History – (Ph.D.)

We offer MPhil and PhD research degrees in a range of topics linked to staff expertise in History. Our staff are recognised as international experts in their fields, and have produced a large number of influential books, journal articles and edited collections, and won funding for a number of prestigious research projects. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise we enjoyed outstanding success with a grade point average of 2.65 in the area of history and a large percentage of 'world-leading' research.

We are proud of our prestigious and highly regarded research culture, which creates a rich and stimulating environment for staff and students.

We have a series of links to a number of other centres in our University and the wider community. We contribute to many of our Faculty's research groups, including the Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute (CoDE), and we run our own research unit, the Labour History Research Unit (LHRU). Our programme also hosts and participates in a variety of research oriented events, including Faculty and Departmental research seminar series.

We have close links with many organisations in the local area and the wider region, including the University of Cambridge's Centre for Research into Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH).

Case study profile
Patrick Chaplin achieved his PhD in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Rohan McWilliam and Professor John Shepherd. His subject was the history of darts in the early twentieth century. Despite being one of the most popular of modern pastimes, darts has never been studied before and Dr Chaplin uncovered its intriguing history. This entirely original piece of research was published as a monograph by Manchester University Press in its prestigious series on the history of popular culture in 2009, and has begun to receive excellent reviews in scholarly journals. Dr Chaplin is now a research fellow of Anglia Ruskin University and is writing and researching further aspects of the history of the game.