On Wednesday 15 January the Society was delighted to take part in a day conference — ‘Humanities Now! Teaching and Research in Post-92 Universities’ — held at York St John University. The event was funded by an RHS Workshop Grant, for 2024-25, and brought together historians and other humanities scholars to share their experience of teaching, research and engagement in this distinctive and highly creative sector of UK higher education.
The Society also took part in the discussion, providing a survey of the current environment for historians at Post-92 institutions based on data from the recent RHS briefing, The Value of History in UK Higher Education and Society (October 2024).
Speakers addressed the many threats currently felt, with particular force, by humanities academics in the Post-92 sector. But greater attention was given to the distinctive achievements, contributions and value of Post-92 departments as a key element of UK higher education.
The day’s keynote lecture — ‘”No, I work at the other university”: Reflections on five years in Post-92 higher education’ — was given by the early modern historian, Professor Catherine Fletcher, of Manchester Metropolitan University.
Panels discussed innovative teaching, preparation for careers and life after graduation, new directions for history and humanities research, departments’ close relations with local employers, and the history PhD in Post-92 institutions.
Panellists included historians from Bath Spa, Birmingham Newman, Bournemouth, Manchester Metropolitan, Northampton, Teeside, West of England, and York St John.
Our great thanks to Dr Elizabeth Goodwin and Dr Anne-Marie Evans of York St John University for organising and hosting this event.

Yesterday’s event was one of six projects funded by RHS Workshop Grants awarded in 2024:
- Arunima Datta (University of North Texas) for ‘Inter-community Dialogues in Britain’
- Helen Glew (University of Westminster) for ‘Pat Thane: Reflections on History, Policy and Action’
- Elizabeth Goodwin (York St John University) for a ‘Humanities Now! Network Building Symposium for Historians in Post 92 Institutions’
- Claire Kennan (King’s College, London) for ‘A Workshop in Ruins’
- Aparajita Mukhopadhyay (Kent) for ‘Mobilising Imperial History: Crime, Policing and Control in the British Empire’
- Jamie Wood and Graham Barrett (University of Lincoln) for ‘Present and Precedent in the Church Councils of Late Antique Iberia’
The current call for RHS Workshop Grants, 2025, is open and runs to Friday 24 January 2025.