Between 7 and 9 January 2026, Dr Maja Perić, Senior Assistant, participated in the 55th Annual Conference of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (BSECS). The conference, entitled Big and Small, was hosted at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.
Dr Perić delivered her paper, Big Plans and Small Realities: The Organisation of the Rijeka Sugar Factory in the Context of Habsburg Commercial Policy, 1750–1775, on Friday, 9 January, as part of the panel Imperial Matters. Drawing on a preliminary analysis of correspondence, her paper examined the tensions between the Habsburg Monarchy’s ambitious commercial strategies—particularly those associated with the establishment of the Privileged Company of Trieste and Rijeka in 1750—and the day-to-day operational realities of the Rijeka sugar refinery.
The paper was very well received, prompting a lively and constructive discussion that opened up promising avenues for further research. During the conference, Dr Perić also introduced participants to the project and directed them to its website. In addition, she benefited from detailed feedback from her assigned conference mentor, who offered valuable guidance on methodological approaches to analysing an extensive corpus of French-language sources.
Photographs, the presentation, and the conference programme are available below. You can find the full text on academia.edu.
We find it appropriate […] to promote the establishment of a Trading Company, which, by uniting its strength, knowledge, and care, will strive […] to develop the various branches of a necessary and profitable commerce.
