On Wednesday 18 February, the Society visits historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield. This visit will include a public lecture by our guest speaker, Professor David Stack (University of Reading) who will speak on ‘History and Well-Being: a Historian’s Perspective’.
Booking for in-person attendance at this lecture — which takes place at 5.30pm on Wednesday 18 February at Sheffield Hallam University — is now available. The lecture will be followed by a reception and chance to meet with members of the Royal Historical Society’s Council who are attending the visit to historians in Sheffield.
All are very welcome to attend the lecture and reception, and we especially hope to meet with Fellows and Members of the Society living in the city and surrounding region.
David’s lecture considers how historians might engage with contemporary discussions of well-being. What does history have to tell us about the term and its use? Does the study of history contribute to or detract from well-being?
This lecture argues that history can and should make a unique contribution, both to the concept and the practice of well-being. The study of history can deepen our understanding of the structural forces that shape well-being, and, by self-consciously integrating a well-being agenda into our research and teaching, we can simultaneously enhance the well-being of ourselves and our students and demonstrate the relevance of history to one of the most important public policy debates of our time.
David is the author of ‘Promoting Well-being through History Teaching’ which was published in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society in 2024.
The visit to historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield is the first in the Society’s 2026 programme of meetings with historians and history professionals working across the UK. Later visits this year will include to historians at Aberystwyth University (May), the University of Strathclyde (October), and the University of the West of England / University of Bristol (December).
Recent visits (2025) include those to historians working at or associated with the University of Exeter (Cornwall Campus), University of Aberdeen, University of Suffolk and Suffolk Archives, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine / UCL Institute of Education.
Header image: Sunset Sky, John Frederick Kensett American,1872, Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, New York, public domain.