RHS News

New funding calls to support innovative teaching and book publishing by mid-career historians

Applications are now invited from members of the Royal Historical Society for the following two funding programmes:

Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships – providing funding of between £500 and £1250 to support innovations in the teaching of history in higher education, with projects to take place in the academic year 2025-26.

Fellowships support historians in Higher Education who wish to introduce new approaches and initiatives to their teaching—and for which funding is required to make this possible. Fellowships may also support those seeking to undertake a short study of an aspect of History teaching in UK Higher Education. The Fellowships are named after Dame Jinty Nelson FBA (1942-2024), President of the Society between 2000 and 2004. Further details and how to apply.

Funded Book Workshops – providing funding of £2000 per day-workshop to enable mid-career authors to bring together six specialist readers to discuss a book manuscript in detail prior to its submission to a publisher. Workshops provide a constructive environment in which work-in-progress is developed to become a richer book on publication.

The programme seeks to address a lack of intellectual support that many historians face in mid career. This lack of support is often in contrast to that provided when studying for a PhD, and writing first articles or monograph derived from a doctorate. Further details and how to apply.

The closing dates for both calls is Friday 11 July 2025. For those interested in applying but not yet members of the Society, please see the Join Us pages of the RHS website.

HEADER IMAGES: iStock, credits natrot and sabelskaya

 

Peter Gatrell to give the 2025 RHS Prothero Lecture

The Society’s 2025 Prothero Lecture will be given by Peter Gatrell, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Manchester. Peter’s lecture, which takes place at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2 July, is entitled: ‘Refugee World(s): a Twentieth-Century Retrospective’.

In his lecture, Peter will consider the idea of a ‘fourth world’ or ‘refugee world (s)’ as essential for the writing of a modern global history of refugees, displacement and population movement. It may be legitimate to think of the ‘refugee world’ as a distinct realm of being; but it is more appropriate to consider refugees’ encounters with refugee-creating and refugee-hosting (and refugee-deterring) states and, with the range of organisations charged with their protection and assistance.

Peter’s focus is on the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which the dominant intergovernmental organisation in what has come to be called the international refugee regime. By drawing on the letters and petitions that refugees sent to UNHCR in the post-1945 era, the lecture examines what refugees vouchsafed about their situation and what response they received.

The 2025 Prothero Lecture take place, in-person, at Mary Ward House, Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SN and online. Booking for in-person and online attendance is now available. The lecture is open to all.

The Lecture will be followed by the Society’s annual summer party, at Mary Ward House, to which all are very welcome.

First held in 1969, the Royal Historical Society’s Prothero Lecture is named for the historian and RHS President, George W. Prothero (1848-1924). The lecture is given by leading historians whose research has shaped how we think about the past. Previous Prothero lecturers include: Samuel H. Beer, Joanna Bourke, Linda Colley, Stefan Collini, Natalie Zemon Davis, Olwen Hufton, Sujit Sivasundaram, Quentin Skinner, Brenda E. Stevenson, and Keith Thomas.

Other forthcoming events

On Wednesday 21 May, the Society will be at the Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter (Penryn, near Falmouth). The visit includes a public event at which Professor Catriona Pennell (Exeter) and Professor Lucy Noakes (Essex and President of the Royal Historical Society) will discuss ‘Cultural Memory and the Two World Wars in Britain’.

The event, which starts at 4.30pm, is open to all and will include an opportunity to meet with Lucy and fellow members of the RHS Council. All are very welcome to attend.

 

Mark Stoyle gives latest RHS lecture on Tudor ‘commotions’ and rebellions

The latest in the Society’s 2025 series of lectures was given on Friday 2 May by Professor Mark Stoyle (University of Southampton). Mark’s subject was ‘Remembering Rebellion in the Tudor South West’, a study of elite and popular retellings of a series of risings in Devon and Cornwall which took place between 1497 and 1554.

Mark’s primary focus was the memory and memorialisation of the most significant of these actions — an extensive and violent rising against Edward VI’s religious changes which broke out in 1549 — labelled the ‘commotion time’ by later generations and known today as the ‘Prayer Book Rebellion’. In the decades following the rebellion, the conduct of individuals and settlements in these events was used to demonstrate and assert personal and civic loyalty and piety, while depriving adversaries of these attributes.

As Mark also showed, the rebellions of the 1540s served as a temporal marker in popular memory, with ‘commotion time’ becoming a shared and commonly understood reference point to describe the recent past. More recently, they have gained new momentum, especially among Cornish political and cultural movements, as examples of historical resistance to central, state intrusion.

Our great thanks to Mark for his lecture and all who attended. Video and audio recordings of Mark’s talk will be available shortly. recordings from previous lectures — including by Janina Ramirez, Tom Holland, Julia Laite and Corinne Fowler — are available in the Society’s Events Archive.

Forthcoming RHS talks and lectures

On Wednesday 21 May, the Society will be at the Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter (Penryn, near Falmouth). The visit includes a public event at which Professor Catriona Pennell (Exeter) and Professor Lucy Noakes (Essex and President of the Royal Historical Society) will discuss ‘Cultural Memory and the Two World Wars in Britain’.

The event, which starts at 4.30pm, is open to all and will include an opportunity to meet with Lucy and fellow members of the RHS Council. All are very welcome to attend.

On Wednesday 2 July we host the Society’s 2025 Prothero Lecture which will be given by Peter Gatrell (Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Manchester) on the subject of ‘Refugee World(s): a Twentieth-Century Retrospective’. Further details of Peter’s lecture are available here and booking for the event, in person or online, is now available.

The Prothero Lecture will be followed by the Society’s annual summer party. The lecture and party are open to all and we look forward to welcoming to this event.

 

 

 

RHS President Lucy Noakes on ‘Making the Case for History’

The Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes, writes this week for History Workshop.

In her article — ‘Making the Case for History. A View from the Royal Historical Society’ — Lucy considers the implications of cuts on the provision of history teaching and research, and how we advocate for our discipline and profession. Headlines from the article include:

The extent and impact of cuts
  • Between 2021 and Spring 2025, the Society has worked with historians from 23 UK institutions facing challenges to fulfil their responsibilities as teachers and researchers.
  • Communications come from across the UK, from all kinds of institutions, and those working in and outside of history departments.
  • Cuts are continuing to hit hardest in departments at Post-92 universities. Here, nearly 90% of history departments, in a 2024 RHS survey, reported cuts to staffing since 2020, and nearly 60% have seen cuts to degree programmes.
 Student numbers and choices
  • History is in the 10 most popular subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences. However, history enrolments are falling: by 11% between 2019 and 2023.
  • UCAS data shows the sharpest decline in undergraduate history admissions is among male students aged 18. For female students aged 18 years, the number of accepted applicants in history—between 2020 and 2024—has remained stable.
  • While history is seen as a ‘gateway’ subject at A-Level, students, parents and teachers are increasingly cautious of the ‘value’ studying history at university.
Advocating for history
  • Those who do study history at university consider it valuable: in the 2024 National Student Survey, 80% of history graduates were confident the skills gained would serve them well in the workforce—a level higher than many more overtly vocational programmes.
  • History is of great appeal to the public: much of this popular and public history originates with historians in UK universities
  • Organisations promoting history and the humanities need to coordinate their work, share expertise, and campaign together when appropriate. We need to train ourselves—and also our members—to become more effective advocates.

Earlier this month, Lucy also spoke to BBC History Online about the current state of history in UK higher education, the impact of cuts, and harnessing the wider popularity of history in national culture.

You can also read more in the Society’s latest briefing, ‘The Value of History in UK Higher Education and Society’ (October 2024), which includes downloadable charts, tables and slides on the professional opportunities afforded by a history degree.

Header image, and all images in the article, commissioned from Eanna Swan by History Workshop.

 

Society’s President speaks to the BBC History Magazine

The latest episode of the BBC History Extra podcast features an interview with the Society’s President, Lucy Noakes.

In a special episode on the current state of history in UK higher education, Lucy speaks to Matt Elton both about the negative impact of cuts and closures on the provision of history research and teaching, and the wider popularity of history in national culture.

Lucy’s interview considers the Society’s work to support the profession; how we demonstrate the contributions of university and other historians to public history; and her ambitions for the Society as an advocate for historical practice and practitioners.

Lucy’s interview begins at 6:40 in this episode of the podcast, which was released on 1 April 2025.

 

Society releases guide to ‘Becoming a Member of the History Subject Panel for REF2029’

On 7 March, the Royal Historical Society held an information event to consider the role and workload of the REF2029 History sub-panel, and how historians interested in submitting for the our disciplinary sub-panel should proceed with an application.

The work of disciplinary sub-panels (including that for History) is fundamental to the Research Excellence Framework. Subject panels form the heart of REF, responsible for assessing and grading scholarly outputs, impact and research cultures across the UK HE sector.

The steering group of REF2029 currently invites applications to join the sub-panels that will set the criteria and then assess submissions for the next research exercise.

The Society has now published a post — ‘Becoming a Member of the History Subject Panel for REF2029’ — which addresses the topic with reference to three areas:

  • REF’s new approach to sub-panel recruitment, and the qualities of an effective final sub-panel
  • Panellists’ roles, responsibilities and workloads
  • Preparing an application, and working in advance with your institution 

This article summarises a discussion between former History sub-panel members and prospective panellists for 2029. Our speakers’ comments made clear the rewards of panel membership as well as the extent and burden of the work, and the need for applicants to have secured an agreement with their home institutions to manage a workload that is incompatible, at least in late 2028 and 2029, with full-time academic duties.

The event made clear the need to share information with potential applicants to provide a rounded picture (negative as well as positive) of the History sub-panel and panel membership: its purpose and phases of work; the skills and mindset required of members; the breadth of subjects to which members are introduced; and the very considerable time commitment expected of panellists.

Our event further confirmed the Society’s concern—first set out last month—that Research England’s new approach to recruitment currently cannot guarantee us the final sub-panel composition our discipline requires. Nor does it appreciate the sense of crisis, reduced opportunity and growing inequality, within humanities in UK higher education, that will prevent many aspirant panellists from proceeding with an application.

The deadline for applications for History panel membership is noon 28 April 2025. We hope this guide enables applicants to make an informed decision about their ability to undertake this role before completing an application. Applicants should expect to hear outcomes by July with first meetings of the panel taking place shortly after.

 

Calls for research funding from the Royal Historical Society: current and forthcoming programmes

The Society currently invites applications for the following five schemes — open to historians across a range of career stages — with closing dates of Friday 23 May and Friday 5 September 2025. For further information on each programme, eligibility and how to apply please follow the links below.

New Public History and Panel Grants

Two new programmes are available with support from the Scouloudi Foundation. Both schemes seek to support historians working collaboratively across a range of sectors, including higher education, museums and galleries and public history

  • RHS Scouloudi Public History Grants, a new programme, supported by the Scouloudi Foundation, providing grants of £1000 per project to support activities between academic historians and those working outside higher education, either in the museum, archive and heritage sectors or in community history groups. This programme is reserved for members of the Royal Historical Society. Next closing date: Friday 23 May 2025
  • RHS Scouloudi Panel Grants, a new programme, supported by the Scouloudi Foundation, providing grants of £1500 per panel to enable historians to create and present panels at conferences. Panels will bring together historians at different career stages and professions, working on a common subject area to present their work. This programme is reserved for members of the Royal Historical Society. Next closing date: Friday 23 May 2025

 

Other funding calls now open for applications

  • Postgraduate Research Support Grants providing grants of either £500 or £1,000 (based on the activity to be undertaken) to undertake historical research. Activities supported include: visiting an archive or historic site, or conducting interviews. These grants are reserved for historians who are Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society, currently studying for a Masters degree or PhD. Next closing date: Friday 6 June 2025.
  • Early Career Research Support Grants providing grants of either £500 or £1,000 (based on the activity to be undertaken) to undertake historical research. Activities supported include: visiting an archive or historic site, or conducting interviews. These grants are reserved for historians who are within 5 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject. Applicants must also be members of the Royal Historical Society. Next closing date: Friday 6 June 2025.
  • Masters’ Scholarships, 2025-26, grants of £5000 to support Masters’ students from groups currently underrepresented in history in UK higher education. Stage One for this programme closes on Friday 6 June 2025.
  • Martin Lynn Scholarship in African History providing a grant of £1500 to support postgraduate research for a PhD in African history. The Scholarship is open Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society, currently studying for a PhD. Next closing date: Friday 5 September 2025.

Forthcoming RHS funding calls, to be released in May

IMAGES: iStock graphic designs, Credit: Olena Zagoruyko; Bowl with a scholar, anon, c.1575-99, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, public domain.

 

Mark Stoyle to give the next lecture in the Society’s 2025 series

Registration is now open for the next lecture in the Royal Historical Society’s 2025 programme. On Friday 2 May, we welcome Professor Mark Stoyle (University of Southampton) to speak on ‘Remembering Rebellion in the Tudor South West’.

This event is open to all with booking now available for in-person attendance (Mary Ward House, London) and online. Please use one of these links to register for a place.

In this lecture, Mark Stoyle explores how those in the English South-West looked back on two major risings which broke out against Henry VII in Cornwall in 1497; the short-lived revolt against Edward VI’s religious changes in West Cornwall in 1548; the full-blooded protest against those same changes which convulsed Devon and Cornwall in 1549, and, finally, the abortive attempt to stir up a rebellion in Devon against Mary I’s impending marriage to Philip of Spain in 1554.

Mark’s lecture studies both elite and popular memories of the rebellions which occurred in the Tudor South West and will argue that those memories proved surprisingly long-lived.

 

More particularly, it will argue that the Western Rising of 1549 — ‘the Commotion Time’, as that protest was termed by contemporaries, ‘the Prayer Book Rebellion’ as it is popularly known today — was remembered by local people as a key caesura in the region’s history, and that it remained a live issue in West Country society right up until the eve of the English Civil War.

Mark Stoyle is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton and has particular research interests in the British crisis of the 1640s; in witchcraft; in urban society; and in Tudor rebellions. Mark has written many monographs and scholarly articles and his most recent book — The Western Rising of 1549 –– was published in paperback by Yale University Press in 2024.

Previous Society Lectures in the Events Archive

Video and audio recordings are available for many of the Society’s events, including our lectures. The RHS Events Archive includes recent lectures by, among others, Lucy Noakes, Natasha Hodgson, Janina Ramirez, Julia Laite, Tom Holland, Brenda Stephenson, Caroline Dodds Pennock and Levi Roach.

 

‘Working with memory’: programme for ‘History and Archives in Practice, 2025’ now available

On 5 March 2025, the Royal Historical Society will co-host the this year’s History and Archives in Practice day conference (HAP25), jointly organised with our partners The National Archives and Institute of Historical Research. HAP is an opportunity for historians and archivists to come together to discuss current projects and the intersection between historical and archival practice.

This year’s event takes the theme of ‘Working with Memory: History, Storytelling and Practices of Remembrance’ and brings together 28 presentations from historians and archivists. The programme for this year’s event, which is fully booked, is now available.

This year’s History and Archives in Practice takes place at Senate House, University of London. In alternate years, HAP is held in association with a fourth UK partner institution and details of the partner and, following an open call, the location for HAP26 will be announced on 5 March.

 

‘More than ever, history and historians need a collaborative and co-ordinated approach’: a statement

The following is a joint statement from the Historical Association, History UK, Institute of Historical Research, and the Royal Historical Society following the most recent meeting of this quartet of organisations.

It’s been an especially grim start to 2025 for many in UK higher education. News in early January of cuts and job losses at the universities of Canterbury Christ Church, Northampton and Staffordshire has been followed by announcements from Cardiff, Durham, Newcastle, Reading, Sheffield, and, once again, Kent. This, moreover, is only a selection of the institutions currently pursuing cuts to staffing, reductions in course provision, restructures and mergers. 

While few subject areas are immune to what is now a full-blown financial crisis in UK higher education, the arts and humanities continue to bear the brunt. This includes history which is the discipline represented, in schools and universities, by our four organisations: the Historical Association, History UK, the Institute of Historical Research, and the Royal Historical Society.

The problems facing education far exceed the capacity of any single subject association. On the ground, case-by-case, each of us provides support and speaks for our distinctive memberships and constituencies, through targeted research and campaigns. But it’s also the case that the concerns and priorities on which we focus, individually, are shared by this quartet of historical organisations. 

When we meet together—or with organisations including the British Academy and Arts and Humanities Alliance, which pursue similar agenda—our work highlights common areas for attention. These include the ‘pipeline’ between school and university, and why some students are being turned away from history; a loss of support for history teacher training in UK universities; and the need to articulate more forcefully and clearly the skills—professional, personal and civic—inherent to the study of history. Here, we work to connect with communities, from students and parents to teachers and politicians, who are sometimes unaware of or resistant to these positives. 

Despite history’s immense popularity at large—evident in the public appetite for historic sites, podcasts, film or television, and private research—the health and vitality of our subject in schools and universities cannot be taken for granted. While history remains attractive at GCSE, A-Level and Scottish Highers, in higher education in particular it is under growing pressure. In addition to the challenges posed by an over-marketised, increasingly broken HE infrastructure, history is increasingly vulnerable to uninformed comment about its value compared with other areas of study.

Here our four organisations have common cause. 

While engagement with our particular constituencies continues, we’re also working closely and strategically for history across and beyond education. These activities include the sharing of information, to understand the changing environment in which history is studied, taught and practised; identifying and communicating the value of history education; demonstrating the diversity of a subject which is now as likely to involve big data analysis as it is a visit to an archive; and working to close the gap between ‘popular history’ and the specialist teaching and research on which this depends. 

In these ways, we seek a more co-ordinated approach to advocacy, so that we might better campaign and speak up for history. Collaboration, between historians, and with fellow humanities organisations, has never been more necessary. If you wish to help us, please get in touch.

Claire Langhamer, Director of the Institute of Historical Research

Lucy Noakes, President of the Royal Historical Society

Antonio Sennis and Sarah Holland, Co-chairs of History UK

Alexandra Walsham and Rebecca Sullivan, President and CEO of the Historical Association