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Research Degrees in History
The department welcomes applications from those seeking to undertake research for the degree of Ph.D. Expert supervision is offered in a wide range of topics, extending in time from the early medieval era to the modern and post-modern periods, and in space from the British Isles and central Europe to North America and the Caribbean, North Africa and other Mediterranean lands, and India and Singapore. Our research embraces socio-economic, cultural, political, religious and intellectual history, and often has an innovative cross-disciplinary emphasis.
The following is intended to give you some idea of the general and specific areas in which our PhD students are currently researching. Naturally, we welcome proposals in any area that falls within our general research interests.
The Norman Edge Research Programme
Most of our current medieval PhD students are undertaking research in areas related to our major research programme entitled The Norman Edge: Identity and State-Formation on the Frontiers of Europe, c.1050-1200, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This project exemplifies the two complementary strands of all our research: lordship, politics and religion and space, boundaries and cultural interactions. We welcome postgraduate students interested in topics that might fall within these parameters, broadly defined. Current and recent PhDs include studies of regional landholding in medieval Yorkshire and the Scottish borders; settlement in Viking-age Cumbria; saints’ cults and hagiography in England and Scandinavia; monastic spirituality; and legal processes in medieval England.
The Cultural Politics of English Pantomime
A second AHRC-funded project, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, is The Cultural Politics of English Pantomime, 1837-1901. This draws on our expertise in constructions of cultural and national identity. Current and recent PhDs have examined British Gibraltar and its frontier; Gibraltar’s moneyed class; white émigré identities in colonial East Africa; the TT races and Manx identity; regimental and regional identities in the West Country in the First World War, Britishness and citizenship in school textbooks; Britain and the Czechoslovak crisis of 1938; cartoon prints and national identities in England and Denmark c.1780-1830); gender identities and the military (e.g. homosexuality in the armed forces); social categories among prisoners of war; the experiences of migrants (orphan children sent to Canada 1870-1930; Poles arriving in Britain after 1945), and the past and collective memory (US war memorials in Europe after World War II; the commodification of history as popular culture).
Regional Identity
A traditionally strong area of research is the varied experiences of regional identity. The North West and its rich archival legacy reveal the national and indeed international importance and distinctiveness of an area which stretches from the Scottish borders to Cheshire. Recent and current studies postgraduate students associated with the cluster include such diverse topics as Catholic recusancy in Cumberland and Westmorland; the social development of East Lancashire townships in the 19th century; publicans and beerhouse keepers in Lancashire c. 1880-1914; employer-provided housing in south Cumbria c. 1850-1939; the Cumberland county police force; cooperative textile mills in East Lancashire, and the ‘seamen’s sixpence’ (early insurance scheme) and North West shipping. The Department’s association with research ventures such as the Victoria County History of Cumbria are important in this area.
History of Science and Health
Another general area of research is the history of science and health. We welcome proposal on the history of concepts such as 'nature', the 'body', 'life' and the 'emotions', and the cultural, social, and political dynamics involved in transforming these sometimes esoteric concepts into the meaningful, everyday practices &nd practices which could be said to constitute a distinctly 'modern' understanding of the world. Current and recent PhDs in this area include research on the history of herbal medicine; 17th-century women scientists; and the management of mental health in the 19th century.
Download a pdf of the booklet in Research Degrees for additional information.
Postgraduate Research Provision
Further key features of our postgraduate research provision are:
- Research Training Support: Research students can attend any of modules from MA programmes, and are encouraged to participate in the regular research seminars in History and other departments and research centres across campus. The faculty of Arts and Social Sciences offers generic training and support services.
- Funding Recognition and Support: The department is recognised by the ESRC and AHRC for the purposes of research studentships. The department also has its own Iredell bursaries to which research students can apply.
- Funding for research travel and expenses and conference participation.
- Departmental Facilities: There is a postgraduate common room and dedicated computer lab with scanner and printer. We aim to provide shared study rooms with a networked PC for full-time research students.
- The Library houses a wide selection of printed, manuscript, CD ROM and microfiche sources (including a full set of British Parliamentary Papers) covering all periods from the Romans to the present, ranging from Quakers to the Second World War, from mountaining to political leaders' papers and unique oral history collections.
- Major regional archives are easily accessible from campus including the five county record offices for Cumbria and Lancashire, central libraries in Manchester and Liverpool, the North West Sound Archive, the Working Class Library and North West Film Archive.
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