PhD Fellowships

 

The Royal Historical Society offers 4 annual PhD Fellowships for postgraduate historians in their third year of research at a UK university. The Fellowships comprise:

  • Two RHS Centenary Fellowships: each Centenary Fellowship runs for 6-months and is worth £8,295 for final-year PhD students to complete their dissertations and to develop their research career.
  • Two RHS Marshall Fellowships: each Marshall Fellowship runs for 6-months and is worth £8,295 for final-year PhD students to complete their dissertations and to develop their research career.

Marshall Fellowships are supported by the generosity of Professor Peter Marshall FBA, formerly Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King’s College London and President of the Royal Historical Society from 1996 to 2000.

All Fellowships are open to candidates without regard to nationality or academic affiliation. They are jointly held with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, where Fellows are based.


How to Apply for 2024-25

  • Call for the Fellowships for the academic year 2024-25 will open on 8 April 2024.
  • Centenary and Marshall Fellowships are open to candidates without regard to nationality or current academic affiliation.
  • The Fellowships are awarded to doctoral students who are completing a thesis in history (broadly defined) who have undertaken at least three years’ research on their chosen topic (and not more than four years full-time or six years part-time) at the beginning of the session for which the awards are made.
  • These awards cannot be held in conjunction with any other substantial maintenance grant.

For full information on how to apply for the Centenary or Marshall Research Fellowships and to obtain further guidelines, please go to the IHR Doctoral Fellowships pages.


Centenary and Marshall Fellows, 2023-24

 

Clare V. Church, is an RHS Centenary Fellow held jointly with the Institute of Research, University of London. Clare is a fourth-year PhD researcher at Aberystwyth University, studying within the Department of History and Welsh History under the supervision of Dr Siân Nicholas and Dr Miguel Hernandez. Originally from Canada, Clare completed her Master of Arts at New York University and attained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo.

The subject of her doctoral research focuses on the cultural representations of women celebrities, and their subsequent influence on gender roles and national morale throughout the Second World War. Specifically, the project applies the concept of ‘patriotic femininity’ – originally developed by Phil Goodman within the context of British Second World War studies – transnationally, exploring celebrity case studies in the UK, US, and France. Studying the mediated depictions of celebrities like Vera Lynn, the Andrews Sisters, and Joséphine Baker, the project endeavours to understand how the ‘ideal woman’ was framed within these distinct national wartime contexts.

 

Helena Neimann Erikstrup is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Helena is a fourth-year DPhil student in History of Art at the University of Oxford. Her thesis ‘The Colours of Martinique: The (re)making of the modern Subject in French-Caribbean Art, 1847-1930’ focuses on visual representations of race and ecology made in Martinique as vital sites in which French national identity was negotiated in the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, a period in which the definition of being, and not being, French was redefined. It looks at understudied visual material of lesser-known or completely unknown, sometimes ‘amateur’, artists alongside work of a canonical artist like Paul Gauguin.

By looking at such artists in a relational, non-hierarchical way, Helena’s research navigates the multitude of chromatic explorations done to grapple and reassert racial and environmental control of Martinique in the decades following the 1848 abolition of slavery. The thesis uses colour (as a pigment, a racial marker and visual effect) as the main prism through which engage with the work and the questions they ask.

 

John Marshall is an RHS Centenary Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. John is a fourth year PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, having previously obtained a BA and MA from Dublin City University.

John’s research analyses transnational lordship and politics in thirteenth-century Britain and Ireland. John’s thesis focuses on the Marshal earls of Pembroke and lords of Leinster, in particular how their influence on the ‘peripheries’ of the Plantagenet empire in Ireland and Wales brought them influence and patronage at the core. His thesis will also provide the first edition of the partition of the Marshal estates in 1247 after the male line of the family died out.

In addition to his membership with the RHS, John is also an associate member of the AHRC-funded Noblesse Oblige research network and has published on aspects of his research in History: The Journal of the Historical Association (108:382) and Irish Historical Studies (2023).

 

Stefano Nicastro is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Stefano studied History at the University of Milan and spent a semester abroad in Istanbul at the Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi via the Erasmus programme. Subsequently, he completed an MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Edinburgh and I further studied Arabic in Egypt at the International House Cairo – ILI.

Stefano is currently a History PhD Student at the University of Edinburgh, working on a thesis entitled, ‘Genoa in the Islamicate Mediterranean: Diplomatic and Economic Relationships between the Genoese and the Qalawunid Sultanate of Egypt and Syria, 1279-1382′. Stefano’s research looks at cross-cultural and trans-regional interactions in the Mediterranean during the later Middle Ages. Specifically, it studies the diplomatic and commercial relationships between the commune of Genoa and the Mamluk sultanate with a focus on the practices and the modality of these trans-Mediterranean exchanges.


HEADER IMAGE: University College London: the main buildings seen from Gower Street. Engraving. Wellcome Collection, public domain

 

 

The Future of History at Roehampton

The Royal Historical Society is shocked and concerned by proposed redundancies and programme closures in History (and across all Arts and Humanities provision) at the University of Roehampton.

The terms of the Roehampton cuts are extensive.

The proposal is to make all 13.6FTE History posts redundant through voluntary or compulsory schemes and to require current staff to reapply for seven newly configured posts. In addition, the University seeks to close its History MA to new entrants from September 2022. If enacted, Roehampton’s cuts to History staffing will, in numerical terms, exceed those undertaken by any UK university in recent years. 

If the Roehampton proposal is extensive, it is also inexplicable.

By any measure, Roehampton is a successful History department. It performs extremely well in the 2022 National Student Survey and Guardian League Table, exceeding many Russell Group institutions. On its website, the University lauds its ‘world-class historians’ who combine academic study with ‘real-world experience’ and skills-building for successful graduate careers. It’s these same members of staff whose posts are now targeted for redundancy.

As in teaching so in research, the Roehampton History department is flourishing. 83% of Outputs were judged as ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) in the recent REF2021 exercise. This places Roehampton among the UK’s leading post-92 institutions for History. Roehampton’s historians are equally skilled at external grant capture: £1.67mn since 2014—a 550% increase in income generation compared with the previous REF cycle. Roehampton History has already demonstrated considerable growth in research culture since 2014. To squander opportunities for future growth will be a huge waste of talent, reputation and potential in favour of short-term solutions to current concerns.

The University’s stated reasons for cuts are declining student admissions, and its need to restructure degree programmes to meet Office for Students’ markers on graduate employability and professional status. 

The Society finds this explanation unconvincing. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, between 2014 and 2020 recruitment increased at Roehampton by 113% in History, far exceeding the University’s 68% increase across all subjects in this period. Of the 104 institutions in the HESA survey, only two saw a greater increase in FTE enrolments to study History than Roehampton. Likewise, any subsequent small decline in admissions has identifiable and exceptional causes—most notably A-Level grade inflation in 2020 and 2021. 

The University is right to stress the need for History degrees to prepare students for employment in a range of sectors. However, it’s mistaken to argue that Roehampton History must start again with a new degree and job profiles in order to do so. 

As a closer look at Roehampton’s existing History programme makes clear, these priorities are already in place. Skills training and employability are central to History at Roehampton and a feature at all stages of the BA course, including a compulsory module in ‘Applied Humanities: Professional Practice and Placement’. As a result, for 2017-19, 66% of ​​Roehampton History undergraduate leavers were in ‘graduate level’ careers or further study. 

The Royal Historical Society has written to Roehampton’s senior managers to address their presentation of the History department and reasons for cuts. We sincerely hope our communication is read as constructive and the start of dialogue. We hope too that it encourages those charged with university management not to act in haste when considering change. Rather, we invite them to work with the Society, and others, to develop valuable, attractive and sustainable programmes in the humanities, for the longer term. 

It is our great concern that once disbanded—whether to meet short-term financial and strategic goals, or acquiesce to populist swipes at the humanities—centres of expertise like Roehampton History will prove impossible to recreate. This would be a loss we can truly ill afford.

The President and Council of the Royal Historical Society

 


 

Those in UK History departments facing cuts, or concerned about their prospect, are welcome to contact the Royal Historical Society.

Contacts and resources are available in the Society’s new toolkit for ‘Supporting History Teaching and Research in UK Universities’.

 

History at Oxford Brookes University – a statement from the Royal Historical Society

 

We are, sadly, all too familiar with news of cuts within UK History departments. The Royal Historical Society meets regularly with historians facing course closures and redundancies. The Society also speaks out for individual departments and the sector as a whole.

What we learned last week from Oxford Brookes University goes far beyond the cases previously encountered. In terms of extent, rapidity and impact, the cuts and job losses proposed at Oxford Brookes are remarkably severe. History is not alone. Recent coverage has highlighted the university’s plan to close its Music programme—a decision which also affects cultural historians in that department. Cuts are similarly proposed for English, Film, Anthropology and Architecture.

For History the proposal is shocking. All six of the department’s professors are at risk of redundancy. Four will be required to leave either ‘voluntarily’ in January or through compulsory redundancy by Spring 2024. If carried through, this would reduce the number of front-line teaching staff to as low as eight FTE. This is a long way from the mid 2010s when Brookes History was a significant force of c. 30 historians with an average annual intake of more than 100 undergraduates across single and joint honours degrees.

The impact of these cuts will be considerable. First and foremost are those whose positions are now at risk. But the effects go much further. Redundancies, mid-way through the year, will severely deplete the department’s teaching capacity; they will damage students’ learning experience—most notably for those in their final year preparing dissertations; and will mean much heavier teaching loads for colleagues who remain.

Furthermore, cuts of this focus and severity look set to end a culture of historical research that’s previously thrived at Oxford Brookes. This is a research group widely admired and respected across the profession, and one that has performed well in recent research assessments. What, we have to ask, has happened to the QR funding earned by Brookes historians if it has not gone to support these historians? How does the university intend to use this funding in future if the department is reduced to a much lower level of staffing?

It is especially alarming that erosion of research culture appears to be the university’s intention. What makes the Oxford Brookes proposal so concerning is not the common pretence that all will be well despite fewer resources; rather that the purpose of Brookes History and humanities is changing fundamentally to the detriment of research. To jettison a respected research culture will, we fear, damage the wider university through loss of reputation, research income and academic partnerships.

Why is this happening? Colleagues highlight recent fluctuations in student numbers in History. As the Society reported in June 2023, lifting the cap on student numbers in 2015 has created an environment of feast and famine, in which departments are either overwhelmed by or deprived of students. Neither outcome can support long-term planning or the highest-quality teaching and research. Even so, the situation at Brookes has recently stabilised with admissions for History on the rise.

The extent and rapidity of cuts at Oxford Brookes clearly go far beyond individual departments. They speak to wider difficulties faced by the university. What is unacceptable is those now paying the price are skilled, successful historians and their students—alongside those in other humanities departments facing cuts or closure.

The Society is communicating these concerns to the Vice Chancellor and Governors of Oxford Brookes in the strongest terms. The Society’s experience is that departments of fewer than 10 FTE struggle and seldom prove viable. This cannot be allowed to happen at Oxford Brookes either by design or neglect. We urge the university to pause its current proposals and timetable to allow for a more considered review of History’s future at Brookes—for the benefits of students, all staff, and the discipline.

The President, Officers and Councillors of the Royal Historical Society

 

Society launches new Associate Fellowships and Postgraduate Memberships

In an important update to its membership package, the Society has introduced two new ways to join and engage with the RHS. Details of its new Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership categories were announced at the Society’s 2021 AGM, held on Friday 26 November, and are effective from that date.

As a result, there are now four ways to be part of the Royal Historical Society: as a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Postgraduate Member and Member.

The changes better align the Society’s membership options to today’s historical profession, within and beyond Higher Education, and bring three important benefits to membership:

  • creating more opportunities for historians, of all backgrounds, to join the Society
  • enabling the Society to better tailor what it offers members based on their career stage and interests
  • providing members with opportunities for continuous involvement with the Society, with options to change membership type to reflect career progression

Further information on the changes is also available via the Society’s blog, Historical Transactions.

 

Associate Fellowship

The Society’s new category of Associate Fellowship recognises the contribution to history made by those who do not currently qualify for the full RHS Fellowship, which is typically available to historians on publication of a monograph, a substantial set of scholarly articles, or an equivalent body of work.

By contrast, the Associate Fellowship recognises individuals within Higher Education who’ve made a substantial contribution to historical knowledge (for example, with a completed PhD thesis or first set of articles) but have not (yet) reached the level required for election to the Fellowship.

The Associate Fellowship will also recognise those active in sectors other than HE—including heritage, conservation, libraries and archives, teaching, publishing, broadcasting, and community and public history—whose contribution to history is equally significant but was not previously adequately recognised within the Society’s Fellowship structure.

As for full Fellowships, the new Associate Fellowship is recognition, by the members of the profession, of a contribution made to historical knowledge and understanding, and voted for by the RHS Council at its regular meetings.

The principal benefits of the Associate Fellowship include:

  • Print copy of latest volume of the Society’s academic journal, Transactions
  • Discounts on new print volumes in RHS Camden Series and personal subscriptions to the ‘Bibliography of British and Irish History’ online​
  • Access to the Society’s Library and Archive ​at University College London
  • Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and fellowships, where applicable
  • Eligibility to participate in the Society’s Annual General Meeting
  • Access to RHS members events, including Early Career training​ programmes
  • 30% discount on all Cambridge University Press academic books (print only)

Full details, and pricing, of the new Associate Fellowship are available via the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

 

Postgraduate Membership

The Society’s second new category of Postgraduate Membership is open to all those currently enrolled for a further degree (MA and above) in history or a related discipline, in the UK or overseas, and for the duration of the university course, plus one year.

The principal benefits of the Postgraduate Membership include:

  • Online access to latest volume of the Society’s academic journal, Transactions
  • Discounts on new print volumes in RHS Camden Series and personal subscriptions to the ‘Bibliography of British and Irish History’ online​
  • Receipt of weekly e-circulars with news relating to History events + regular RHS communications and Newsletters
  • Access to the Society’s Library and Archive at University College London
  • Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and funded fellowships
  • Eligibility to participate in the Society’s Annual General Meeting
  • Access to RHS training events, including Early Career workshop programme
  • 30% discount on all Cambridge University Press academic books (print only)

Full details, and pricing, of the new Postgraduate Membership are available via the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

The launch of the Associate Fellowships and Postgraduate memberships also sees an end to the Society’s existing Early Career Membership category, which previously catered for all research-focused historians who were not full Fellows.

Spanning PhD students at different stages of their research—as well as a wide range of post-docs several years out of a doctorate—the previous ECR category included a very broad range of members. The Society now seeks to support these members via more closely defined categories composed of historians at equivalent career stages.

Following these changes, in 2022 all existing members of the Society’s Early Career category will be given the option to convert their membership to one of the two new categories: i.e. to Associate Fellowship, for those current advanced ECRs who have completed a PhD; or to Postgraduate Membership for those currently studying for a further degree.

From now, anyone wishing to join the Society—who was  previously eligible only for ECR membership—will be able to do so via the new Associate Fellowship or Postgraduate membership routes, as appropriate for their career stage.

Existing Fellowship and Membership options

November’s changes to the Society’s membership will not change the criteria for joining the full Fellowship or becoming a Member of the RHS—the latter being a category open to anyone with an interest in history, but without the professional contribution required for full Fellowship or Associate Fellowship; or who are not studying for a research degree as required for the Postgraduate category.

Many current Members of the Society are, of course, practising historians. Those Members who wish to apply for the new Associate Fellowship, on account of their contribution to history, will also be invited to do so. As for the current ECR members, we will contact these Members in 2022 to invite them to consider converting to the Associate Fellowship.

The new RHS membership categories at a glance

The Society’s previous three membership categories now become four with the creation of the new Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership, which replace the previous Early Career Research option.

 

What the new Associate Fellow and Postgraduate categories offer

Following November’s changes, the Society will be better able to provide tailored packages and support (e.g. training courses or access to specialist networks) to suit members’ specific interests.

This is especially so for those in academia at the start of their research or professional careers: historians who are either studying for a higher degree (and may take advantage of Postgraduate Membership); or who’ve completed a PhD and are beginning to publish or start a teaching career (Associate Fellowship).

The final content of these offers, by category, is currently being developed and will be communicated to the RHS membership in the coming months.

The Associate Fellowship also has the potential to broaden the Society’s membership beyond higher education, offering a means to recognise the contributions made by those in other professional sectors and via personal research.

By encouraging greater diversity of membership through broader definitions of historical work, we hope to enrich members’ experiences through closer co-operation with historians of different kinds and professions.

***

For more on the November 2021 changes to the Society’s Membership categories, please see the accompanying post on the RHS blog Historical Transactions, and the individual category pages in the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

 

RHS asks Government to clarify its position on historical research

The Royal Historical Society, together with the heads of other leading UK historical organisations, has written asking the Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden MP, to clarify the government’s position on the funding of historical research.

An excerpt of the letter has today been published in The Sunday Times (Letters, p.26). The letter comes with the news that Dame Helen Ghosh, master of Balliol College, Oxford, has apologised for the historical acceptance of donations linked to the Atlantic slave trade.

The full text of the letter, together with its signatories:

 

“Dear Sir,

We write to express our concern as historians about ministers’ illegitimate interference in the research and interpretation done by our arm’s length heritage bodies such as museums, galleries, the Arts Council and the lottery heritage fund.

In particular we deplore the position, attributed to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Department in the press recently, that Professor Corinne Fowler’s ‘Colonial Countryside’ project, which explores the links between National Trust properties, empire and slavery, will be barred from funding in future.  As historians, we find this deeply concerning and we ask the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, to confirm or deny whether this is his department’s position.

Academics are protected from such interference by the ‘Haldane Principle’, which accepts that government should set the general strategic direction of public funding for academic research but that ministers must not seek to make directions on individual funding decisions, which are best left to peer review to ensure both quality and independence.  Arm’s length bodies such as the Arts Council and the National Lottery Heritage fund are not so explicitly protected.  Perhaps they should be; Parliament ought to consider this carefully.  But the Lottery Act at least specifies what are ministers’ powers and these do not include determination on individual projects.  The granting bodies, not the minister, have the expertise to determine what projects best fulfil their statutory mission, and both heritage organisations and individual researchers have the legitimate expectation based on long practice that the minister not interfere in those determinations.

The culture secretary has also been quoted as seeking to deny funding to any projects deemed ‘political’.  Not only do we dispute his authority to interfere in funding decisions, we also query his use of the word ‘political’.  It is worth pointing out that the Charity Commission has recently found that the National Trust’s recent investigations into the links between its properties, empire and slavery is compatible with its charitable purposes, i.e. not ‘political’ in the relevant sense of the word. The minister should welcome this finding and make clear that research of this kind, into the connections between heritage, slavery and empire, does indeed fall within the funding bodies’ public purposes, if deemed otherwise fundable by those bodies.

Britain has a tradition of arm’s length funding of education, culture and heritage which has always sought to insulate these spheres, crucial to free debate in a diverse society, from excessive interference by government.  Such interference stifles the capacity of historians to do their work and exerts a wider chilling effect.  It may deter – it may be intended to deter – historians from embarking on difficult or sensitive research.  It certainly undermines and impoverishes our ability to explore difficult issues.  It also runs counter to recent statements by the government in defence of academic freedom.

If anyone is being too ‘political’ here, it is politicians who violate the principles of arm’s-length governance by seeking to dictate what research our heritage bodies can and cannot support.”

Emma Griffin, President, Royal Historical Society
Peter Mandler, President, Historical Association
Peter D’Sena, Vice President, Royal Historical Society
Jonathan Morris, Vice President, Royal Historical Society
Olivette Otele, Vice President, Royal Historical Society
Jane Winters, Vice President, Royal Historical Society
Catherine Schenk, President, Economic History Society
Yolana Pringle, History UK
Jamie Wood, History UK.
Matthew Hilton, Co-Editor, Past & Present
Joanna Innes, Chair, Past & Present
Alexandra Walsham, Co-Editor, Past & Present
Naomi Tadmor, Chair, Social History Society

 

Society launches new Associate Fellowships and Postgraduate Memberships

In an important update to its membership package, the Society has introduced two new ways to join and engage with the RHS. Details of its new Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership categories were announced at the Society’s 2021 AGM, held on Friday 26 November, and are effective from that date.

As a result, there are now four ways to be part of the Royal Historical Society: as a FellowAssociate FellowPostgraduate Member and Member.

The changes better align the Society’s membership options to today’s historical profession, within and beyond Higher Education, and bring three important benefits to membership:

  • creating more opportunities for historians, of all backgrounds, to join the Society
  • enabling the Society to better tailor what it offers members based on their career stage and interests
  • providing members with opportunities for continuous involvement with the Society, with options to change membership type to reflect career progression

Further information on the changes is also available via the Society’s blog, Historical Transactions.

 

Associate Fellowship

The Society’s new category of Associate Fellowship recognises the contribution to history made by those who do not currently qualify for the full RHS Fellowship, which is typically available to historians on publication of a monograph, a substantial set of scholarly articles, or an equivalent body of work.

By contrast, the Associate Fellowship recognises individuals within Higher Education who’ve made a substantial contribution to historical knowledge (for example, with a completed PhD thesis or first set of articles) but have not (yet) reached the level required for election to the Fellowship.

The Associate Fellowship will also recognise those active in sectors other than HE—including heritage, conservation, libraries and archives, teaching, publishing, broadcasting, and community and public history—whose contribution to history is equally significant but was not previously adequately recognised within the Society’s Fellowship structure.

As for full Fellowships, the new Associate Fellowship is recognition, by the members of the profession, of a contribution made to historical knowledge and understanding, and voted for by the RHS Council at its regular meetings.

The principal benefits of the Associate Fellowship include:

  • Print copy of latest volume of the Society’s academic journal, Transactions
  • Discounts on new print volumes in RHS Camden Series and personal subscriptions to the ‘Bibliography of British and Irish History’ online​
  • Access to the Society’s Library and Archive ​at University College London
  • Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and fellowships, where applicable
  • Eligibility to participate in the Society’s Annual General Meeting
  • Access to RHS members events, including Early Career training​ programmes
  • 30% discount on all Cambridge University Press academic books (print only)

Full details, and pricing, of the new Associate Fellowship are available via the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

 

Postgraduate Membership

The Society’s second new category of Postgraduate Membership is open to all those currently enrolled for a further degree (MA and above) in history or a related discipline, in the UK or overseas, and for the duration of the university course, plus one year.

The principal benefits of the Postgraduate Membership include:

  • Online access to latest volume of the Society’s academic journal, Transactions
  • Discounts on new print volumes in RHS Camden Series and personal subscriptions to the ‘Bibliography of British and Irish History’ online​
  • Receipt of weekly e-circulars with news relating to History events + regular RHS communications and Newsletters
  • Access to the Society’s Library and Archive at University College London
  • Eligibility to apply for RHS grants and funded fellowships
  • Eligibility to participate in the Society’s Annual General Meeting
  • Access to RHS training events, including Early Career workshop programme
  • 30% discount on all Cambridge University Press academic books (print only)

Full details, and pricing, of the new Postgraduate Membership are available via the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

The launch of the Associate Fellowships and Postgraduate memberships also sees an end to the Society’s current Early Career Membership category, which previously catered for all research-focused historians who were not full Fellows.

Spanning PhD students at different stages of their research—as well as a wide range of post-docs several years out of a doctorate—the previous ECR category included a very broad range of members. The Society now seeks to support these members via more closely defined categories composed of historians at equivalent career stages.

Following these changes, in 2022 all existing members of the Society’s Early Career category will be given the option to convert their membership to one of the two new categories: i.e. to Associate Fellowship, for those current advanced ECRs who have completed a PhD; or to Postgraduate Membership for those currently studying for a further degree.

From now, anyone wishing to join the Society—who was  previously eligible only for ECR membership—will be able to do so via the new Associate Fellowship or Postgraduate membership routes, as appropriate for their career stage.

 

Existing Fellowship and Membership options

November’s changes to the Society’s membership will not change the criteria for joining the full Fellowship or becoming a Member of the RHS—the latter being a category open to anyone with an interest in history, but without the professional contribution required for full Fellowship or Associate Fellowship; or who are not studying for a research degree as required for the Postgraduate category.

Many current Members of the Society are, of course, practising historians. Those Members who wish to apply for the new Associate Fellowship, on account of their contribution to history, will also be invited to do so. As for the current ECR members, we will contact these Members in 2022 to invite them to consider converting to the Associate Fellowship.

 

The new RHS membership categories at a glance

The Society’s previous three membership categories now become four with the creation of the new Associate Fellowship and Postgraduate Membership, which replace the previous Early Career Research option.

 

What the new Associate Fellow and Postgraduate categories offer

Following November’s changes, the Society will be better able to provide tailored packages and support (e.g. training courses or access to specialist networks) to suit members’ specific interests.

This is especially so for those in academia at the start of their research or professional careers: historians who are either studying for a higher degree (and may take advantage of Postgraduate Membership); or who’ve completed a PhD and are beginning to publish or start a teaching career (Associate Fellowship).

The final content of these offers, by category, is currently being developed and will be communicated to the RHS membership in the coming months.

The Associate Fellowship also has the potential to broaden the Society’s membership beyond higher education, offering a means to recognise the contributions made by those in other professional sectors and via personal research.

By encouraging greater diversity of membership through broader definitions of historical work, we hope to enrich members’ experiences through closer co-operation with historians of different kinds and professions.

***

For more on the November 2021 changes to the Society’s Membership categories, please see the accompanying post on the RHS blog Historical Transactions, and the individual category pages in the Join the RHS section of the Society’s website.

 

RHS David Berry Prize Past Winners

1937 G. Donaldson, MA, ‘The polity of the Scottish Reformed Church c.1460- 1580, and the rise of the Presbyterian movement’.

1940 No essays submitted this year.

1943 Rev. Prof. A.F. Scott Parson, DTh, DLitt, ‘Anglo-Scottish religious relations, 1400- 1600’.

1946 No award made for this year.

1949 T. Bedford Franklin, MA, FRSE, ‘Monastic agriculture in Scotland, 1440-1600’.

1952 No award made for this year.

1955 W.A. McNeill, MA, “‘Estaytt” of the king’s rents and pensions, 1621’.

1958 Prof. Mauricc Lcc, PhD, ‘Maitland of Thirlestane and the foundation of the Stewartdespotism in Scotland’.

1961 No award made for this year.

1964 M.H. Merriman, ‘Scottish collaborators with England during the Anglo-Scottish war, 1543-1550’.

1967 Miss M.H.B. Sanderson, ‘Catholic recusancy in Scotland in the sixteenth century’.

1970 Athol Murray, MA, LLB, PhD, ‘The Comptroller, 1425-1610’.

1973 J. Kirk, MA, PhD, ‘Who were the Melvillians: A study in the Personnel and Background of thePresbyterian Movement in late Sixteenth-century Scotland’.

1976 A. Crant, BA, DPhil, ‘The Development of Scottish Peerage’.

1979 – 1984 No awards.

1985 Rev. G. Mark Dilworth, ‘The Commendator System in Scotland’.

1988 J. Goodare, ‘Parliamentary Taxation in Scotland, 1560-1603’.

1991 M.H. Brown, “‘That Old Serpent and Ancient of Evil Days”: Walter, Earl of Atholl, and theMurder of James I’.

1994 No award made for this year.

1997 Tim Thornton, ‘Scotland and the Isle of Man, c.1400-c.1625’

1998 C.A. Blake, ‘Stuart Policy and Scottish Mercenaries n the Thirty Years War’

1999 Elizabeth Ewan, ‘Many injurious words: defamation and gender in late medieval Scotland’.

2000 Fraser MacDonald, ‘St. Kilda and the Sublime’.

2001 Elizabeth Buettner BA, MA, ‘Haggis in the Raj: Private and Public Celebrations of Scottishnessin Late Imperial India’.

2002 Dauvit Broun BA, PhD, ‘The Absence of Regnal Years for the Dating Clause of Charters of Kings of Scots, 1195-1222’.

2003 Mike Lyon, ‘”Better that bairns should weep than bearded men” the Raid of Ruthven (1582) and the Master of Glamis’

2004 Dr J. Clare L. Jackson MA, MPhil., PhD, ‘ “Assize of Error” and the independence of the criminal jury in restoration Scotland.’

2005 Dr Alec Ryrie, ‘Congregations, conventicles and the nature of early Scottish Protestantism’

2006 No award made for this year

2007 Mark Towsey, ‘An Infant Son to Truth Engage’ Virtue, responsibility and self-improvement inthe reading of Elizabeth Rose of Kilvarock, 1747-1815’ in Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 2 (2007)

2008 Gordon Pentland, ‘”Betrayed by infamous spies?” The commemoration of Scotland’s “Radical War” of 1820’, Past and Present (2008)

2009 Sandip Hazareesingh, ‘Interconnected synchronicities: the production of Glasgow and Bombay as modern global ports c. 1850-1880’ in Journal of Global History, 4 (2009)

2010 Alasdair Raffe, ‘Presbyterians and Episcopalians: The Formation of Confessional Cultures in Scotland, c. 1660 – 1715’, in English Historical Review, 125 (2010), pp. 570-98

2011 Aaron M Allen, Conquering the Suburbs: Politics and Work in Early Modern Edinburgh’ in Journal of Urban History, 37(3) (2011), pp. 423-443

2012 Sarah Tebbit, ‘Papal pronouncements on legitimate lordship and the formulation ofnationhood in early fourteenth-century Scottish writings’

2013 Jimmi Ostergaard Nielsen and Stuart Ward, ‘Cramped and Restricted at Home?” Scottish Separatism at Empire’s End’

From this point the prize is awarded for and presented in the year following submission.

2015 Naomi Lloyd-Jones, ‘Liberalism, Scottish Nationalism and the Home Rule Crisis, c.1886-93′, English Historical Review (2014) 129 (539): 862-887.

2016 Karin Bowie, ‘Public, People and Nation in Early Modern Scotland‘.

2017 Malcolm Petrie, ‘Fear of a “Slave State”: Individualism, Libertarianism, and the Rise of Scottish Nationalism c.1945-c.1979.’

2018 Katie Barclay, ‘Love and Friendship between Lower Order Scottish Men: Or What the History of Emotions Has Brought to Early Modern Gender History’, in Elise Dermineur, Virginia Langum, and Åsa Karlsson Sjögren (eds), Revisiting Gender in European History, 1400-1800 (Routledge, 2018), 121-144.

2019 Philip Loft, ‘Litigation, the Anglo-Scottish Union, and the House of Lords as the High Court,1660-1875’, Historical Journal, 61 (2018), 943-967.

2020 Scott Dempsey, ‘Legitimating Edward I’s Adjudication of the Scottish Succession: Two Notes on the Great Cause’.

2021 Stuart McManus, ‘Scots at the Council of Ferrara-Florence and the Background to the Scottish Renaissance’, The Catholic Historical Review, 106: 3 (Summer 2020), 347-370.

2022 Cameron Maclean, ‘The Scottish Post-Union Copper Coinage of James VI: New Evidence’, British Numismatic Journal (Vol. 91, 2021)

 

RHS Panel — ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’

RHS Panel ‘Black British History. Where Now, Why Next?’, 24 October 2023

 

Listen to this panel discussion

 

‘Black British History. Where Now, Where Next?’ (24 October 2023) was an opportunity to reflect on the major themes currently being pursued in Black British History, and their development in recent years. It’s also chance to propose new areas of research in the years to come.

In addition, panellists and audience members explore the infrastructure that supports the study of Black British History in UK Higher Education and beyond. Recent years have seen welcome advances, including the creation of posts dedicated to teaching and research. At the same time, the subject fights to establish itself in many university History curricula, while departmental cuts and the cost of a first or further degree create restrictions for those seeking to study in this area, and impede many who seek to pursue postgraduate research. Our panel and audience discussion also considered the health of the discipline outside Higher Education, in community projects and the media.

This event, held in UK Black History Month, brings together historians to consider the present and future of Black British History. Led by Professor Bill Schwarz, a longtime commentator and writer in this field, the event takes place on the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Royal Historical Society’s report, Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK Higher Education (October 2018).

Speakers

  • Hannah Elias is a Lecturer in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London. Hannah is cultural historian of Britain in the twentieth century researching Black British histories, religion, media and public history. She is Chair of the IHR’s Equality Working Group and a co-convenor of the Institute’s Black British History seminar, which is actively engaged in the promotion and facilitation of learning, debates and conversation about new currents in this developing field of study.
  • Kesewa John is a scholar of Caribbean people’s intellectual and political histories, with a doctorate on collaborations between French and English-speaking Caribbean activists in the decades prior to the Windrush docking. A former PhD student of Hakim Adi, and a History Matters conference organiser, Kesewa previously taught at the Université des Antilles in Martinique and Guadeloupe. She joined Goldsmiths, University of London, as Lecturer in Black British History in September 2023.
  • Liam Liburd is Assistant Professor in Black British History at Durham University and a historian of ‘race’ and racism, and empire and decolonisation, and their legacies in modern Britain. His publications include: ‘The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History’, Political Quarterly (2023).
  • Bill Schwarz is Professor of English at Queen Mary University of London. Bill’s many publications include his Memories of Empire trilogy and his contribution to Stuart Hall’s Familiar Stranger. A Life between Two Islands (2017). With Catherine Hall, Bill is also General Editor of the Duke University Press series, The Writings of Stuart Hall.

The event was introduced by Emma Griffin, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

 

Edinburgh Castle from Grassmarket. Photo: late-19th century

Scottish Regional and National History and Record Societies

** This Society’s publications can be found in the Royal Historical Society collections in the UCL History Library

 

ABBOTSFORD CLUB (1835-1866)

Abbotsford Club Publications

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY STUDIES (1909-1962)

Aberdeen University Studies Publications

ABERTAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Abertay Historical Society Publications

Enquiries to: Matthew Jarron, General Secretary, Abertay Historical Society, c/o University of Dundee, Dundee. DD1 4HN; tel: 01382 344310; email: museum@dundee.ac.uk; http://www.abertay.org.uk

AUNGERVYLE SOCIETY (1881-1886)

Aungervyle Society Publications

AYRSHIRE AND GALLOWAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (1878-1891)

Ayrshire & Galloway Archaeological Association Publications

ASSOCIATION FOR SCOTTISH LITERARY STUDIES

ASLS Publications

The ASLS is an educational charity promoting the languages and literature of Scotland. We produce a range of publications, including classic and contemporary Scottish literature; academic journals; material for schools; and a series of study guides on major Scottish authors. Titles are available by subscription or through the book trade.

Enquiries to: Duncan Jones, Director, ASLS, Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow, 7 University Gardens, Glasgow. G12 8QH; tel: 0141 330 5309; email: office@asls.org.uk; http://www.asls.org.uk

BANNATYNE CLUB (1823-1875)

Bannatyne Club Publications

BUCHAN FIELD CLUB

Buchan Field Club Publications

The Buchan Field Club was founded in 1887.

BUTE SCOTTISH RECORD SERIES (1831-1858)

Bute Scottish Record Series Publications

CLARENDON HISTORICAL SOCIETY (1882-1888)

Clarendon Historical Society Publications

DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY (1915-1980)

Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society Publications

GRAMPIAN CLUB (1869-1891)

Grampian Club Publications

HUNTERIAN CLUB (1873-1902)

Hunterian Club Publications

IONA CLUB (1847)

Iona Club Publications

LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF PERTH (1827)

Literary Society of Perth Publications

MAITLAND CLUB (1828-1845)

Maitland Club Publications

NEW CLUB (Paisley, 1877-1925)

New Club Publications

OLD EDINBURGH CLUB

Founded in 1908, the Club is Edinburgh’s local history society, concerned with all aspects of the city’s history and development. Its publications include a journal, the Book of the Old Edinburgh Club: https://oldedinburghclub.org.uk/

For general enquiries please contact: secretary@oldedinburghclub.org.uk

ROXBURGHE CLUB (1816-1948)

Roxburghe Club Publications

RYMOUR CLUB (1906-1928)

Rymour Club Publications

SCOTTISH BURGH RECORDS SOCIETY (1868-1918)

Scottish Burgh Society Publications

SCOTTISH CLERGY SOCIETY (1901-1909)

Scottish Clergy Society Publications

SCOTTISH GAELIC TEXTS SOCIETY

Scottish Gaelic Texts Society Publications

Enquiries to: Dr M. Pía Coira, Secretary; Email: fiossgts@outlook.comhttp://www.sgts.org.uk

SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY

Scottish History Society Publications

Enquiries to: Dr Katie Stevenson, Honorary Secretary, Scottish History Society, Department of Scottish History, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife. KY16 9AJ; Email: katie.stevenson@st-andrews.ac.ukhttp://www.scottishhistorysociety.org

SCOTTISH LITERARY CLUB (1877-1892)

Scotish Literary Club Publications

SCOTTISH LOCAL HISTORY GROUP (1973-1984)

Scottish Local History Group Publications

SCOTTISH RECORD OFFICE (1867-1970)

Scottish Record Office Publications

SCOTTISH RECORD SOCIETY

Scottish Record Society Publications

Enquiries to: Samantha Smart, Honorary Secretary; Email via contact formhttp://www.scottishrecordsociety.org.uk

SCOTTISH TEXT SOCIETY

Scottish Text Society Publications

The Scottish Text Society is a major publisher of important texts from Scotland’s literary history. Since 1882 it has played a significant part in reviving interest in the literature and languages of Scotland. The Society’s editions are both scholarly and accessible. Subscribed members receive the Society’s annual volume or volumes published by the Society in its main series in that year.

Enquiries to: Dr Rhiannon Purdie, Editorial Secretary, Scottish Text Society, c/o Senior Lecturer in Medieval English, School of English, University of St-Andrews, St-Andrews, KY16 9AL; Email: editorialsecretary@scottishtextsociety.org; http://www.scottishtextsociety.org

SHETLAND DOCUMENTS (1994-1999)

Shetland Documents Publications

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND**

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Publications

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the oldest antiquarian society in Scotland, founded in 1780 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1783. The Society is a charitable organisation whose purpose is the study of the antiquities and history of Scotland, more especially by means of archaeological research. It actively promotes the research, understanding and conservation of the archaeological and historic environment of Scotland for the benefit of all, and suports research in the field and advocates good practice.

Enquiries to: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1JF; tel: 0131 247 4133; email: info@socantscot.org; http://www.socantscot.org

SPALDING CLUB (1841-1960)

Spalding Club Publications

SPOTTISWOODE SOCIETY (1844-1856)

Spottiswoode Society Publications

STAIR SOCIETY

Stair Society Publications

Enquiries to: Alistair Burrow, Secretary and Treasurer, The Stair Society, 27 North Erskine Park, Bearsden, Glasgow. G61 4LY; email: stairsociety@gmail.com; http://www.stairsociety.org

 

Marking 150 years of Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 1872-2022

In November 2022, we mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. The anniversary will include:

  • online and print publication of the latest (145th) volume of Transactions, with its new format and design.
  • online special issues of Transactions, highlighting developments in the journal from its origin in 1872 to the present day.
  • a free online panel discussion (5pm GMT, Tuesday 6 December) on ‘Futures for the History Journal: reflections and projections’, which is booking now. The panel brings together editors, historians and publishers, from the UK and US, to consider the role and future pf the history journal as a means of scholarly communication.

 

First published in 1872, Transactions is the longest-running English-language academic history journal, predating first publication of the English Historical Review (1886) and the American Historical Review (1895), among other titles.

Since 1872, 144 volumes of Transactions have been published, with the 145th available from mid-November.

 

 


 

 

November 2022 sees important changes to the current Transactions. This year’s volume will come with a new design and paperback format.

It’s also the first in 150 years to include external submissions not previously read to the Society; the first to be edited by historians who are not members of RHS Council; and the first to engage an editorial board.


Journals remain central to the communication of historical research. As a publishing form, they’ve proved remarkably durable, with developments typically taking place within an established framework of article types and formats.

At the same time, the recent history of journals points to quickening and more disruptive change — most notably in terms of online access and publishing models; but also with reference to innovations of form, tone and purpose.

In ‘Futures for the History Journal: Reflections and Projections’ (6 December) our panel and audience will consider the extent, impact and outcomes of these recent changes, together with possible futures for a popular publishing form.