Search Results for: ukraine

Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy and the Russo-Ukrainian War

The Royal Historical Society was honoured to host the distinguished historian of Ukraine, Professor Serhii Plokhy, at an event held on Tuesday 16 May.

The event took place on publication day of Professor Plokhy’s new book, The Russo-Ukrainian War, about which he spoke, in conversation with Professor Sir Richard J. Evans. At the event Serhii and Sir Richard discussed the long history of the war, the motivations for the Russian invasion in February 2022, the distinctive character of Ukrainian civil society, and possible futures for Russia and Ukraine.

Serhii Plokhy is Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. He is one of the most widely known historians working today and the author of numerous studies on the history of Ukraine, modern warfare and the Cold War.

His books include Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy (2018), which won the Baillie Gifford and Pushkin House Book Prizes; The Gates of Europe. A History of Ukraine (2015); and Lost Kingdom. A History of Russian Nationalism from Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin (2017). Professor Plokhy’s extensive work on the history nuclear power and arms include Nuclear Folly. A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (2021) and Atoms and Ashes. From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima (2022).

Wednesday’s event was jointly organised with the Ukrainian Institute London to whom the Society is very grateful for this opportunity. A video of the conversation between Serhii and Sir Richard will be made available shortly.

 

 

Ukrainian Scholars at Risk: Fellowships in History and Slavonic and East European Studies 

 

Fellowships and Fundraising

On 23 March 2022, the Royal Historical Society (RHS), British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) and Past and Present Society (P&P) are offering funding towards three short-term fellowships (minimum 3 months) at higher education institutions in the UK, European Union or elsewhere in continental Europe to provide a place of academic refuge for three scholars from Ukraine.

From 29 March, we are delighted to be joined by the Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS) which is funding a fourth fellowship to provide a place of academic refuge for a scholar from Ukraine active in the study of the history of Christianity.

From 13 April, the German History Society (GHS) has announced funding for a fifth fellowship to support a Ukrainian researcher working on the history of Germany and the German-speaking world in the broadest sense. We are very grateful for the GHS’s involvement and provision of an additional placement.

The RHS and BASEES are also fundraising to provide additional fellowships.

Each grant is worth £5,000 (€6,000) to the Fellow and must be matched by equivalent funds AND / OR in-kind assistance from the host institution (for example, travel, accommodation, meals, office space and IT support, plus insurance) of a financial sum equivalent to £5,000 (€6,000) grant for a minimum duration of three months, to begin as soon as possible.

To best support Ukrainian scholars at risk, we also welcome applications from host institutions willing to offer more than match-funding, whether as a financial sum or in-kind assistance.

Two grants (funded by the RHS and P&P) will be reserved for Ukrainian scholars displaced by the Russian invasion who are undertaking historical research in the broadest sense. A third grant (funded by the EHS) will support a Ukrainian scholar of the history of Christianity.

One grant (funded by BASEES) will be for any displaced Ukrainian scholar in the field of Slavonic and East European studies. Host institutions can offer these fellowships to PhD candidates, Early Career and established scholars.

How to make an application

  • The host institution names a scholar at risk who will be designated an RHS/BASEES/P&P/EHS/GHS Fellow.
  • The host institution will support the integration of the Fellow into the local academic community.
  • The host institution will appoint a designated mentor to support the Fellow.
  • The host institution will support the Fellow in drafting and submitting applications for long-term funding and/or more permanent academic positions at the host or another HE institution.
  • The host institution will match-fund each Fellowship via a direct payment to the Fellow; and/or provide an equivalent in-kind contribution (comprising accommodation, meals etc.)
  • In addition, the host institution will provide the Fellow with library, internet, and research resource access, and health insurance, as well as visa support if applicable.
  • The length of the fellowship is a minimum of three months.

 

Applications from the host institution must be submitted via the RHS’s online application system.

The closing date for applications from host institutions was Wednesday 20 April 2022, however applications for the Fellowship on the History of Germany and the German Speaking World now closes on Monday 9 May 2022.

 

The following information will be required:

  • information on the support provided by the hosting institution, including intended dates of the fellowship

In addition, the application requires information regarding:

  • EITHER a description of the situation of the proposed Fellow, and short CVs for both the proposed Fellow and the designated mentor.
  • OR a description of the proposed recruitment process, including time-lines.  Please note that funds are paid to Fellows, not institutions, therefore funds will only be released once the institution has successfully appointed a fellow.

Make an application vis the RHS applications portal.

Successful host institutions will be notified as soon as possible after the closing date of Weds 20 April. Questions about the application process may be sent to: administration@royalhistsoc.org.

Fundraising for additional Ukraine fellowships

The RHS and BASEES are also fundraising to increase the number of grants available via a JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/baseesandrhsSARfellowships 

Additional funds raised will support extra fellowships. We will announce these to interested universities as soon as the funding for one or more additional fellowship becomes available.

We also welcome involvement from other learned societies / organisations in the historical and social sciences who wish to partner on future Ukraine fellowship grants. Those wishing to do so may contribute via the RHS/BASEES JustGiving page or contact the Society’s CEO: adam.hughes@royalhistsoc.org.

Thank you, in advance, for any contribution you are able to make.

 

 

In Conversation — Professor Serhii Plokhy, 16 May 2023

 

The Russo-Ukrainian War

Serhii Plokhy in conversation with Sir Richard Evans

 

Professor Serhii Plokhy

(Harvard University)

 

Tuesday 16 May 2023
6.30pm-7.45pm BST – Livestreamed

 

 

About this event

In this special event, Serhii Plokhy, Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University, will discuss his new book, The Russo-Ukrainian War, which is published by Penguin on 16 May 2023.

Professor Plokhy will be in conversation with the historian, Sir Richard J. Evans.

The Russo-Ukrainian War is the comprehensive history of a war that has burned since 2014, and that — with Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv from February 2022 — destroyed the geo-political order in place since the end of the Cold War. Professor Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the war: from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR, and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics.

Our event takes place in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute London. The Institute champions Ukrainian culture and shapes the conversation about Ukraine in the UK and beyond. It explores Ukrainian perspectives on global challenges. The UIL is an independent charity registered in England and Wales.

Those joining this livestream of the event will be able to watch the conversation and discussion as it takes place, but we are unable to take questions from the online audience.

Speaker biographies

Serhii Plokhy is Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. He is one of the most widely known historians working today and the author of numerous studies on the history of Ukraine, modern warfare and the Cold War.

Serhii’s books include Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy (2018), which won the Baillie Gifford and Pushkin House Book Prizes; The Gates of Europe. A History of Ukraine (2015); and Lost Kingdom. A History of Russian Nationalism from Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin (2017). Professor Plokhy’s extensive work on the history nuclear power and arms include Nuclear Folly. A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (2021) and Atoms and Ashes. From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima (2022). His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Richard J. Evans is is one of the world’s leading historians of modern Germany. From 2008 to 2014 he was Regius Professor of History at Cambridge University, and from 2010 to 2017 President of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He served as Provost of Gresham College in the City of London from 2014 to 2020.

In 2000 Sir Richard was the principal expert witness in the David Irving Holocaust Denial libel trial at the High Court in London, subsequently the subject of his book, Telling Lies About Hitler (2002), and the film Denial. Sir Richard’s many books include Death in Hamburg. Society and Politics in the Cholera Years 1830-1910 (winner of the Wolfson History Prize in 1989); In Defence of History (2001); and the trilogy: The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War (2003-08).

Sir Richard’s The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 (2016), is volume 7 of the Penguin History of Europe, and was published in 2016. His most recent books include Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History (2019) and The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination (2020). In 2012 he was knighted for services to scholarship.

Watch the recording of this event >

 

More on the Royal Historical Society’s events programme, 2023 >

 

Society and partners award seven fellowships to Ukrainian scholars at risk

The Royal Historical Society is very pleased to announce the award of fellowships to seven Ukrainian historians and Slavonic and East European Studies scholars unable to continue their work at home universities. The seven recipients will take up their positions at UK and European universities very shortly, with the hope of several more fellowships to follow in the near future.

The Ukraine ‘Scholars at Risk’ programme began in March 2022 with a partnership between the Royal Historical Society and the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) who jointly pledged to fund four fellowships, with assistance from the Past & Present Society (P&P).

Additional funding from two more learned societies — the German Historical Society and the Ecclesiastical History Society — has made further fellowships possible. An extra position has been generated through public donations to a recent fundraising campaign by the Royal Historical Society and BASEES. At the time of writing, the Society of Antiquaries of London has also elected to support the scheme and will be providing an additional, eighth Fellowship.

In each case, the fellowships will be matched by a host university which will also provide the Ukrainian scholars with an academic mentor, office and library use, and opportunities to collaborate with departmental specialists, for a period of at least three months.

Four ‘general history’ fellowships — supported by the RHS and P&P — will be held by Ukrainian researchers at history departments at the University of Sheffield, Roehampton University, and the University of the West of England, and at the University of Bremen, Germany.

The German History Society fellowship will support a scholar of the German past at the University of Aberdeen, with an additional fellowship in the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, funded by the Ecclesiastical History Society. The seventh fellowship — held by a scholar at the Centre for Russian, Soviet, Central and East European Studies, University of St Andrews — is funded by BASEES.

Each of the fellows will also receive membership of the Royal Historical Society and of BASEES, for 12 months in the first instance.

 

The Royal Historical Society is delighted to be part of the Ukraine fellowships programme, and to have worked so collaboratively and effectively with other learned societies of history and area studies.

It’s been heartening to see other groups join the original RHS / BASEES scheme, and to receive such creative and generous applications from history departments across the university sector.

We are very grateful to these organisations, and also to the many RHS members and supporters who generously contributed funds for an additional Fellowship. We hope these placements offer refuge for scholars driven from their home universities in recent months.

The Society and its partners will be keeping in touch with each of the new fellows, and we’re sure they’ll receive a warm welcome from the historical community.

Professor Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society

 

The growth of this scheme since it was launched by BASEES and the RHS is a credit to the academic community.

Learned associations, scholars, and universities in the UK and beyond have come together to show active solidarity with their Ukrainian colleagues. These fellowships will make a real difference to those scholars at risk and their dependents.

Dr Matthias Neumann, President of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies

 

 

 

 

 

The Russo-Ukrainian War

In Conversation — ‘The Russo-Ukrainian War’, Serhii Plokhy in conversation with Sir Richard Evans, 16 May 2023

 

The Russo-Ukrainian War is the comprehensive history of a war that has burned since 2014, and that — with Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv from February 2022 — destroyed the geo-political order in place since the end of the Cold War. Professor Serhii Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the war: from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR, and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics.

Our event took place in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute London. The Institute champions Ukrainian culture and shapes the conversation about Ukraine in the UK and beyond. It explores Ukrainian perspectives on global challenges. The UIL is an independent charity registered in England and Wales.

Speakers

  • Professor Serhii Plokhy (Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University)
  • Sir Richard Evans (Former Regius Professor of History at Cambridge University; President of Wolfson College, Cambridge;  Provost of Gresham College in the City of London)

 

  • More about the event: Abstract and panel
  • Watch the event: full event panel contributions, audience questions and discussion

 

 

RHS Masters’ Scholarships: supporting students currently underrepresented in academic history

In July 2022 the Royal Historical Society (RHS) launches a new programme to actively address underrepresentation and encourage Black and Asian students to consider academic research in History.

The Society is offering four scholarships, each of £5000, to four students who will begin a Masters’ degree in History (full or part-time), or related subject, at a UK or Irish university from autumn 2022.

The Scholarships continue and develop the Society’s commitment to tackling underrepresentation in academic History. By supporting Masters’ students the programme also focuses on a key early stage in the academic training of future researchers. With these Scholarships, the RHS seeks to support students who are without the financial means to study for a Masters’ in History. By doing so, we seek to improve the educational experience of four early career historians engaged in a further degree.

Applications for the 2022 Scholarships are now invited. Please apply online. The deadline for applications is: 23.55 BST on Friday 12 August 2022.

 

The 2022 Masters’ Scholarships

The current rounds of awards provide:

  • four scholarships of £5000 each to support four students undertaking a Masters’ degree at a UK university in the academic year 2022/23;
  • there are no conditions on what the award may be spent and may be used to support fees, living expenses etc. during the degree course;
  • Scholarships will support students studying for a Masters’ degree (taught or research-based) in History or where History is the dominant component of the degree (e.g. History of Science)

 

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Scholarships, applicants must:

  • be accepted onto a Masters’ course at an HEI in the UK. Conditional offers are acceptable at application; however, release of funds is contingent upon confirmation of formal acceptance;
  • have an undergraduate degree from an HEI in the UK (although this need not necessarily be in History);

Applicants must also meet the following requirement:

  • have been in receipt of a full Maintenance Grant, or other means-tested and non-repayable financial support, for their undergraduate studies

Applicants must also meet one or more of the following requirements:

  • have participated in an access scheme, foundation year, or widening participation scheme;
  • have previously been eligible for free school meals;
  • be the first in their family to attend Higher Education;
  • have asylum seeker/refugee status issued by the UK Home Office;
  • be from an ethnic minority background as stipulated by the Equalities Act, including but not limited to Black, Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Gypsy/Romany/Traveller communities;
  • have spent time in care, or be estranged from family;
  • hold/have held caring responsibilities;
  • have a disability.

 

Financial eligibility

Applicants must be able to provide evidence that they received a full Maintenance Grant or equivalent [1], during their programme of undergraduate study. We will ask to see documentary evidence of this prior to releasing funds. If you have any questions about your eligibility, please don’t hesitate to contact the Society.

Awards may be held in conjunction with an institutional fee waiver, but not an institutional grant or scholarship.

 

How to apply

Applications for the RHS Masters’ Scholarships 2022 are now invited.

Please submit your application via the Society’s online application platform.

Applicants are asked to provide the following:

  • indication of their eligibility for the programme, as set out above
  • educational history;
  • a brief statement providing further information in support of their application;
  • evidence of conditional / unconditional offer on a Masters’ scheme within parameters set out above
  • upload of evidence of receipt of Maintenance Grant.

 

Applications open on Thursday 7 July and will close on 12 August 2022

The Society expects to contact recipients of awards in late August / early September 2022.

 

The future of the Scholarships programme

The Society intends that the Scholarships become an annual award and grow in number. We welcome enquiries from organisations interested in partnering with the Society—now or future rounds from 2023. The Masters’ Scholarships add to the Society’s existing Research Support programme which provides fellowships and grants to early career historians.

 

Continuing and developing the Royal Historical Society’s longstanding support of underrepresented groups, our new Masters’ Scholarships provide essential financial assistance for students undertaking postgraduate study in History.

The financial challenge that some students face in continuing their training is well known—especially when moving from undergraduate to postgraduate courses. The Society’s new Scholarships, offering direct and practical assistance, will support four students when taking this step in 2022-23. We hope the RHS Masters’ programme will run annually, enabling early career historians without financial means to consider a career in academic History.

As shown through the Society’s recent Ukraine ‘Scholars at Risk’ programme, schemes like this also have great potential to grow. We therefore welcome enquiries—from organisations and individuals—to partner with the Society to make more Masters’ Scholarships available from 2023.

 

Professor Emma Griffin, President, Royal Historical Society

 

[1] Eligible schemes will not require the student to repay the funds granted.

 

Bowl with a continuous landscape with scholars, anonymous, c. 1700, Rijksmuseum

Society elects 334 new Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and Postgraduate Members

At its latest meeting on 6 May 2022, the RHS Council elected 119 Fellows, 82 Associate Fellows, 61 Members and 72 Postgraduate Members, a total of 334 people newly associated with the Society. We welcome them all.

The majority of the new Fellows hold academic appointments at universities, specialising in a very wide range of fields; but also include journalists, teachers, lawyers, archivists and archaeologists. The Society is an international community of historians and our latest intake includes Fellows from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the United States.

The new Associate Fellows include not only early career historians in higher education but also historians with professional and private research interests drawn from broadcasting, digital humanities, teaching, archives, museums, galleries, heritage and journalism.

The new Members have a similarly wide range of historical interests, and include individuals employed in universities, and as curators, teachers, physicians, surgeons and local government officers – together with independent and community historians. Our new Postgraduate Members are studying for higher degrees in History, or related subjects, at 42 different universities in the UK, Belgium, India, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand and the United States. All those newly elected to the Fellowship and Membership bring a valuable range of expertise and experience to the Society.

May 2022 sees the admission of our third set of Associate Fellows and Postgraduate Members — two new membership categories introduced in late 2021. These changes to membership (about which you can read more here) enable more historians to join the fellowship, and facilitate more focused support for RHS members at the start of their careers.

New Fellows and Members are elected at regular intervals through the year. The current application round is open and runs to Monday 6 June 2022, with the next closing date being Monday 22 August 2022. Further details on RHS Fellowship and Membership categories (Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member and Postgraduate Member), the benefits of membership, deadlines for applications throughout 2022, and how to apply, are available here.

 

New RHS Fellows, elected May 2022

  • Nathen Amin
  • Caroline Ashcroft
  • Edwin Bacon
  • William Bainbridge
  • Christine Ball
  • Guru Saday Batabyal
  • Daniel Beer
  • Rhys Bezzant
  • Uri Bialer
  • Melanie Bigold
  • Nelson Block
  • Michael Breidenbach
  • Morris Brodie
  • Stephen Brumwell
  • Federico Brusadelli
  • Nicholas Cambridge
  • Mark Celinscak
  • Tim Clayton
  • Sharon Connolly
  • Annie Coombes
  • JGH Corrigan
  • Imogen Corrigan
  • Daniel Curtis
  • Jonathan Cutmore
  • Leonardo Davoudi
  • David Day
  • Margaret Dismore
  • Aaron Donaghy
  • James Downs
  • Patrick Doyle
  • Tom Duggett
  • Dina Fainberg
  • Mark Felton
  • Ariane Fennetaux
  • Michael Fleming
  • Samuel Foster
  • Sarah Frank
  • Eamonn Gearon
  • Francesca Granelli
  • Ailsa Grant Ferguson
  • Derwin Gregory
  • Emily Guerry
  • Peter Hamilton
  • James Hannam
  • Siobhán Hearne
  • Cees Heere
  • Jack Hepworth
  • Catherine Hewitt
  • Yuliya Hilevych
  • Kei Hiruta
  • Mary Hollingsworth
  • Gemma Hollman
  • Laure Humbert
  • Helen Hyde
  • Robin Jackson
  • Karl James
  • Lyndsey Jenkins
  • Pia Jolliffe
  • Heather Jones
  • Claire Jones
  • Simon Jones
  • Edward Jones Corredera
  • Sakiko Kaiga
  • Diarmaid Kelliher
  • Rachel Kerr
  • Robert Kershaw
  • Olesya Khromeychuk
  • David Kim
  • Craig Lamont
  • Frank Ledwidge
  • Amy Licence
  • Itay Lotem
  • Anna Maguire
  • Mia Martin Hobbs
  • Linda Maynard
  • Jonathan McGovern
  • Duncan Money
  • Graham Mooney
  • Kathryn Morrison
  • Aparajita Mukhopadhyay
  • Sarah Murden
  • Sherra Murphy
  • Pramod K Nayar
  • Alexa Neale
  • Elizabeth Norton
  • Maeve O’Riordan
  • Jennifer Orr
  • Ozan Ozavci
  • Olena Palko
  • Niels Petersson
  • Linda Risso
  • Brianna Robertson-Kirkland
  • Gavin Schwartz-Leeper
  • Ian Scott
  • Simone Selva
  • Ophelie Simeon
  • Haig Smith
  • Karen Smyth
  • Marco Soresina
  • Antony Spawforth
  • Anba Suriel
  • Tim Tate
  • Danielle Terrazas Williams
  • Dominic Thomas
  • Sonja Tiernan
  • Luca Trenta
  • James Ungureanu
  • Guido van Meersbergen
  • Polina Verbytska
  • Adriano Vinale
  • Alexander Wakelam
  • Felix Waldmann
  • Martin Walsh
  • Sophie White
  • Jack Whytock
  • Alexandra Wilson
  • Deborah Woodman
  • John Woolf
  • Kelly Yates

New RHS Associate Fellows, elected May 2022

  • Oludamola Adebowale
  • Christopher Bahl
  • James Barnaby
  • Mark Bennett
  • Christopher Booth
  • Bastiaan Bouwman
  • Stuart Boydell
  • Shawn Bullock
  • Claire Burridge
  • Rachel Calder
  • Katherine Carter
  • Alexia Clark
  • Matthew Clark
  • Hannah-Louise Clark
  • Marc Collinson
  • Charles Coutinho
  • Christopher Cunliffe
  • Nigel Davies
  • Lauren Davies
  • John Davies
  • Lucia Diaz Pascual
  • Reuben Duffy
  • Sarah Fry
  • Natalee Garrett
  • Sheldon Goodman
  • Eloise Grey
  • Stephen Griffin
  • Catherine-Rose Hailstone
  • Natacha Henry
  • Julie Holder
  • Fiona Holter
  • Elizabeth Hunter
  • Ciaran Jones
  • Mike Jones
  • Amit K Suman
  • Matthew Key
  • Naomi Lloyd-Jones
  • Coleman M Ford
  • Maria Christina Mairena
  • Sumantra Maitra
  • Valentina Mann
  • Rebecca Mason
  • Philip McCarty
  • Neil McIntyre
  • Charlotte Mears
  • Nick Mols
  • Toni Mount
  • Eoin Ó Donnchadha
  • Frances O’Morchoe
  • Rudi Papa
  • James Perry
  • Rachael Pymm
  • Chinya Ravishankar
  • Olivia Robinson
  • Michelle Rosenberg
  • Adam Sammut
  • Jason Sannegadu
  • Joseph Saunders
  • David Seymour
  • Matthew Simons
  • Karan Singh
  • Jack Skelton Wallace
  • Frederick Smith
  • Adele Sykes
  • Donna Taylor
  • David Thomas
  • Jessica Tomkins
  • Chika Tonooka
  • Margot Tudor
  • Momoko Uchisaka
  • Mrinalini Venkateswaran
  • John Vickerstaff
  • James Watts
  • Michael Weatherburn
  • Rachael Whitbread
  • Arthur Whittall
  • Tim Wingard
  • Matthias Meng Yan Wong
  • Matthew Woolgar
  • Jingyue Wu
  • Michael Wuk
  • Sha Zhou

New RHS Members, elected May 2022

  • Tony Agnew
  • Chuka Anatogu
  • David Andrew
  • Ian Armitage
  • Imogen Bahl
  • Muhammad Muneeb Baloch
  • Alan Borthwick
  • Adrian Broomhall
  • Dupinder Buttar
  • David Cairns
  • Chris Capstick
  • Sharmin Jahan Chowdhury
  • Werner Coetzee
  • Silvester Danóczy
  • Thomas Davies
  • James Davis
  • Souhardya De
  • Esley Rodrigues de Jesus Teixeira
  • Emilio Elesbao dos Santos Neto
  • Alan Gick
  • Matthew Godwin
  • Clare Grange
  • Luke Horwitz
  • Alan Keegan
  • Joachim Keppler
  • Kamakshi Krishna
  • Abhay  Kulkarni
  • Cheong Lam
  • Zihan Li
  • Carla Linford
  • Joshua Lynbeck
  • Tom Lyon
  • John Malpass
  • Grace Mathews
  • Ollie McDaid
  • Rebecca Mowbray
  • Colin Nash
  • Christopher Netherclift
  • Phil Norwood
  • Robert Owen
  • Abbie Owen-Jones
  • Debby Palti
  • Lee Price
  • Riela Provi Drianda
  • James Robinson
  • Yuji Sato
  • Jamie Selig
  • Neil Smith
  • Kevin Stephison
  • Laura Stone
  • Diane Taylor
  • Beatrice Taylor
  • James Threlkeld
  • King Lok Tsoi
  • Htoo Wei
  • Jason Williams-James
  • Jacob Woodhouse
  • Nathaniel Yeboah
  • Rahel Yeoh
  • Lucas Zanani
  • Shiyao Zhang

New RHS Postgraduate Members, elected May 2022

  • Ruth Barton
  • Louise Bell
  • Amy Blaney
  • Nicola Bradbury
  • Kensa Broadhurst
  • Emma Buckley
  • Robert Butt
  • Jethro Calacday
  • Christina Chatzitheodorou
  • Ioannis Chountis
  • Simon Clark
  • Holly Conway
  • Ashlyn Cudney
  • Sarah Curry
  • Alessandra De Mulder
  • Juliette Desportes
  • Victoria Downey
  • Ellen Durban
  • Ngozi Edeagu
  • Elizabeth Egan
  • Charlie Fenton
  • Max Ferrer
  • Mirabelle Field
  • James Fox
  • Louise Furse
  • Erin Geraghty
  • Nathan Hazlehurst
  • Lucy Henry
  • Alexander Hibberts
  • Zoe Jackson
  • Arielle Jasiewicz-Gill
  • Joseph Kaminski
  • Emma Kavanagh
  • Emily Lalande
  • William Law
  • Ewan Lawry
  • Gary Lawson
  • Maksymilian Loth-Hill
  • Roberto Lozano Mansilla
  • Daniel McAteer
  • Kelly McClinton
  • Eddie Meehan
  • Stephen Meyer
  • Cheryl Midson
  • Omar Nasr
  • Tamara Newton
  • Emma Orchardson
  • Julia Phillips
  • Carole Pinnington
  • Julia Pohlmann
  • Adam Quibell
  • Joshua Rice
  • Noble Shrivastava
  • Aisha Shukat-Khawaja
  • Myles Smith
  • Isabella Smith
  • Indiana Sobol
  • Swathi Srinivasan
  • Peter Stiffell
  • Ellen Stokes
  • Elvira Viktória  Tamus
  • Helena Trenkic
  • Alistair Trigg
  • Sylvia Valentine
  • Arlen Veysey
  • Rebecca Watterson
  • Johanna Wetzel
  • Lynette White
  • Joshua Whiteman-Gardner
  • Christopher Whittell
  • Kirsty Wright
  • Yi-Jia Zeng

 

HEADER IMAGE: Bowl with a continuous landscape with scholars, anonymous, c. 1700, Rijksmuseum, public domain

 

 

Featured News

New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop

8 August 2022

Participants in this interactive online workshop, sponsored by the Royal Historical Society and History UK, will develop their understanding of key issues relating to teaching History in higher education, from innovations in teaching and learning and curriculum design to teaching seminar groups and giving lectures.

All those who are new to teaching History in higher education – i.e. about to begin or recently-started – are eligible to attend, including PhD students, postdocs, ECRs and new lecturers. The workshop will be delivered by a group of experienced and innovative teachers of History in HE. Participants should be prepared to engage actively in the sessions; we will be leaving plenty of time for questions and discussion.

More about this RHS event and booking

 

Royal Historical Society Prizes & Awards: Winners, 2022

22 July 2022

 

Many congratulations to all of the winners and runners-up in this year’s Royal Historical Society Prizes & Awards in research, publishing and teaching.

This year’s winners were announced on Friday 22 July, along with recipients of the Society’s PhD Fellows 2022-23, held in association with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

A full listing of the 2022 recipients is available via the Society’s blog, along with acceptance speeches from the winners of this year’s Gladstone and Whitfield first book awards: Dr Emily Bridger and Dr Kristin Hussey.

More about this RHS news item

 

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Funded Workshops

21 July 2022

The Editors of the Society’s journal, Transactions of the RHS, now seek proposals for one-day workshops in which participants engage with a historical, methodological, or pedagogical problem with the intention of publishing the discussion in the journal.

To support this, the Society is funding two academic workshops — to the sum of up to £1000 per event — to bring together scholars to facilitate debate, and lead to publication of proceedings as article/s in a future issue of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. This call is open and not restricted by historical subject or approach.

By offering up to £1000 per workshop, the journal’s Editors — Harshan Kumarasingham and Kate Smith — seek to support colleagues in developing ideas for a discussion, review, or roundtable piece, which will then be submitted to the journal.

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Society launches new toolkit ‘Supporting History Teaching and Research in UK Universities’

25 May 2022

A number of UK History departments have recently been faced with, or are experiencing, cuts to programmes and staff, or mergers with other disciplines.

As part of its advocacy role, the Royal Historical Society works with historians and heads of department who face significant change to their professional lives. Some of this work is ‘behind the scenes’ in communication with departments and university managers. Other aspects of this role include the provision of commentaries and resources to support historians, as best we can.

We have now brought these resources together as a toolkit ‘Supporting History Teaching and Research in UK Universities’.

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Society and partners award seven fellowships to Ukrainian scholars at risk

18 May 2022

The Royal Historical Society is very pleased to announce the award of fellowships to seven Ukrainian historians and Slavonic and East European Studies scholars unable to continue their work at home universities. The seven recipients will take up their positions at UK and European universities very shortly, with the hope of several more fellowships to follow in the near future.

The Ukraine ‘Scholars at Risk’ programme began in March 2022 with a partnership between the Royal Historical Society and the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) who jointly pledged to fund four fellowships, with assistance from the Past & Present Society (P&P).

Additional funding from two more learned societies — the German Historical Society and the Ecclesiastical History Society — has made further fellowships possible. An extra position has been generated through public donations to a recent fundraising campaign by the Royal Historical Society and BASEES. At the time of writing, the Society of Antiquaries of London has also elected to support the scheme and will be providing an additional, eighth Fellowship.

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HEADER IMAGE: New York Daily News, 1888 (detail), by William Michael Harnett (1848–1892), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, public collection

 

Advocacy & Policy

The Royal Historical Society represents the interests of History and historians, of all kinds, via a programme of advocacy and policy research. The higher education, publishing, technological and cultural landscapes, within which much of our work is situated, have changed rapidly over the past decade.

The need for historians to be supported, and for History to be understood and practised well, is more important than ever.

Advocacy

The RHS is the UK’s foremost body for supporting the historical profession and championing History as a discipline. The Society’s advocacy work takes place at a range of levels: individual, departmental, sector and disciplinary.

Support for departments

We work closely with individuals and departments who contact us in need of support, through sharing resources, offering expertise and communicating with university senior managers. The Society also makes available and maintains disciplinary information and links via its a toolkit — ‘Supporting History Teaching and Research in UK Universities’ — launched in 2022 and regularly updated.

In addition, the Society runs a programme of Visits to departments across the the UK to meet with historians and discuss matters relating to their institutions and the wider profession. Recent and forthcoming Visits include to the universities of Lincoln, Edge Hill, Kent, Canterbury Christ Church, the Highlands and Islands, and Hertfordshire (2022-23) and York and York St John and Brunel (in Spring 2024). Details of applications for a programme of Visits for 2025-26 will be circulated later this year.

The Society also publishes data relating to the History and the historical profession in UK Higher Education, as generated by external providers. This resource, and the Toolkit, focus particularly on historians and departments facing threats of cuts or closures to academic programmes and staff.

Parliamentary engagement

Since 2023 members of the Society’s Council have met with UK parliamentarians to discuss their concerns about cuts and closures at History departments in UK Higher Education, and the often negative language used to describe the History and other humanities subjects at university. Recent sessions include members of the Commons and Lords, across the parties, and with representatives from the government and shadow front bench, relevant Commons Select Committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups for History and Universities, and the parliamentary secretariat. These meetings continue.

The Society also draws on the experience of its fellows and Members, many of whom have worked with parliamentarians, either to promote the discipline or with reference to the policy applications of their research.

Public statements in support of departments and the discipline

The Society’s latest public statements have focused on cuts and closures at UK History departments — ‘History in UK Higher Education: A Statement from the Royal Historical Society’ — (June 2023), the closure of the MRes in The History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester (September 2023), and the cuts to History and the wider humanities at Oxford Brookes University (December 2023).

Previous statements include the Society’s concern at closures, mergers and contractions of UK History departments, especially at post-92 institutions such as Roehampton and support for historians at Goldsmiths, University of London. Any department that seeks support — for example, with advice on plans to cut or reduce History provision with their institution — may get in touch confidentially with the Society via the President or the Academic Director. Individuals with concerns about the discipline may also contact the Society at any time.

Collaborative work

Where appropriate, the Society collaborates with partner organisations to present a coordinated response. In resisting cuts and closures, the Society works closely with disciplinary organisations such as History UK and the Arts and Humanities Alliance, an association of UK learned societies. Other recent partnerships include the Society’s 2022 Ukraine Scholars at Risk programme, undertaken with other learned societies in History and area studies.

Policy and Research

The Society’s policy and research programme is responsive to the environment in which historians work. Much of this work takes place via established RHS committees that monitor, respond to, and shape developments in the Research environment and culture in Higher Education; History Education and teaching; and Publishing.

In 2021 the Society established a Council post for Professional Engagement, to better support historians (in and outside HE) with training, skills and career development.

Our Equalities work remains of central importance to the Society. Recent initiatives include the creation of a Masters’ Scholarships programme (since 2022) to support students from groups underrepresented in academic History.

 

Current Fellows and Grant Holders

The Society’s Research Funding supports a large number of historians across a range of activities: from studying for a Masters’ degree and finishing a PhD, to undertaking research and working on a project, such as writing an article.

The following individuals are current holders of RHS Fellowships and Grants in 2023. Each year, the Society awards c.£95,000 in research funding to historians through open competitions. In 2022, the Society is allocating a further £30,000 in one-off programmes (including its Ukraine Scholars at Risk Fellowships), generously assisted by partner organisations and donors.

Full details, and call timetables, for all Royal Historical Society research funding are available here.

 

1. Centenary and Marshall Fellows, 2023-24

Held for 6 months, jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, the Centenary and Marshall Fellowships enable historians to complete their PhDs and receive research training:

Clare V. Church, is an RHS Centenary Fellow held jointly with the Institute of Research, University of London. Clare is a fourth-year PhD researcher at Aberystwyth University, studying within the Department of History and Welsh History under the supervision of Dr Siân Nicholas and Dr Miguel Hernandez. Originally from Canada, Clare completed her Master of Arts at New York University and attained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo.

The subject of her doctoral research focuses on the cultural representations of women celebrities, and their subsequent influence on gender roles and national morale during the Second World War. Specifically, the project applies the concept of ‘patriotic femininity’ – originally developed by Phil Goodman within the context of British Second World War studies – transnationally, exploring celebrity case studies in the UK, US, and France. Studying the mediated depictions of celebrities such as Vera Lynn, the Andrews Sisters, and Joséphine Baker, the project endeavours to understand how the ‘ideal woman’ was framed within these distinct national wartime contexts.

John Marshall is an RHS Centenary Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. John is a fourth year PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, having previously obtained a BA and MA from Dublin City University.

John’s research analyses transnational lordship and politics in thirteenth-century Britain and Ireland. John’s thesis focuses on the Marshal earls of Pembroke and lords of Leinster, in particular how their influence on the ‘peripheries’ of the Plantagenet empire in Ireland and Wales brought them influence and patronage at the core. His thesis will also provide the first edition of the partition of the Marshal estates in 1247 after the male line of the family died out.

In addition to his membership with the RHS, John is also an associate member of the AHRC-funded Noblesse Oblige research network and has published on aspects of his research in History: The Journal of the Historical Association (108:382) and Irish Historical Studies (2023).

Helena Neimann Erikstrup is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Helena is a fourth-year DPhil student in History of Art at the University of Oxford. Her thesis ‘The Colours of Martinique: The (Re)making of the Modern Subject in French-Caribbean Art, 1847-1930’ focuses on visual representations of race and ecology made in Martinique as vital sites in which French national identity was negotiated in the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, a period in which the definition of being, and not being, French was redefined. It looks at understudied visual material of lesser-known or completely unknown, sometimes ‘amateur’, artists alongside work of a canonical artist such as Paul Gauguin.

Considering these artists in a relational, non-hierarchical way, Helena’s research examines their experimentation with different colour palettes to reassert racial and environmental control of Martinique in the decades following the abolition of slavery in 1848. The thesis uses colour (as a pigment, a racial marker and visual effect) as the main prism through which engage with the work and the questions they ask.

Stefano Nicastro is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Stefano studied History at the University of Milan and spent a semester abroad in Istanbul at the Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi via the Erasmus programme. Subsequently, he completed an MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Edinburgh and I further studied Arabic in Egypt at the International House Cairo – ILI.

Stefano is currently a History PhD Student at the University of Edinburgh, working on a thesis entitled, ‘Genoa in the Islamicate Mediterranean: Diplomatic and Economic Relationships between the Genoese and the Qalawunid Sultanate of Egypt and Syria, 1279-1382′. Stefano’s research looks at cross-cultural and trans-regional interactions in the Mediterranean during the later Middle Ages. Specifically, it studies the diplomatic and commercial relationships between the commune of Genoa and the Mamluk sultanate with a focus on the practices and the modality of these trans-Mediterranean exchanges.

2. Early Career Fellowship Grant holders, 2023-24

Held for up to 6 months, Early Career Fellowship Grants provide support for post-doctoral researchers to work on a defined project, such as writing an article or book proposal:

  • Matthew White – awarded November 2023
  • Katie Snow – awarded November 2023
  • Lisa Berry-Waite – awarded November 2023
  • Janet Morrison – awarded November 2023
  • Sandip Kana – awarded November 2023
  • Callum Smith – awarded November 2023

3. Martin Lynn Scholarship in African History, 2023-24

Awarded annually, the Martin Lynn Scholarship supports research in the history of Africa:

  • Pritam Singh (London School of Economics)

4. Masters’ Scholarships in History, 2023-24

Awarded annually, Masters’ Scholarships support students studying for a Masters’ degree in History at a UK university. Scholarships are reserved for early career historians from groups underrepresented in academic history:

  • Roqibat Adebimpe, to study at the University of Sheffield
  • Matthew Dickinson, to study at the University of Manchester
  • Baryana Ivanova, to study of the University of Cambridge
  • Nawajesh Khan, to study at Cardiff University
  • Marielle Masolo, to study at the University of Oxford
  • Charlotte Willis, to study at Cardiff University

5. Postgraduate Research Support Grants, 2023

Introduced in Spring 2023, Postgraduate Research Support Grants are available to History students (who are Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society), currently studying for a Masters degree or PhD to undertake historical research.

  • Shelley Castle – awarded August 2023
  • Jones Patrick O’Dare – awarded August 2023
  • William Rees – awarded August 2023
  • Islay Shelbourne – awarded August 2023
  • Francisca Valenzuela Villaseca – awarded August 2023
  • Alexandra Watson – awarded August 2023

6. Early Career Research Support Grants, 2024

Introduced in Spring 2023, Early Career Research Support Grants are available to historians within 5 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) to undertake research. 

  • Thomas Burnham – awarded February 2024
  • Nicolò Ferrari – awarded February 2024
  • Yui Chim Lo – awarded February 2024
  • Mariana Zegianini – awarded February 2024

7. Open Research Support Grants, 2023-24

Introduced in Spring 2023, Open Research Support Grants are available to all historians (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) who are not postgraduate students or early career researchers (within 5 years of completing a PhD). Open Research Support Grants provide funds to historians to undertake historical research.

  • Lindy Brady – awarded November 2023
  • Pia Jolliffe – awarded November 2023
  • Stephanie Seul – awarded November 2023
  • Sophie Scott-Brown – awarded November 2023
  • Christian Cooijmans – awarded November 2023
  • Tatyana Zhukova – awarded November 2023

8. Workshop Grants, 2023-24

Awarded annually from 2022, Workshop Grants provide support for groups of historians to meet and discuss shared projects in detail. Transactions Workshops enable work leading to publication in the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, RHS Workshop Grants support historians to meet for a wider range of projects and activities. Workshop Grants are open to historian at all career stages.

Transactions Workshop Grant holders:

  • ’80 Years of the Bengal Famine (1943): Decolonial Dialogues from the Global South’ — lead organisers: Priyanka Basu and Ananya Jahanara Kabir (King’s College London)
  • ‘Transnational Activism in a Divided World: the Regional within the Global’ — lead organisers: Daniel Laqua (Northumbria) and Thomas Davies (City, University of London)
  • ‘The Future of Our Past: Where is Environmental History Heading?’ — lead organiser: Alexander Hibberts (Durham)
  • ‘Parliamentary Culture in Colonial Contexts, c.1500 – c.1700’ — lead organisers: Paul Seaward (History of Parliament Trust), Pauline Kewes (Oxford) and Jim Van der Meulen (Ghent)
  • ‘The Myth of Barter. Perspectives from the Global Middle Ages’ — lead organiser: Nick Evans (Leeds)
  • ‘Labour Pains: Mothers and Motherhood on the Left in the Twentieth Century’ — lead organisers: Lyndsey Jenkins (Queen Mary, University of London) and Charlotte Riley (Southampton)
  • ‘Unofficial Diplomats: East Mediterranean Archaeologists and Britain’s Imperial Project’ — lead organiser: Anna Kelley (St Andrews)
  • ‘Game Studies and History’ — lead organiser: Gavin Schwartz-Leeper (Warwick)
  • ‘Collective Reflections on Oral Histories of Pakistan’s Women Constitution Makers’ — lead organisers: Mahnaz Shujrah and Maryam S. Khan (Institute of Development and Economic Solutions, Lahore)

RHS Workshop Grant holders for 2024:

  • ‘(Re)Visioning London through “Black” Dialogues’ — lead organiser: Arunima Datta (North Texas)
  • ‘Pat Thane: Reflections on History, Policy and Action’ — lead organiser: Helen Glew (Westminster)
  • ‘Network Building Symposium for Historians in Post 92 Institutions’ — lead organiser: Elizabeth Goodwin (York St John)
  • ‘A Workshop in Ruins’ — lead organiser: Claire Kennan (King’s College, London)
  • ‘Mobilising Imperial History: Crime, Policing and Control in the British Empire’ — lead organiser: Aparajita Mukhopadhyay (Kent)
  • ‘Present and Precedent in the Church Councils of Late Antique Iberia’ — lead organisers: Jamie Wood and Graham Barrett (Lincoln)

9. Funded Book Workshop Grants, 2023

First awarded in 2023, Funded Book Workshop Grants provide support for authors currently writing a second or third monograph to hold a day workshop with six invited readers to discuss a draft manuscript

Funded Book Workshop Grant holders:

  • Jennifer Aston (Northumbria University) for her project: ‘For Wives Alone’: Deserted Wives and Economic Divorce in Nineteenth Century England and Wales
  • Tim Grady (University of Chester) for his project: ‘The Unwelcome Gravediggers’: War, Memory and the Unmaking of British-German Relations

10. Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships, 2023-24

First awarded in 2023, Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships provide support for historians to trial new approaches in teaching History in UK Higher Education, or to undertake surveys of current aspects of History teaching.

Fellowship holders in the academic year 2023-24:

  • Natalya Cherynshova (Queen Mary, University of London) for her project to translate 20th-century Ukrainian and Belarussian primary source materials for undergraduate teaching.
  • Liesbeth Corens and Jenny Bangham (Queen Mary, University of London) for ‘Histories of Disability Toolkit’.
  • David Geiringer (QMUL) for ‘Placing Migrant Histories Centre Stage’
  • Laura Harrison, Martin Simpson, Rose Wallis, Mark Reeves and Ian Brooks (University of the West of England) to develop a new history course to support teaching in computing and sustainability
  • Amy King (University of Bristol) for ‘The F-Word: Understanding. European Fascism Then and Now’
  • Karen Smyth (University of East Anglia) for ‘Paston Footprints heritage trails’
  • David Stack (University of Reading) for ‘Promoting Wellbeing Through History Teaching’