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History
 Research Division

Heritage & Creativity Research Theme

Exploring links between history, heritage and the present


The dynamic community of researchers within our History Division delves into the very essence of human identity, both at an individual level and as communities. Our research and teaching explore the relationships between history, heritage and the present.

Research within the Division encompasses heritage and cultures on a global scale and spans a millennium. Our academics’ expertise includes, for example, meteorology in medieval times, the history of the Papacy, belief in Early Modern England, the French Revolution, gender in Africa, animal history in the Indian subcontinent, Cold War Berlin, modern British culture and politics, the USA in the era of slavery and the Cold War, and politics and popular culture in modern Egypt. 

We have strengths in the histories of gender, political ideologies, societies and their material cultures, emotions and beliefs, subaltern peoples, and the history of science, including animal health. The diversity of our research footprint is demonstrated by our externally-funded projects, including the fiscal origins of the French Revolution, politics and popular culture in Egypt, political polarization in the English Civil War, women and the miners’ strike, and the politics of English protest music. We have externally-funded ECRs working on projects portraying malaria in colonial India, and women and the memories of US slavery. Via AHRC network grants, staff in the department have contributed to the histories of British landscapes, motherhood and Atlantic slavery, and youth subcultures. 

Our academics successfully strive to engage and inspire the wider public with their work -- embracing digital technologies and utilizing social media -- to drive better understanding of research and to influence change. Additionally, we work with strategic partners within and outside the University, including the , Demos, the Houses of Parliament, the National Coal Mining Museum, the National Maritime Museum, the National Trust, Plymouth Museum, the Museum of Youth Culture, and the US Embassy in London. Our work with the National Archives and the Royal Society. 

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Two academic women standing in front of a display

Research highlights

Understanding women’s roles in the miner’s strike

Dr Natalie Thomlinson is an historian of feminism and gender in modern Britain, fundamentally concerned with how both of those categories are mediated through race and class. Her AHRC-funded project, Women and the miners’ strike: Capturing changing gender roles in working-class communities in Britain after 1945 (working alongside Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite at UCL) undertook oral histories with women from coalfield communities, revealing their experiences of both the strike and how it is has been memorialised, as well as how the experiences of activist women should be understood in relation to the feminist and socialist activism in the post-war period. .

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Social listening: Analysing the Middle East

Dr Dina Rezk is a specialist in Middle Eastern History. Her research explores significant events that have taken place across the Middle East during the twentieth century and seeks to understand how modern culture and social media influenced recent upheavals such as the ‘Arab Spring’. Her findings are informing the work of UK Cabinet Office, Home Office, Ministry of Defence, NATO and the US Department of Defence. Dina’s project, Social listening: developing new qualitative methods to understand digital cultures in the past, present and future, won a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award in 2017.

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Overcoming archival silences in US slavery 

Professor Emily West is exploring the past to help understand and tackle issues of social justice and racism. Focusing on enslaved women, where archival and historical sources are scarce, Emily has examined past events to explore different viewpoints that can inform current debates. In 2016 she hosted an international AHRC-funded conference, ‘Mothering Slaves: Motherhood, Childlessness and the Care of Children from Slavery to Emancipation’.

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Nancy Astor statue

Impact Projects: Studying the past to inform the future

Staff in the department lead on and contribute to a number of important and prize-winning impact projects that seeking to inform the future and influence change, including:

Celebrating 100 years of pioneering women in politics

Dr Jacqui Turner is the UK’s expert on Nancy Astor. Jacqui’s research in the archives at ÌÒÉ«ÊÓÆµ Special Collections is uncovering untold stories of Lady Astor, the first female to take her seat in UK Parliament in 1919. Jacqui’s work has informed the UK Parliament’s centenary celebrations of The Representation of the People Act, 1918, the Voice and Vote exhibition in Westminster Hall, London, and the #Vote100 project. In 2018/19, Jacqui led a year-long celebration of Nancy Astor - #Astor100, raising public awareness of her life and work and her wider legacy. The project was in partnership with the people of Plymouth, the National Trust at Cliveden and the Houses of Parliament. Jacqui’s project, Vote100: Beyond the ballot, Women’s rights and suffrage from 1866 to today, was a finalist for the Research and Impact Engagement Awards 2018. Astor100: Celebrating 100 years of women in Parliament, challenging the male narrative was a winner of the Research and Impact Engagement Award 2020. .



Subcultures that influence politics and society

Professor Matthew Worley’s work explores the influence of subcultures on politics and wider society. He has used a participatory research approach to investigate the punk era between 1977 and 1984 highlighting . Matt helped to set up the Interdisciplinary Network for the Study of Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change, which holds regular symposiums and curates a book series on subcultures and social change for the publishers Palgrave Macmillan. Matt’s project Punk in the East was shortlisted for the Research and Engagement and Impact Awards 2017. . 

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News

For the latest news and events relating the the History Research Division, .

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Get the latest news about our research via:


Selected publications


and Murphy, E., (Boydell & Brewer 2018)

. Journal of Historical Geography, 69 (2020) 

(Cambridge University Press, 2017)

, Financial History Review, 25:1 (2018) 

, in Cuttica, C. and Peltonen, M. (eds), Democracy and Anti-Democracy in Early Modern England 1603–1689: History of European Political and Constitutional Thought (Brill, 2019) 

, (Cambridge University Press, 2019)

, , Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 39:2 (2019) 

, (Oxford University Press, 2018)

, (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018) 

, , Studies in Church History, 57 (2021) 

, (Edinburgh University Press, 2017) 

, (Oxford University Press, 2016) 

, in Shetler, J. B. and Hodgson, D. (eds), Gendering Ethnicity in African History: Women's Subversive Performance of Ethnicity (University of Wisconsin Press, 2015)

, , History of Political Economy, 52:1 (2020) 

, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

, (I.B. Tauris, 2018)

, , Journal of American Studies (2021) 

, (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

 

Related links

The Department of History is part of the University's 'Heritage and Creativity' research theme. We maintain strong relationships with a wide range of departments and institutions across the University, underpinning the interdisciplinary nature of history. We're actively involved with several cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research centres and clusters, as below:

Early Modern Research Centre

Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies

Gender History Cluster

Research at the Department of History

Study opportunities

The Department of History hosts the prestigious annual Stenton Lecture, given by an eminent historian on their field of research. Staff are also involved in the Early Modern Studies Conference, and a range of other high profile events throughout the year, including an annual GCMS event.

All our students are regularly invited to our research seminars, workshops and conferences within our University, and are encouraged to take part in national and international networks. We also organise an annual postgraduate workshop, where all our postgraduate students are invited to give papers on their on-going research to staff and students and to comment on their fellow students' work.

Stenton Lecture

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Subjects A-B

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biochemistry
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Bioveterinary Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminology
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Museum Studies

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  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
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We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2026/27 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2025/26 courses.

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