Search Results for: Open Access

Publications

The Royal Historical Society has a long and proud tradition of publishing across a wide range of subjects and formats.

Our journal: Transactions

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (TRHS) is the flagship journal of the RHS and one of the UK’s best known historical journals. Transactions publishes papers by senior and early career historians alike, covering all periods and a wide range of subject and geographical areas.

Transactions welcomes submissions from scholars worldwide. Transactions is published for the RHS by Cambridge University Press via FirstView and in print.

Our book series: New Historical Perspectives

Our New Historical Perspectives (NHP) series, launched in 2016, is an innovative Open Access book series for Early Career Researchers. NHP is a partnership between the Society, the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press. The series includes monographs and edited collections, with OA author publishing charges covered by the RHS and IHR.

New Historical Perspectives titles appear on JSTOR’s OA books platform, increasing discoverability and the option to access and share a book at the chapter level.

Scholarly editions: Camden Series

The Camden Series is one of the most prestigious and important collections of primary source material relating to British History, including the British empire and Britons’ influence overseas.

Published in association with Cambridge University Press, the Series offers 380 scholarly editions of primary sources, available in print and online. Camden volumes make primary materials, from the early medieval to late modern periods, readily available for researchers.

Elements series: History and Contemporary Society

New from January 2025, Elements in History and Contemporary Society is a partnership between the Royal Historical Society and Cambridge University Press.

‘Elements in History and Contemporary Society’ explores the value, use, discourse, and impact of history in contemporary society and culture. It draws attention to the roles played by a variety of institutions and individuals in the making and use of historical knowledge.

The series is part of Cambridge Elements, a set of short monographs (20,000 to 30,000 words max), published online and in hard and paperback print editions by Cambridge University Press.

Research and teaching: Bibliography of British and Irish History

To the end of 2024, the Society was a partner in the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH). The Bibliography is a database of over 650,000 records, and the the most comprehensive guide available to British and Irish history. The Bibliography includes records of books, articles, chapters and editions, and is updated with 10,000 new titles each year.

From 2025, BBIH is published by its remaining partners, the Institute of Historical Research and Brepols, BBIH is an essential resource for researching and teaching British and Irish past.

 

 

Privacy & cookies

The Royal Historical Society

Privacy and Data Protection

Updated 7 May 2020

 

Introduction

The Royal Historical Society is a company incorporated in England and Wales with the registered charity number 206888, whose registered office is: University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT.

The Royal Historical Society is committed to upholding and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we use the personal data that we collect for the purpose of administering our membership categories, funding schemes and prizes.

Please read this information carefully.

 

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about the Royal Historical Society’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, the length for which we hold data, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us FAO the Executive Secretary.

  • Email: enquiries@royalhistsoc.org
  • Telephone:  +44 (0)20 3821 5311
  • Post: The Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

 

Changes to this privacy policy

We regularly review this policy. Any updates will be made on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 1 May 2020.

 

Why do we collect personal data?

Personal data refers to the any information relating to you that enables you to be identified either directly or indirectly. In the United Kingdom, the use of personal data is regulated by the Data Protection Act (2018).

The Royal Historical Society relies on the lawful basis of our processing of personal data being necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests.

The Royal Historical Society collects and processes your data so that we can:

  • administer our schemes for membership, fellowship or funding, and manage this membership for its duration;
  • administer prizes and events and carry out other initiatives organised solely or partly by the RHS;
  • work with authors to develop publications;
  • appoint to honorary, paid and voluntary positions within the RHS;
  • email you with information about RHS activities, events and notices and opportunities that we think will be of interest;
  • maintain our historical archives for the purpose of historical research;
  • carry out our stated mission to represent, promote, advocate for and support the historical community;

 

Special Category Data

Through our online applications system we collect special category data within the lawful basis of legitimate interest under the condition of explicit consent. Any personal data coming within special category data (e.g. relating to gender, age, disability, racial or ethnic origin) will only be used for the purposes of monitoring diversity and equality. It will be stored confidentially and any analysis will be undertaken anonymously and with disaggregated data.

If you wish to withdraw your consent for the Royal Historical Society to hold special category data about you, please do not hesitate to contact the Executive Secretary.

 

How do we collect Personal Data?

The Royal Historical Society collects and processes personal data in the following main ways:

  1. Information automatically collected about visitors through our websites. This includes:
  • IP address;
  • Web browser type and version;
  • Operating system;
  • A list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on this Website, and the site you exit to.

 

  1. Data provided directly by individuals such as when you:
  • register with our online submission system, submit an application for, and/or are elected to, one of our membership categories;
  • register online to apply for one of our funding schemes;
  • are entered for one of our prize competitions;
  • nominate either yourself or a colleague to a position within the RHS;
  • propose or accept an invitation to publish with us;
  • contact us via our email, website or social media channels;
  • register for or take part in an event hosted solely or in part by us, whether online or in person.

The personal data we collect commonly includes:

  • name
  • contact information including email, postal address, and phone number
  • institutional affiliation and status
  • “special categories of data” including information about gender, age, ethnicity, religion may be requested with your explicit consent for equalities monitoring purposes.

 

Who do we share personal data with?

The Royal Historical Society will not sell any personal data to third parties.

The Royal Historical Society will only share personal data with third-parties who

  • supply the online systems that are used for the purposes of administering our services.
  • are involved directly in the running of RHS activities  including working groups, prize committees and assessing funding applications.

Basic factual information (such as name, institutional affiliation, membership of any committees, Council or working groups may be made publicly available on our website for reasons including:

  • accuracy of meeting minutes and published reports;
  • notices of publications, prizes and grant awards;
  • records of events and other conferences that we host may also include the names of those attending;
  • providing authorial credit.

 

Transfers of personal information outside the UK

Data which we collect from you may be stored or processed in and transferred to countries outside of the area covered by EU GDPR legislation, for example if our servers or service providers are located in a country outside this area. If personal data is transferred in this way, we will aim to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this privacy policy e.g. through the receipt of a written guarantee of GDPR compliance.

 

How long do we store personal data for?

Data security is of great importance to the Royal Historical Society, and to protect your data we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial safeguarding procedures. We store personal data for different amounts of time, depending on the purpose:

  • In the case of data provided in the course of administering membership and fellowship, the Royal Historical Society will keep your data for as long as you remain a Member or Fellow.
  • Basic personal data (such as name, date of birth and contact details) from funding applications and unsuccessful nominations will be kept in order to confirm eligibility for future funding scheme applications.
  • Data that is necessary for financial audit purposes will be kept for 7 years.
  • When personal data is collected for other specific purposes (e.g. participation in an event, survey or temporary funding scheme) we will provide clear confirmation of the data retention period at the point the data is collected.

 

What are your Data Protection Rights?

The Royal Historical Society would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. You are entitled to the following rights in relation to the data that we hold about you:

  • The right to access– You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification– You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete any information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure– You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing– You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing– You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability– You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

 

If you make a request within these rights, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Executive Secretary of the RHS by:

  • Email: enquiries@royalhistsoc.org
  • Telephone:  +44 (0)20 7387 7532
  • Post: The Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (please note that during the exceptional circumstances of COVID-19 we are not currenttly able to access the RHS offices)

 

Password Access

If password access is required to access certain parts of the Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

 

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org. The Royal Historical Society may use cookies to:

  • Keep you signed in
  • Understanding how you use our website
  • Improve your experience of using the Website and to improve our range of services. Before the Website places Cookies on your computer, you will be presented with a message bar requesting your consent to set those Cookies.

You can set your internet browser to not accept cookies; however certain features of the Website may not function fully or as intended.

 

Marketing

The Royal Historical Society would like to send you information about our services, events and publications that we think you might like. If you agree or register on our websites to receive these emails from us, you have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you for these purposes.

If you no longer wish to be contacted for these purposes please contact the Executive Secretary by email at enquiries@royalhistsoc.org.

 

Privacy policies of other websites

The Royal Historical Society websites contain links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our websites, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

 

How to lodge a complaint with the appropriate authority

Should you wish to report a complaint with respect to this privacy policy or if you feel that the Royal Historical Society has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.

 

Privacy policy (US)

This privacy statement was last changed on 27 February 2025, last checked on 27 February 2025, and applies to citizens and legal permanent residents of the United States.

In this privacy statement, we explain what we do with the data we obtain about you via https://royalhistsoc.org. We recommend you carefully read this statement. In our processing we comply with the requirements of privacy legislation. That means, among other things, that:

  • we clearly state the purposes for which we process personal data. We do this by means of this privacy statement;
  • we aim to limit our collection of personal data to only the personal data required for legitimate purposes;
  • we first request your explicit consent to process your personal data in cases requiring your consent;
  • we take appropriate security measures to protect your personal data and also require this from parties that process personal data on our behalf;
  • we respect your right to access your personal data or have it corrected or deleted, at your request.

If you have any questions, or want to know exactly what data we keep of you, please contact us.

1. Purpose and categories of data

We may collect or receive personal information for a number of purposes connected with our business operations which may include the following: (click to expand)

1.1 Contact - Through phone, mail, email and/or webforms

The following categories of data are collected

  • A first and last name
  • A home or other physical address, including street name and name of a city or town
  • An email address
  • A telephone number
  • Education information
  • Professional or employment-related information

Retention period

We retain this data until the service is terminated.

1.2 Payments

The following categories of data are collected

  • A first and last name
  • A home or other physical address, including street name and name of a city or town
  • An email address
  • A telephone number
  • Financial information such as bank account number of credit card number

Retention period

We retain this data upon termination of the service for the following number of months: 84

1.3 Registering an account

The following categories of data are collected

  • A first and last name
  • A home or other physical address, including street name and name of a city or town
  • An email address
  • A telephone number
  • Date of birth
  • Sex
  • Education information
  • Professional or employment-related information

Retention period

We retain this data until the service is terminated.

1.4 Newsletters

The following categories of data are collected

  • A first and last name
  • A home or other physical address, including street name and name of a city or town
  • An email address

Retention period

We retain this data until the service is terminated.

1.5 Compiling and analyzing statistics for website improvement.

The following categories of data are collected

  • IP Address
  • Internet activity information, including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer's interaction with an Internet Web site, application, or advertisement
  • Geolocation data

Retention period

Upon termination of the service we retain this data for the following period: 24 months.

2. Sharing with other parties

We only share or disclose this data to other recipients for the following purposes:

Purpose of the data transfer: Email newsletters
Country or state in which this service provider is located: USA
Purpose of the data transfer: Website statistical analysis
Country or state in which this service provider is located: USA
Purpose of the data transfer: Collecting membership data
Country or state in which this service provider is located: USA

3. Disclosure practices

We disclose personal information if we are required by law or by a court order, in response to a law enforcement agency, to the extent permitted under other provisions of law, to provide information, or for an investigation on a matter related to public safety.

If our website or organisation is taken over, sold, or involved in a merger or acquisition, your details may be disclosed to our advisers and any prospective purchasers and will be passed on to the new owners.

4. How we respond to Do Not Track signals & Global Privacy Control

Our website does not respond to and does not support the Do Not Track (DNT) header request field.

5. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. For more information about cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy on our Opt-out preferences webpage. 

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Google.

Google may not use the data for any other Google services.

The inclusion of full IP addresses is blocked by us.

6. Security

We are committed to the security of personal data. We take appropriate security measures to limit abuse of and unauthorized access to personal data. This ensures that only the necessary persons have access to your data, that access to the data is protected, and that our security measures are regularly reviewed.

7. Third-party websites

This privacy statement does not apply to third-party websites connected by links on our website. We cannot guarantee that these third parties handle your personal data in a reliable or secure manner. We recommend you read the privacy statements of these websites prior to making use of these websites.

8. Amendments to this privacy statement

We reserve the right to make amendments to this privacy statement. It is recommended that you consult this privacy statement regularly in order to be aware of any changes. In addition, we will actively inform you wherever possible.

9. Accessing and modifying your data

If you have any questions or want to know which personal data we have about you, please contact us. Please make sure to always clearly state who you are, so that we can be certain that we do not modify or delete any data of the wrong person. We shall provide the requested information only upon receipt of a verifiable consumer request. You can contact us by using the information below. You have the following rights:

9.1 You have the following rights with respect to your personal data

  1. You may submit a request for access to the data we process about you.
  2. You may object to the processing.
  3. You may request an overview, in a commonly used format, of the data we process about you.
  4. You may request correction or deletion of the data if it is incorrect or not or no longer relevant, or to ask to restrict the processing of the data.
  5. You may appeal our decision whenever we refuse to take action on a request and submit a complaint with the competent authority if your appeal is denied.

10. Children

Our website is not designed to attract children and it is not our intent to collect personal data from children under the age of consent in their country of residence. We therefore request that children under the age of consent do not submit any personal data to us.

11. Contact details

Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom
Website: https://royalhistsoc.org
Email: administration@ex.comroyalhistsoc.org

Phone number: +44 (0)20 3821 5311

 

Registration now open for ‘History and Archives in Practice’ 2024 in partnership with Cardiff University

Registration is now open for this year’s ‘History and Archives in Practice’ day conference (HAP24) which takes place on Wednesday 6 March 2024 at Cardiff University.

HAP is an annual gathering of historians and archivists to explore new projects, practices and collections. The conference is run jointly by the Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research and The National Archives. This year, HAP is partnering with historians and archivists at Cardiff University, where the event will be held.

Our theme for HAP24 is ‘Historical Legacies: Collecting History, Historical Collections, and Community Voices’ (Welsh language version available here). The day combines panels, interactive sessions and collection demonstrations from over 15 projects, UK-wide, involving historians and archivists working collaboratively. A provisional programme for History and Archives in Practice, 2024 will be available online soon.

HAP24 provides opportunities to reflect on archival and historical legacies — of people, places, and practice; historical, physical, and digital. Join us as we consider questions of value, loss, preservation, access and the opportunities and challenges we face as historians and archivists in preserving histories and collections.

Bursaries to attend

HAP24 is a free event and organisers are committed to making the day as accessible and inclusive as possible.

There are a limited number of bursaries, of up to £150, available to support travel (for attendees based outside Cardiff), or to help with other costs (such as childcare) to enable attendance.

If you wish to be considered for a bursary please register for the event via the ‘book now’ button above and then complete the bursary application form, by Monday 19 February 2024. Applicants for bursaries will be notified of outcomes two weeks in advance of the event.#HAP24 is an in-person event at Cardiff University.

Please note that bookings for this event will close on 25 February 2024.

 

 

Society launches new resources on REF 2029 for historians

The Royal Historical Society today publishes new pages on its website dedicated to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029. This resource will be the location of current and forthcoming commentaries and guides for historians as further details of REF 2029 become known.

Work is now underway for REF 2029, led by a team reporting to the four UK Higher Education funding bodies. With it come a number of changes to the means and structure of assessment. As a result, the next REF will differ in important ways from that held in 2021.

Significant elements of the new high-level design for REF 2029 are non-negotiable. At the same time, other areas are currently under review. These were the subject of an open consultation exercise — (Future of the Research Assessment Programme ‘FRAP’) — which closed in October 2023, and to which the Royal Historical Society submitted a detailed response on behalf of the discipline.

The Society’s response is available here in full and was considered in association with heads of the Institute of Historical Research, the Economic History Society and the Past & Present Society, along with representatives from other learned societies. We are very grateful to these societies for their time and advice in composing the RHS response to the FRAP consultation.

To accompany the REF 2029 pages, there is also a new blog post — ‘Preparing for REF 2029’ — written by Professors Barbara Bombi and Jonathan Morris, the current and former chairs of the RHS Research Policy Committee. The post offers an overview of FRAP and the Society’s response to it, as well as a review of the REF team’s latest announcement (made on 7 December 2023). This announcement puts back the next assessment from 2028 to 2029 and provides interim decisions on the design of REF 2029 based on first responses to the October consultation.

Further updates on REF design; the recent consultation on the ‘People, Culture and Environment’ element of the exercise; and the launch of a consultation on Open Access within REF are expected from January 2024. Information on these will be added to the Society’s web pages in due course.

 

‘History and Archives in Practice’ 2024 partners with Cardiff University: Call for Papers now open

The Royal Historical Society — with partners The National Archives and Institute of Historical Research — is pleased to announce details of its ‘History and Archives in Practice’ Conference for 2024. HAP24 will take place on Wednesday 6 March at Cardiff University. The partnership with Cardiff comes after an open call earlier this year, inviting UK archives to host the 2024 conference.

HAP24 will be the second year for ‘History and Archives in Practice’ and the first when the core group partners with a UK university / archive. We look forward to working with colleagues in Cardiff now that the Call for Papers for HAP24 is open. For more on the theme for next year’s conference, and how to submit a panel proposal, please see below.

History and Archives in Practice, 2024: Call for Papers

HAP24 takes place at Cardiff University on Wednesday 6 March 2024 on the theme of ‘Historical Legacies: collecting history, historical collections and community voices’.

‘HAP24: Historical Legacies’ looks to the future (through the past) to discuss the impact of legacies past, present, and future. The event provides opportunities to reflect on the durability of legacies (historical, physical, digital), the democratisation of history, and our collective responsibility in working with communities to ensure that our collections and our practices are rooted in co-creation and collaboration.

With co-creation and collaboration in mind, we now invite proposals for ‘History and Archives in Practice, 2024’ on this theme.

We welcome submissions from historians, archivists, and heritage organisations alike. We are particularly keen to highlight and support smaller organisations, underrepresented collections, and marginalised voices as well as new and emerging research. This year we especially welcome submissions on the theme from projects in Wales.

Please submit an abstract (300 words) by Friday 15 December 2023 using this form

‘History and Archives in Practice’ encourages a wide range of formats that best showcase a collection and the experience / lessons of collaborative working between archivists and historians on shared projects. Suggested formats include:

  • 20-minute papers
  • Interactive workshops
  • Full panels on a chosen topic (3-4 speakers with chair, 15-20 minutes per speaker)
  • Introductions to specific collections and their potential for historical research
  • Demonstration and handling sessions, introducing attendees to selected items from your collections, and their potential in research
  • Other proposals and formats for communicating activity, experience and research are also welcome as we look to move on from traditional conference models

In the coming weeks and months, further information on HAP24 will be circulated on RHS, TNA and IHR social media, mailing lists and newsletters. Please do consider submitting a paper or panel proposal.

If you have any questions about HAP24 and submitting a proposal, please email: research@nationalarchives.gov.uk

About ‘History and Archives in Practice’

A partnership of The National Archives, Royal Historical Society, and the Institute of Historical Research, ‘History and Archives in Practice’ (HAP) is where historians and archivists come together to consider shared interests in archive collections, their interpretation and use.

History and Archives in Practice (HAP) is an annual event, building on its partners’ long experience of bringing archivists and historians into close conversation. Our first event ‘HAP23’ took place on 29 March 2023 at the Institute of Historical Research, London, and explored the theme of ‘Collecting Communities: working together and with collections’.

You can find out more and watch videos from the event here: History and Archives in Practice, 2023

From 2024 and beyond, HAP endeavours to partner with UK archives and institutions who similarly specialise in bringing together archivists and researchers. Each year, we draw on aspects of UK collections and emerging research being undertaken, integrating these into the annual event programme. This new format enables a formerly London-based conference to take place at archive centres across the UK.

In 2024 we partner with historians and archivists from Cardiff University who will both host HAP24 and collaborate with us in the planning and organisation of the day, showcasing their collections and the breadth of innovative and exciting research that is being undertaken across the institution and Wales itself.

 

 

 

 

‘History and Archives in Practice 2025’: Call for Participation now open

 

The Royal Historical Society, and partners, are pleased to announce the launch of next year’s History and Archives in Practice call for participation.

 

Working with Memory: History, Storytelling and Practices of Remembrance
Senate House, University of London, Wednesday 5 March 2025

 

In 2025, people around the world will reflect on 80 years since the end of World War II, remembering this pivotal moment in global history and commemorating the lives lost during the conflict.

Those of us working with history and collections – archivists, historians, researchers and practitioners – think about memory on a daily basis. However, memory itself is an elusive and plural concept, it is both material and immaterial, and working with memory is not without its challenges. With HAP25 we want to consider these challenges, share our learnings, celebrate our successes, and delve into the possibilities that occur at the intersections of history and archives.

We seek to explore how we understand and work with memory, considering questions like: How are memory, storytelling and remembrance felt and practised? How do we decide what memories to collect, and whose stories to tell? And how can we imagine new, expansive and intersectional ways of working with memory within our practices?

HAP25 aims to explore, but is not limited to, some of the following topics:

  • Commemoration and remembrance: How and why do individuals, communities, and nations work together to commemorate and remember? How have practices changed over time and how might they look in the future? What is the role of historians and archivists and what can we learn from those outside of our professions
  • Storytelling, history and archival practice: How does storytelling inform, challenge and expand our practices as historians and archivists?   In what ways can we tell stories to enhance access to and collaboration with histories and collections? And how do innovative forms of collecting and engaging impact our understanding of storytelling?
  • Ethics and working with memory:  What are the ethical challenges and considerations of working with and recording memory? How can storytelling and working with memory challenge archival absences?
  • Home, personal memories and archives: How might we rethink collecting practices, to incorporate contemporary objects and personal archives? How do family historians work with memory?
  • Community memory: How do communities work to ensure the inclusion of their stories and experiences? How do we best collaborate on this? Who is best placed to be doing this work? How do national memory narratives change? How do community memories get a place on the transnational stage of remembering?
  • Institutional memory and beyond: How is institutional memory accessed? How can institutional memory interact with and respond to memory beyond the institution? How can historians, archivists, information managers and stakeholders collaborate to ensure that institutional memory is reflexive and reflective of the needs of different users?
  • Beyond materiality: How do we think about the immaterial and material memory of collections How can we collaborate with conservators, heritage scientists and practitioners to look beyond the materiality of a record to preserve its memory

HAP25 is particularly keen to highlight and support smaller organisations, underrepresented collections, and marginalised voices as well as new and emerging research.

How to submit a proposal? 

Please get in touch with HAP organisers at research@nationalarchives.gov.uk if you have any questions.

More information is available on the IHR website: https://www.history.ac.uk/events/cfp-hap25

 

RHS Workshop Grants – new call now open

The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce the next call for its RHS Workshop Grants for projects taking place in 2024. This scheme provides funding of £1,000 per Grant to enable historians to undertake activities, broadly defined, to pursue historical research, study and discussion. In this round, the Society will make up to six awards for Workshops held in 2024.

This is the second round of RHS Workshops Grants; further details of the four projects awarded funding in 2023 are listed below.

Applications are now invited via the Society’s online application portal, before the closing date: 23:59 on Friday 19 January 2024.

About the Call

RHS Workshop Grants enable historians to come together to pursue projects of shared interest. Projects are purposefully and broadly defined, and may focus not only on academic research but also on a wider range of activities relating to historical work. These may include but are not limited to:  

  • discussion of a research topic or project by collaborators;  
  • evaluation of historical methodologies, theories or practice; 
  • workshopping and manuscript review of a proposed edited collection; 
  • beginning and testing a research idea, leading to a future project;  
  • piloting work relating to the teaching, research or the communication of history; 
  • planning and writing a funding proposal;  
  • undertaking networking and building of academic communities; 
  • activities that combine, where appropriate, historians from a range of professional and other backgrounds, including higher education, related sectors of the historical professional, and community history groups. 
  • Workshops may be open to an audience or closed to invited attendees according to the organisers’ preference.

The Society is particularly keen to support activities for which alternative sources of funding are very limited, or do not exist. The Society seeks to provide grants to those in greatest need of funding, where options for institutional support are minimal or not available.  

Each Workshop receives £1,000 from the Royal Historical Society to cover attendance and the costs of a day meeting. In this round the Society looks to provide up to six projects with Grant funding.

Workshops will be supported by the Royal Historical Society, with updates on outcomes reported via the RHS blog and social media. Projects leading to publishable work are warmly encouraged to submit content to the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, for consideration.

Applicants are welcome to consider hosting Workshops at the Society’s offices at University College London, if desirable.

Eligibility

The Society looks to award up to six Grants to projects in this latest round. Eligible applications will be for projects that: 

  • have applicants / lead organisers who are current members of the Society. For more on how to join the Society, please see here;
  • request funds to support travel, venue hire, hospitality and overnight accommodation when required, as well as travel bursaries for public events; grants will not be awarded to support paid work; 
  • may include participants travelling from Europe in line with the Society’s carbon policy; attendance by participants from further afield will not be supported by the grant; 
  • remain in contact with the Society before and after the Workshop and agree to contribute an article on their project to the RHS blog, where appropriate. 

How to apply

If you have an idea for a workshop and would like to submit a proposal, please provide a 750-1,000 word statement. This should outline:

  • the academic focus of the Workshop and the topic / activity under consideration
  • the purpose and proposed outcome from the Workshop
  • costings for holding a one-day event
  • the location of the proposed Workshop, and whether this may be the RHS Office at University College London
  • the lead organiser(s) and proposed participants who would be involved in the Workshop
  • the proposed date of the Workshop, to be held in 2024

Proposals should be submitted via the Society’s online application system by the deadline of 23:59 on Friday 19 January 2024.

 

Recipients of RHS Workshops Grants, 2023

The following four projects were awarded funding in the first round of Workshops held in 2023:

  • ‘Early Modern Error’ — lead organiser: Alice Leonard (Coventry)
  • ‘Women and Plantations: New Directions in Tudor and Stuart Colonial History’ — lead organiser: Lauren Working (York)
  • ‘Beyond the ‘Good’ / ’Bad’ Migrant Dichotomy: ways forward for early modern and contemporary history’ — lead organiser: Kathleen Commons (Sheffield)
  • ‘Unboxing the Family Archive: New Approaches to Intergenerational Collections’ — lead organiser: Imogen Peck (Birmingham)

 

President of the Royal Historical Society, 2024-2028 Open Call for Nominations from RHS Fellows

Presidents of the Royal Historical Society serve a four-year term. That of the current President, Professor Emma Griffin, will end in November 2024. The Council of the Royal Historical Society is now beginning the search for its next President to serve from November 2024 to November 2028.

In addition to its own search, the Society’s Council here issues an open call for nominations for the Presidency, 2024-28. Fellows of the Society are invited to nominate potential candidates. Nominees for the RHS Presidency must be current Fellows of the Society, resident in the UK.This email provides further information on the position of RHS President and the required specifications and attributes of this role.

Nominations of potential candidates may be sent to the Council’s Presidential Selection Committee via president.selection.panel@royalhistsoc.org, and should arrive on or before 27 August 2023.

Questions about the role and the process, from either nominators or potential nominees, may be directed to the Selection Committee: president.selection.panel@royalhistsoc.org.

About the role

The President of the Royal Historical Society has two distinct responsibilities: to work with trustees to support and enable the direction, vision and values of the charity; and to work with the Society’s professional staff to oversee good governance, financial management, compliance with charity law etc., and to implement the trustees’ broader vision for the Society. For the first, the President requires stature, dynamism and eloquence sufficient to hold the trust and respect of Council, and in turn to inspire confidence from the membership and wider profession. For the second, the President needs an active, hands-on, collaborative stance in order to work effectively with a small team of professional staff.

The President is a leadership role for a broad profession. The incumbent needs to be able and willing to speak in ways that demonstrate leadership, while remaining within the boundaries and role of a charity and respectful of the wide diversity of opinions and values amongst our membership.  S/he requires the confidence and willingness to speak with policy makers within and beyond HE, as well as to establish new partnerships and relationships as required. Recent Presidents have effectively developed, in collaboration with Council and other stakeholders, new strategic initiatives for the Society. We are looking for someone with a coherent and realistic ambition for the Society of their own, which is realisable over the four-year term of their Presidency and through working with Council and staff.

The President is also the face of the Society. The RHS delivers a wide range of events both online and in-person – at its UCL premises and elsewhere in the UK. The President is the host/chair of the majority of its events and needs to be a confident chair of academic and public events. The President represents the Society at various external events, conferences and other outward facing contexts. S/he needs to be willing to speak on behalf of the Society and to network in a variety of professional and academic settings, both national and international. The President will join a Society with a recently restructured Office and staff and be committed to the following:

  • advocacy for the discipline and profession;
  • innovation (new activities in line with the Society’s charitable purpose, and activities);
  • expansion (in terms of membership, activities and audiences);
  • equality and opportunity for all practitioners of the discipline/profession;
  • balance, appreciating and sustaining the Society’s socially and intellectually diverse membership;
  • professionalisation, of the Office, communications with members, operations.

Within this broad current framework, and working with Councillors and staff, the role affords considerable scope for the new President to develop their own vision and distinctive strands of activity.

Nominees and nominators for the President role must be current Fellows of the Society.  The successful candidate will likely have some prior experience of a leadership or management position within the RHS or within a historical society or organisation with similar structure and values.

Management responsibilities

Considerable people-management is required for the role, and we are looking for an individual with the tact and diplomacy to manage multiple relationships and (potentially) conflicting demands effectively. The new President will have the confidence to support committed and energetic Councillors and staff within their roles and remits and to champion the respective requirements / contributions of both the Office and Council. They will have the personality and skills to work professionally with both academics and staff and a willingness to delegate to others in the organisation. The President works closely with, and line-manages, two senior members of RHS staff, and with them shares responsibility for the smooth running of the Office.

Personal and professional qualities

  • Capacity to create, maintain and lead a sufficiently representative Council body to ensure Society activities reflect the needs and profile of the profession and membership;
  • Proactivity to create new initiatives, partnerships and opportunities;
  • Tolerance of a wide range of opinions for the sake of the Society;
  • Understanding and generosity to handle enquiries and requests for support from Fellows and Members;
  • Appreciation of the diversity of the profession and membership within and beyond Higher Education;
  • Readiness to engage with the oversight of the day-to-day management of the charity, supporting and enabling the work of the CEO and Academic Director, and chairing the Council in its responsibilities for overseeing the Society’s financial management, audit and compliance with charitable regulation;
  • Patience for line-management responsibilities and resilience for handling any interpersonal conflicts that may arise.

The Presidency requires a considerable time commitment.  It is an active, hands-on role, not an honorary position.  The role is unpaid, but, where feasible and/or necessary, the Society can offer a stipend paid to the incumbent’s employing institution to help free them from institutional commitments.

The current President, who is not part of the selection committee, is happy to talk to interested candidates about the role. To do so, please email: president@royalhistsoc.org.

 

RHS Workshop Grants – 2025 call now open to fund day event on historical projects

The Royal Historical Society is pleased to announce the next call for its RHS Workshop Grants for projects to take place in 2025. This scheme provides funding of £1,000 per Grant to enable historians to undertake activities, broadly defined, to pursue historical research, study and discussion. In this round, the Society will make up to six awards for Workshops to be held in 2025.

Applications are now invited via the Society’s online application portal, before the closing date: 23:59 on Friday 24 January 2025. Applicants / lead organisers of a Workshop must be current Fellows or Members of the Society.

This is the third round of RHS Workshops Grants since the scheme began in 2023; further details of the projects awarded funding in 2024 are listed below.

About the Call

RHS Workshop Grants enable historians to come together to pursue projects of shared interest. Projects are purposefully and broadly defined, and may focus not only on academic research but also on a wider range of activities relating to historical work. These may include but are not limited to:  

  • discussion of a research topic or project by collaborators;  
  • evaluation of historical methodologies, theories or practice; 
  • workshopping and manuscript review of a proposed edited collection; 
  • beginning and testing a research idea, leading to a future project;  
  • piloting work relating to the teaching, research or the communication of history; 
  • planning and writing a funding proposal;  
  • undertaking networking and building of academic communities; 
  • activities that combine, where appropriate, historians from a range of professional and other backgrounds, including higher education, related sectors of the historical professional, and community history groups. 
  • Workshops may be open to an audience or closed to invited attendees according to the organisers’ preference.

The Society is particularly keen to support activities for which alternative sources of funding are very limited, or do not exist. The Society seeks to provide grants to those in greatest need of funding, where options for institutional support are minimal or not available.  

Each Workshop receives £1,000 from the Royal Historical Society to cover attendance and the costs of a day meeting. In this round the Society looks to provide up to six projects with Grant funding.

Workshops will be supported by the Royal Historical Society, with updates on outcomes reported via the RHS blog and social media. Projects leading to publishable work are warmly encouraged to submit content to the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, for consideration.

Applicants are welcome to consider hosting Workshops at the Society’s offices at University College London, if desirable.

Eligibility

The Society looks to award up to six Grants to projects in this latest round. Eligible applications will be for projects that: 

  • have applicants / lead organisers who are current Fellows or members of the Society. For more on how to join the Society, please see here;
  • request funds to support travel, venue hire, hospitality and overnight accommodation when required, as well as travel bursaries for public events; grants will not be awarded to support paid work; 
  • may include participants travelling from Europe in line with the Society’s carbon policy; attendance by participants from further afield will not be supported by the grant; 
  • remain in contact with the Society before and after the Workshop and agree to contribute an article on their project to the RHS blog, where appropriate. 

How to apply

If you have an idea for a workshop and would like to submit a proposal, please provide a 750 to 1,000 word statement. This should outline:

  • the academic focus of the Workshop and the topic / activity under consideration
  • the purpose and proposed outcome from the Workshop
  • costings for holding a one-day event
  • the location of the proposed Workshop, and whether this may be the RHS Office at University College London
  • the lead organiser(s) and proposed participants who would be involved in the Workshop
  • the proposed date of the Workshop, to be held in 2025

Proposals should be submitted via the Society’s online application platform by the deadline of 23:59 on Friday 24 January 2025.

Recipients of RHS Workshops Grants, 2024

The following six projects were awarded funding in the second round of Workshops announced in 2024:

  • Arunima Datta (University of North Texas) for ‘(Re)Visioning London through “Black” Dialogues’
  • Helen Glew (University of Westminster) for ‘Pat Thane: Reflections on History, Policy and Action’
  • Elizabeth Goodwin (York St John University) for a ‘Network Building Symposium for Historians in Post 92 Institutions’
  • Claire Kennan (King’s College, London) for ‘A Workshop in Ruins’
  • Aparajita Mukhopadhyay (University of 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’