RHS News

The Royal Historical Society has set up a new working group, focussing on the experience of LGBT+ historians and on the teaching of LGBT+ histories in UK universities. Led by Professor Frances Andrews, the Society’s first Vice-President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, the first aim of this working group is to build on the Society’s commitment to equality across the profession, and particularly the efforts recently dedicated to Race, Ethnicity and Equality and Gender.

To find out more about the questions guiding the group’s work, or to find out how you can become involved, visit the Historical Transactions blog.

 

17 May 2019

Royal Historical Society Symposium hosted by Department of History, Open University

Contested Commemorations: Reflections on the centenary of the First World War, 2013-2019

 

The Royal Historical Society, with the Open University Department of History, is delighted to announce the details of our forthcoming Symposium at the Open University, Milton Keynes, on 17 May 2019.

This Symposium will reflect on how the war was commemorated in a range of different countries between 2013 and 2019, and registration for the event is now open. Full details of the event, and a programme for the day, are available here.

Please visit the Contested Commemorations Eventbrite page to book your place. The event will also be live-streamed through this link for those who can’t make it in person. Those watching online will have the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers.

For further details, please contact vincent.trott@open.ac.uk.

 

HISTORICAL WORKSHOPS FOR SECONDARY AND SIXTH-FORM TEACHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH : SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORIES OF DIVERSITY IN MODERN BRITAIN (c.1760-1960)

If you are conducting research on topics related to social and cultural histories of racial diversity in modern Britain in the wake of Empire (c.1760-1960), that may resonate with pupils and teachers, then we want to hear from you.

The RHS Report on Racial and Ethnic Equality calls for engagement with secondary schools and sixth-form colleges, to showcase our research for the next generation of black and minority-ethnic (BAME) historians. We seek to generate conversations with teachers on ways to encourage pupils to choose History courses, and to consider History as a profession. This will also enhance our own thinking about research and teaching in the context of racial and ethnic equality, diversity and inclusion.

From October 2019 to June 2020, in partnership with the Royal Historical Society, the University of Edinburgh plans to host a series of AHRC-funded half-day workshops for secondary History teachers from across the UK (held on Saturdays). The focus will be on social and cultural histories of racial diversity in modern Britain, in the wake of empire (c.1760-1960). Although workshops may address slavery and abolitionism, we will concentrate on the making of racial and ethnic diversity within British urban and rural communities.

In consultation with lead teachers, we will ensure that these workshops showcase historical research and primary sources that fit within current examination frameworks. Workshops also will feature specialists on teaching and learning, to facilitate discussion and lesson planning. Our application for AHRC funding will cover transportation and accommodation in Edinburgh, for all participants. Its outputs, for academic collaborators, will include evidence of research impact and community engagement.

If you wish to collaborate on this project by proposing a half-day workshop for teachers that draws on your research, and can supply primary sources (images, sound, and/or text) suitable for use in classrooms, please send us an expression of interest by Friday 22 March. We will ask for a more detailed proposal shortly after that date.

Please send a Word attachment, including your name, institutional affiliation, and a short paragraph on your proposed topics and associated resources (max. 200 words) to: Dr Adam Budd, School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh: adam.budd@ed.ac.uk.

Please add a note of any experience of engagement with secondary education.

 

Would you like to contribute to the future success of History in the UK? 

The Royal Historical Society is seeking to appoint a new Honorary Treasurer to succeed Professor Sarah Hamilton, who will demit office in November 2019. We expect to make this appointment by May 2019 so that the new Honorary Treasurer can shadow the current incumbent.

Skills required

An accountancy qualification is not necessary (the Society employs a full-time Executive Secretary who conducts day-to-day finances and works with the Honorary Secretary), but familiarity with reading spreadsheets is essential and you will need to be willing to learn to work with a cloud-based accounting system. You must also be a Fellow of the Society, since the role involves guiding the Trustees (the Members of Council).

Main tasks
The Honorary Treasurer:

• Ensures the Society meets the statutory requirements for Charities, and keeps abreast of changes in regulation (through liaising with and being advised by the auditors about any changes in reporting requirements, reviewing the Charity Commission website for guidance, keeping abreast of the news, etc) and update Trustees about their responsibilities. This further includes:
  • Ensuring the Society meets the statutory requirements for employment of individuals (HMRC regulations, pensions changes etc, through liaising with and being advised by the auditors; working with the Executive Secretary who is updated on changes by HMRC etc);
  • Overseeing and liaising with the Executive Secretary and auditors on preparation for audit and production of annual financial accounts;
  • Drafting the Trustees’ Reports and the Finance Committee’s section of the annual report.
• Acts as the Society’s main contact with our investment managers, supported by the co-opted members of Council and the President; reviews regular reports, setting of investment policies etc.
• Takes the lead on financial planning, liaising with the Society’s Officers, Vice-Presidents and Presidents on an annual basis to draft a 3–year financial plan for approval each year. This includes:
  • Monitoring spending against in-year plan, with the support of the Executive Secretary;
  • Liaising with the President, Officers and Chairs of sub-committees and the Executive Secretary around major in-year expenditure.
• Works closely with the Executive Secretary, who has all day-to-day responsibility for book-keeping, using the cloud-based accounting system, Xero.

Time commitment:
Most of the tasks can be done remotely, but the Honorary Treasurer attends all Council meetings, the Finance Committee and other sub-committees ex officio. These are held at the Society’s rooms in University College London on Fridays (five annual meetings in February, May, July, September and November). The role also involves one day in June to prepare for audit and at least one full-day elsewhere in the year to liaise with the auditors or investment managers, with the President and with the Executive Secretary who is based in the London Office.   Further meetings may be necessary. All travel expenses are covered by the Society.

The Society is committed to equality for all and welcomes enquiries from Fellows anywhere in the UK and of whatever academic standing.

If you might be interested, please contact Vice-President Professor Frances Andrews (fea [at] st-andrews.ac.uk) in the first instance. All enquiries to be received by 31 January 2019 latest.

 

Our report on race and ethnicity in UK History has generated significant media coverage and a very positive reaction across the Higher Education sector. You can find some of the coverage below:

• Times Higher Education: “Royal Historical Society report warns dynamism of discipline risks being stifled by lack of diversity”  (October 2018).
• The Observer: David Olusoga, “We risk losing slices of our past if we don’t root out racism from our universities” (October 2018).
• The Independent: “1 in 3 university historians from ethnic minorities faces discrimination” (October 2018)
• WonkHE: Jonathan Saha, “Why is History in the UK so white?” (October 2018).
• The Times: “History is too white, claim academics” (October 2018).
• The Times: Michael Burleigh, “Undergraduate History teaching is pale and stale” (October 2018).
• Sadiah Qureshi, “Short Cuts“, London Review of Books 40:22, p.32 (November 2018).
• History@Manchester, “UoM Modern British Historians Respond to the RHS Race Report” (February 2019).
• Meleisa Ono-George, ‘Beyond Diversity: anti-racist pedagogy in British History Departments’, Women’s History Review, 28: 3, pp. 500-507 (March 2019).
• Nadine White, “Britain Now Has Its First Ever Black British History Postgrad Courses. What Took So Long?”, Huffington Post, (March 2019).
• Margot Finn, “Decolonising History? Reflections on the Royal Historical Society’s 2018 Report”, in The white elephant in the room: ideas for reducing racial inequalities in higher education, HEPI Report 120, edited by Hugo Dale-Rivas, pp. 29-34 (September 2019).
• Meleisa Ono-George, “Power in the Telling”: Community-Engaged Histories of Black Britain”, History Workshop (November 2019).