Skip to main content

Research Themes

We encourage collaboration across the School in both teaching and research. We promote this approach through nine interdisciplinary research themes.

Cross-cutting perspectives

Exploring and developing such cross-cutting perspectives is a fundamental aspect of our work:

Conflict and Revolution

Our research focuses on instances of violent and non-violent conflict in past societies.

Empires and After

We have a global perspective. We research the British Empire and 20th century post-colonialism. We also look at earlier empires (not least the Roman Empire).

Ideas and Beliefs

Ideas and Beliefs focuses on interpreting and understanding political and religious values. We look at the attitudes and convictions of past societies.

Labour and Society

We develop new research into the histories of labour. We look at this through the context of cultural representation and collective memory.

Life Cycles, Bodies, Health and Disease

We look at the life cycle, including childhood, gender, disease, death and personhood.

Landscape

This theme encourages active participation from all researchers, including postgraduates. It focuses on Holocene, with research across all periods from Mesolithic to present.

Material Culture

This is an interdisciplinary group for researchers in the field of material culture. We have distinctive strengths in innovative material culture studies of all periods. These periods range from later prehistory to the present.

Performance

This theme encompasses all areas of research connected to performance and performativity in language, literature, history and culture.

Writing of History

How history is written is a core research area for our ancient historians, classicists and historians.

Public Pasts

This interdisciplinary research theme looks at public history, archaeology and engagement. It is a core research area for our ancient historians, classicists and historians.

Virtual bookshelf
Research themes
Our people