The Royal Historical Society takes a keen interest in promoting and developing the teaching of history in higher education. The Society’s engagement in this area is overseen by its Education Committee. The committee is drawn from members of the RHS Council and chaired by Dr Adam Budd, the Society’s Secretary for Education, who sits as an Officer on the Council.

The Education Committee works closely with education specialists in other organisations, such as the Historical Association (which represents the interests of primary and secondary school History teachers) and HistoryUK (which represents UK History departments).

Current activities in which the Committee is engaged include:

1. Masters’ Scholarships for students from groups currently underrepresented in academic History

The Society’s Masters’ Scholarships provide £5000 per recipient to support early career historians undertake a Masters’ degree in History at a UK university.

The programme, established in 2022, seeks to actively address underrepresentation and encourage Black and Asian students to consider academic research in History. By supporting Masters’ students the programme focuses on a key early stage in the academic training of future researchers.

With these Scholarships, we seek to support students who are without the financial means to study for a Masters’ in History. By doing so, we hope to improve the educational experience of early career historians engaged in a further degree.

In its latest round, the Society awarded six Scholarships for the academic year 2023-24. Our thanks to the Past & Present Society and the Thriplow Charitable Trust for their support in 2023.

The RHS Masters’ Scholarships will next run in 2024 for the academic year 2024-25. The Society seeks to offer as many Scholarships as we can to talented eligible early career historians. If you or your organisation would like to help us support additional Masters’ Scholarships for the academic year 2024-25, please email president@royalhistsoc.org to discuss options with the Society’s President, Professor Emma Griffin.

2. Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships

From July 2023, the Society makes available annual Fellowships of between £500 and £1250 to support the development and study of teaching practices for History in UK Higher Education. The Fellowships aim to help historians introduce new approaches to their teaching, or to undertake a defined study of an aspect of history teaching in UK Higher Education.

In its latest round, the Society awarded fellowships to seven projects for the academic year 2023-24. The Society will provide updates on each of these projects as they come to fruition. The call for the Fellowships, 2024-25 will be made in 2024.

3. Online resources and guides for history teachers in Higher Education

The RHS Teaching Portal is a free online resource for teachers and students of History in UK Higher Education. The Portal includes more than 60 articles (text and video) produced by experienced researchers, teachers and resource providers. Articles are themed ‘For Teachers’ and ‘For Students’; and by ‘Innovative Modules’, ‘Transitions through HE’, ‘Careers’ and ‘Online Resources’.

The Portal is an important, and evolving, resource for teachers of History, and a forum for debate and discussion about the pedagogy of our discipline. Additionally, the Portal provides support in the face of unexpected challenges, such as adapting to digital learning during the lockdowns of 2020-21.

4. Workshops for Early Career Historians of Colour

The Society runs an annual Workshop offering one-to-one guidance and group discussion for early career historians of colour. Sessions cover CV writing, applications, and proposals for funded research, among other topics, for up to 30 historians at a time.

The 2023 Workshop takes place on Friday 22 September and is preceded (August / September) by one-to-one mentoring sessions. Further details of the 2023 Workshop for Early Career Historians of Colour are available here, along with details of how to apply for a place.

5. ‘New to Teaching’ Conference, with HistoryUK

The Society hosts an annual series of workshops which provide expert advice for those ‘New to Teaching’ at the start of the academic year. The event enables attendees to develop their understanding of key issues relating to teaching History in higher education: from innovations in teaching and learning to curriculum design, teaching in groups, and giving assessment.

The latest ‘New to Teaching’ Conference took place in September 2022. Videos of the eight presentations are available here.

Also with History UK, the Society supports development of the Pandemic Pedagogy Handbook, which charts shifting classroom practice.

6. Commentaries and Insights on History Teaching in UK Higher Education

The society’s Education Policy Committee also commissions occasional series of external commentaries relating to important topics in History teaching in Higher Education. From Winter 2023-24, the Committee begins a series of posts on the form, impact and potential implications of Generative AI for historians and History teaching.

Guidance from the RHS for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Last Reviewed: 23 March 2020

This document was updated on 23 March to give additional information about funding, and the closure of the RHS office.

The current novel coronavirus outbreak is a rapidly-developing international situation, which will cause significant ongoing disruption. This guidance is intended to support Royal Historical Society (RHS) staff, Council members and grant recipients.

Updates to this guidance will be posted on this page.

The largest proportion of the Royal Historical Society’s non-staff expenditure takes the form of support for early career researchers (PhD students and recent recipients of the PhD). The RHS is committed to supporting these scholars during what we realise is a very challenging time nationally and internationally. Please bear with us as we work to adapt our standard policies to accommodate this set of exceptional circumstances.

Additionally, during the novel coronavirus pandemic, we are exploring ways to re-direct the funding usually allocated for travel to conferences and archives/libraries—which is not currently feasible for researchers to undertake. Instead, we hope to facilitate research undertaken remotely and/or research activities that promote historical researchers’ exchange of ideas and wellbeing during this unprecedented peacetime crisis.

Our priorities at this time are to ensure that a) no-one feels under pressure to put their own or others’ wellbeing at risk for RHS-related or funded work and b) individuals don’t incur significant personal expense related to RHS-funded activities as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Royal Historical Society Staff and Council

• During the current outbreak RHS staff, and members undertaking RHS business, are working from home, and at flexible hours as necessary. The RHS’s physical office is closed until further notice.  Caring responsibilities, limited access to resources, and personal circumstances may mean that responses to queries may take longer to answer than usual. Please bear with us in these exceptional circumstances.
• RHS-sponsored meetings and events will be postponed, cancelled or moved from physical to virtual locations as appropriate until it is considered safe to resume group and large group meetings. It will take some time for us to determine an indicative schedule, and changes will inevitably occur over time.  We will endeavour to provide updates in a timely manner.  In the meantime, an archive of podcasts and videos of past events can be found here: https://royalhistsoc.org/category/rhs-video-archive/.
• If any RHS staff or Council member develops symptoms of COVID-19, they should self-isolate and follow up-to-date NHS guidance: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/.
• If any RHS staff or Council member develops symptoms of COVID-19, or has had contact with a confirmed case, the RHS will follow government guidelines: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-on-covid-19.
• In any event, current government and NHS advice should be followed and may supersede this guidance.

Visitors to the RHS

• The RHS office is now closed until further notice, and RHS-sponsored events have been postponed, cancelled or moved to virtual spaces. The guidance below pertains to any visits made to the office or to RHS-sponsored events prior to Friday 20 March.
• If, within fourteen days of attending our office or one of our events, a person tests positive for COVID-19, or subsequently self-isolates as a precaution, we ask to be notified by email: enquiries@royalhistsoc.org.
• Visitors to the office/events who have recently travelled to/from the places identified by the NHS as being at increased risk are asked to notify us: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/advice-for-travellers/.

Recipients of RHS Research Expenses grants and Conference Travel grants

• If a recipient of a personal RHS grant has not already booked travel and accommodation for research or to attend a conference, they will be allowed to delay their research plans for up to 12 months (or until the date of a rescheduled event) and still receive full funding;
• If a grant recipient has already purchased travel and accommodation before 16 March 2020 and these cannot be refunded, the RHS will:
  • not request the return of any expenses already claimed from the RHS;
  • where at all possible, honour its commitments to reimburse individuals if other avenues of refund (e.g. insurance and credit card company) have been exhausted.

Recipients of RHS Conference organisation grants

• Conference organisers are welcome to postpone events for up to 12 months and still receive full funding;
• If a conference is delayed or cancelled and non-refundable travel or accommodation costs for conference speakers have already been booked, the RHS will cover the costs initially provided for if other avenues of refund (e.g. insurance and credit card company) have been exhausted.

Please let us know of any changes or send any queries or requests for reimbursement to Imogen Evans, RHS Administrative Secretary by email: adminsecretary@royalhistsoc.org.

Future Funds for Rescheduled Research and Conference Trips, and RHS sponsored events

• As the situation improves, the RHS will assess the impact on its funded activities. While we cannot yet guarantee to be able to provide additional funds at a later date to support re-scheduled events, we will do our best to provide opportunities for new or top-up applications.
• We will make such decisions at a later date, contingent upon funds being available.

New applications for RHS Funding

• New applicants should continue to apply to our funding streams as usual if a scheme is currently advertised on our website.
• We are actively considering new ways of supporting early career History researchers during the current crisis and if feasible will channel funding into one or more interim schemes to support virtual research and ECR wellbeing during the current crisis. Please continue to visit our website, and follow our Twitter account @royalhistsoc for latest updates.

Please direct any queries or communications regarding this guidance to Ms Imogen Evans, RHS Administrative Secretary by email: adminsecretary@royalhistsoc.org. Please direct other enquiries about RHS business to enquiries@royalhistsoc.org.

Wishing everyone all the very best.

Launching in July 2023, the Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships are a new RHS funding programme to support History teaching in UK Higher Education.

The Society looks to award a series of Teaching Fellowships, available for the sums of £500, £1000 and £1250, to be held over an academic year. The Fellowships aim to help historians introduce new approaches to their teaching, or to undertake a defined study of an aspect of history teaching in UK Higher Education.

The Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships are named after Dame Jinty Nelson FBA, President of the Society between 2001 and 2005. Fellowships replace the Society’s previous Jinty Nelson Teaching Prize in a new and expanded funding programme for History teaching at undergraduate and Masters’ levels.

Fellowships will be awarded on the quality and value of the proposal. In addition, the Society is keen to support historians who lack access to alternative resources (institutional or other) to enhance their teaching, or where funding opportunities are very limited.

Please note: applications for the award are reserved for current Fellows and members of the Society. If you wish to apply for membership, please visit our Join Us page.

For recipients of Fellowships for the academic year 2023-24 please see here.

Details of the application round for the Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships, 2024-25, will be made in due course. When open, applications should be submitted via the Society’s online application portal.

About the Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships

Fellowships support historians in Higher Education who wish to introduce new approaches and initiatives to their teaching—and for which funding, at one of three levels (£500, £1000 and £1250 per award), 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: for example, within a department or more widely. Recipients of this first round of Teaching Fellowships are expected to undertake their project within the academic year of the award, with the Fellowship lasting for the duration of the project or period of study.

The Society defines approaches to teaching broadly for this Fellowship. For example, creation of a wholly new course or aspects of an existing course; provision of new activities within an established course; or assistance for students to undertake project work as part of a course. We also welcome applications that pilot or test new ideas in teaching, and which may not—at this time—become a feature of courses in future years.

By awarding Teaching Fellowships, the Society seeks to support instances of creative teaching practice that may be communicated and adopted by others across History in Higher Education. Upon completion of the Fellowship, recipients will be asked to submit a short report (e.g., for the Society’s blog and online Teaching Portal) offering guidance on their  new approach to teaching.

Teaching Fellowships may be used to support a range of initiatives to develop a recipient’s teaching. These may include (but are not limited to):

• travel for UK students and teachers as part of a course;
• attendance at historical sites with students;
• funding to bring external specialists together for the purpose of discussion or training in an aspect of study / communication;
• honoraria for guest speakers, including those working outside UK Higher Education;
• online or print publications / communications to support innovations in historical teaching;
• defined training for historians to support innovation in teaching;
• funding for students to undertake a defined project as part of the course.

Please note: purchase of classroom equipment, technology or other permanent assets is not supported by this award.

Fellowships may equally support a short study relating to History teaching in UK Higher Education, within a department or more widely, and of interest to the wider profession. Approaches may include (but are not limited to):

• study relating to the development of teaching on a particular historical theme, topic, region or chronology; the scope and/or content of teaching in a subject area or UK region; or to student participation: for example, course selection;
• surveys of the profession on subjects relating to History teaching in UK Higher Education;
• promotion of the value of History teaching, and/or identification of high-quality and transferable teaching practices;
• an event to consider and promote aspects of teaching practice;
• initiatives to support History HE teachers at mid or later-career.

Eligibility for a Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowship

The Society welcomes applications from teachers of History in UK Higher Education. Applicants must be current members or Fellows of the Royal Historical Society.

Fellowships are available to those:

• at any career stage;
• working in or outside history departments, where the major component of a course is historical (including, for example, the history of ideas or history of science);
• responsible for at least one course at a higher education institution that they would create, redesign or develop, and for which Fellowship funding is required;
• teaching on undergraduate or Masters’ programmes;
• able to undertake the course format, with RHS financial support, no later than 31 July 2024;
• willing to to provide a short report on the success (or otherwise) of the project, in a format that can be appropriated and re-used in the teaching of other historians.
• Collaborative and cross disciplinary applications are welcome.

When awarding Fellowships, primary consideration will be given to the proposed quality and value of the new approach to teaching, in tandem with the intended use of the award to support these innovations. In addition, the Society is keen to support historians who lack access to alternative resources (institutional or other) to enhance their teaching, or where funding opportunities are very limited.

For questions about the Fellowships, please email: administration@royalhistsoc.org.

HEADER IMAGE: cover, ‘The Compleat Tutor’, c.1750, London, Rijksmuseum, public domain.

24 May 2021

The Royal Historical Society (RHS) is deeply concerned to have heard of plans to end History teaching at four universities in the past year (the University of Sunderland, Aston University, London South Bank University and Kingston University). And whilst we are heartened to hear that History at Aston has now been reprieved, we are nonetheless concerned about the vulnerability of History degrees and departments in universities that serve predominantly first-generation students from low-participation backgrounds, and, in some cases, a high proportion of BAME students. Post-92 institutions have relatively large numbers of local and commuting students. It is well understood that many of those who commute to their local university do so precisely because they lack the means to study at a more distant institution.

The closure of History degrees in post-92 institutions, therefore, is not a simple matter of the consolidation of History provision. It also involves the removal of the opportunity to study History as a degree subject from students of a particular demographic. This is bad enough. However, when proposals go further – with historical teaching and training removed from related degree options, or when History staff are not offered meaningful redeployment – then the losses to student choice, and of specialist skills and livelihoods, are all the more serious and damaging.

Recent moves to close History courses and departments occur against a backdrop in which degrees are increasingly ranked and valued according to graduate earnings. The Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has recently hit out against ’dead-end courses’ that leave young people ‘with nothing but debt’. According to this logic, History, along with some other humanities subjects, stands accused of being bad value for money – not only for individual students, but also for the taxpayer who will end up footing the bill.

Yet the suggestion that a History degree is poor value or of limited use is simply not supported by the evidence. A History degree teaches all the skills that employers want, including independent, critical thinking and advanced writing, and this is reflected in the graduate employment market.

The British Academy’s recent report ‘Qualified for the Future’ (2020) shows that employment levels are identical for STEM and AHSS degrees. Studies by the Institute for Fiscal Studies conclude that, once controls have been made for socio-economic background, the differences between returns to specific subjects are not large. The 2020 Lifetime Earnings Study likewise reveals relatively few differences in earnings across subjects for either men or women (with History in the middle for both), and – once again – that an individual’s social background matters more than subject. Given the existence of robust evidence for the value of History degrees – both for their owners and for employers – it is far from clear why History is being included in arguments around value for money and graduate prospects.

More importantly, however, the RHS rejects the current terms of this debate, in which graduate salaries have been elevated as the most significant – or even the sole – measure of the value of a university education. It is our position that History serves a social good that goes beyond the monetary benefit to the individual. History provides the intellectual means for understanding the contemporary world. It is vital for the health and breadth of our civic culture, and our evolving sense of national self-understanding in all its nuance and complexity. Equally, the historians who teach these skills, across all kinds of university, are fully aware of the importance of relevance, innovation and public engagement in their work, and of the opportunity these present to better integrate universities within local communities.

High-quality research and teaching in History is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy and an informed, tolerant citizenry. We need this – just as we need the specialists to teach and promote historical awareness. The Royal Historical Society works for History and historians. We will therefore continue to advocate for History: at all kinds of institutions all across the country.

The President, Vice-Presidents, and Council of the Royal Historical Society