Centre
Centre for Research in History, Heritage and Memory Studies
Unit(s) of assessment: History
Research theme(s): Safety and Sustainability
School: School of Arts and Humanities
Overview
The Centre for Research in History, Heritage and Memory Studies brings together academic staff and postgraduates for research and engagement activities with the common thread of making the past meaningful in the present. It seeks to promote understanding the origins of current perceptions of the past, challenge and diversify existing interpretations and employ the exploration and co-creation of the past for public benefit.
The Centre’s scope is global. It comprises projects which focus on areas of the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and beyond, linking national and international institutions. We have expertise in textual and non-textual histories, visual, aural and material resources. We also seek to explore and engage with intangible cultural heritage, and in how the past is represented and presented through memorials, the media, film and public works of art.
Researchers work actively with museums, archives and the media to take history to the broader public. Researcher specialisms range from the medieval and early modern through to the twenty-first century with highly developed research interests that impact on people’s lives the areas of in welfare, policy, religion, conflict, race, gender, emotions and wellbeing. We also have significant expertise in memory studies, critical museologies, oral histories and cultural histories.
- Poverty, Charity and Welfare
- Health Humanities
- Colonial impacts and racial inequalities
- Gender Studies
- Religion, Conflict and Resolution
- Memory Studies/Politics
- Oral Histories
- Heritage, Museum Studies and Critical Museology
- Digital History and Heritage
- History of Emotions
Our Research Programme
NTU History, Heritage and Memory Studies researchers are committed to generating world-leading research that engages with challenges at the core of today’s cultures and societies, promoting inclusive and interdisciplinary research that encompasses medieval to contemporary periods. We embrace and lead debates relating to social, economic, cultural and public history; poverty and welfare; identity; race; gender and sexuality; legacies of violence; heritage and memory. Our specialisms range from Crusade and Reformation Studies to pre- and post-Columbian Mexico; the British Civil Wars; the Antebellum South and Transatlantic Slave Trade; American and Irish Civil Rights; Britain and Europe in the context of World Wars, Welfare and Penal Systems; Holocaust and Genocide; Family History and Memory Activism, Environmental History and Critical Museology.
We have a range of annual seminar/lecture series (Workhouse Lives, Oral History Network, Challenging Colonial Narratives, Religion and Conflict, Public History, Heritage and Memory) and hosted seven conferences and workshops in the last academic year including the Military Orders Conference, Oral History Society Conference, the fourth biennial CSRC conference, the PHHM Language and Memory conference, Care-ful Museums, the Legacies of the Dunera International Symposium and the History Postgraduate Conference. Our events attract a broad global audience both in person and online, and can be accessed via our Eventbrite page.
UK Sustainable Development Goals
Our research relates to the UK Sustainable Development Goals as follows:
1 - Poverty
3 - Good Health and Wellbeing
4 - Quality Education
5 - Gender Equality
10 - Reduced Inequalities
13 - Climate Action
16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Research groups
The Centre is comprised of 5 core groups and networks which represent our collaborative and interdisciplinary strengths in research:
Current Funded Projects
Steven King (CI): Informal healing cultures in nineteenth century England and Wales’ ESRC
Sophie Fuggle (PI): The Legacy of the Plan Vert in French Guiana. British Academy (2021-2023).
Jenny Wüstenberg (PI): Slow Memory. COST Action Bid (2021-2025).
Jenny Woodley (PI): Mourning at the Museum. Leverhulme Trust (2022-2024).
Jenny Wüstenberg (CI): Post-Socialist Britain: Memory, Representation and Political Identity amongst German and Polish migrants in the UK. AHRC (2021-2024).
Thomas van de Putte (PI) “Memory and Morality: studying the micro-effects of liberal and illiberal memory politics” British Academy ECR Fellowship) (2023-2026)
Collaborations
Our researchers, staff and students collaborate and co-create research with a wide range of project partners and stakeholders, for example:
the National Archives, the British Library, the British Museum, Open Theatre, the National Trust, the Workhouse Network, the Labour Party, the Ashmolean Museum, the London Society of Antiquaries, Eden Portland, the British Oral History Society, National Museums of Northern Ireland and many more.
Publications
These are example publications resulting from research group projects and centre initiatives (for individual publications please see staff profiles)
- Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism, eds Jenny Wustenberg and Yifat Gutman (2023)
- S. A. King, P. Carter, P. Jones, N. Carter and C. Beardmore, In Their Own Write: A New Poor Law History From Below (Montreal, 2022).
- S. Fuggle, K. Massing and C. Forsdick, Framing the penal colony: representing, interpreting and imagining convict transportation. (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
- Miracles Political Authority and Violence in Medieval and Early Modern History (proceedings from the 2019 CSRC conference) eds Matthew Rowley and Natasha Hodgson (London: Routledge, 2021).
- Religion and Conflict in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds: Identities, Communities and Authorities (proceedings from the 2017 CSRC conference) ed. Natasha Hodgson, Amy Fuller, John McCallum, Nicholas Morton (London: Routledge 2020).
- Gianluca Fantoni 2022. Storia della Brigata ebraica: gli ebrei della Palestina che combatterono in Italia nella Seconda Guerra mondiale. (Turin: Einaudi, 2022) -Fiuggi Storia history prize 2023.
- Nicholas Morton, The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187 (OUP, 2022) -Verbruggen prize for Military History 2022
- Charlie Pratley, ‘The Van Gogh Museum at 50’ The Conversation https://theconversation.com/van-gogh-museum-at-50-how-galleries-are-challenging-the-tortured-genius-narrative-197854
- Amy Fuller - ‘Killing Time with Rebecca Rideal: Cortés the Murderer’ - released 9th March 2023.
- Natasha Hodgson ‘Crucesignatae – Women in Crusading Contexts’ BeBold History March 2023
News
Expert blog: The King’s Revolutionary Guards
Tue 9 May 2023
History students hear from Holocaust and Rwandan genocide survivors
Tue 20 Dec 2022
Researchers to examine and digitise rare fifteenth century royal genealogical roll
Wed 2 Nov 2022
Expert Blog: Her Majesty The Queen’s lifelong solidarity with refugees
Thu 15 Sep 2022
Expert Vlog: Coronavirus and the British Wartime Propaganda Playbook
Mon 30 Mar 2020
Events
The events held by the Centre and Research Groups are listed on our Eventbrite page.
Our research events are open to the public and many have training elements: some are held in person, others online. Members of the centre have significant expertise in Knowledge Exchange and training, working closely with local, and international heritage and cultural institutions, museums and archives. We have a Youtube channel to host recordings of online events as well as events delivered by research staff.
Members of our team co-supervise a number of PhDs across a range of subjects.
AHRC Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership scholarships
Applications are open between October and January each year.