An examination of the existence of distinct 'small navies' within large navies is another area that may be explored. We invite submissions for papers and/or panels devoted to any aspect of the subject area and with either a historical or a contemporary focus. Special consideration will be given to proposals that address the following topics: maritime security operations; anti-piracy operations; civil security; bilateral and multi-lateral engagement; the role of small navies within evolving regional security structures; the inter-action of small navies with other agencies (including larger navies) for military and also non-military purposes such as knowledge and/or wealth creation; the impact of the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy and the focus on 'blue-growth'; and, the extent to which traditional and current naval strategy and doctrine is appropriate for smaller navies.

Applicants are asked to submit a 500 word proposal/abstract and a CV to the address below. Any queries relating to the conference should be directed to the same address. Papers should be no more than 30 minutes long. The closing date for the submission of proposals is 30 April 2012.

The historic town of Maynooth is located 20km west of Dublin and has good road, rail and bus links to the city centre. It is 30km by road from Dublin airport.

Accommodation is available on-campus, in Maynooth town or close-by in Dublin. The university has approximately 8,800 students and 29 academic departments in three faculties (Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy; Engineering and Science; Social Science) and is located on a pleasant university campus in Ireland's only university town. The spacious campus is laid out in its own extensive grounds in rural surroundings, and is divided between an older complex of fine nineteenth century buildings (adjacent to a thirteenth-century castle) and a modern complex of teaching, research, and support facilities.

For further information please contact:

Dr Ian Speller
Centre for Military History and Strategic Studies
Department of History, NUI Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
Tel +353 (0)17083652
Email: mhss@nuim.ie
Website: http://history.nuim.ie/