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The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, T +44 (0)1227 764000
History MA, MPhil, PhD
This is a research programme within the History subject area.
Key facts
- Subject area: History
- Location: Canterbury
- School: School of History
- Duration: MA one year full-time or two years part-time, MPhil two years full-time or three years part-time, PhD three years full-time or five years part-time.
- Start: At any time but preferably in September.
- Fees: More info
- Entry requirements: Minimum 2.1 or equivalent in history or a relevant subject (for example, politics, international relations, archaeology). In certain circumstances, the School will consider candidates who have not followed a conventional education path. These cases are assessed individually by the Director of Graduate Studies. Please also check our general entry requirements (including English language requirements).
Outline
Research programmes are best suited to students who have a clear idea of a topic they would like to investigate in detail. There are two types of programme. The MA by Research entails producing a 40,000-word thesis; the MPhil and PhD programmes demand a high level of research and analysis resulting in a 60,000 (MPhil) or 100,000 (PhD) word thesis.
We welcome research applications across the range of expertise within the School. We run regular seminars in medieval and Tudor studies, modern history, the history and cultural studies of science, and the study of propaganda.
All first-year research students attend a Methodologies and Research Skills seminar, which is split between components run by the School and others provided by the Faculty of Humanities. This training improves your knowledge of both historical theory and methods of using primary material, and can assist in funding applications.
Programme structure
For further information see the School site.
Funding
Every school at Kent offers one or two University postgraduate research scholarships, each available for three years, providing fees at the home/EU rate and a stipend up to £13,590 per annum (2011/12 rate).
In addition, the School of History offers a wide range of postgraduate studentships, with funding available for both taught and research students.
The majority of these studentships welcome applicants wishing to study any area of history, and cover full fees and a small maintenance bursary.
Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs) are also available whereby postgraduate research students receive financial support in return for teaching.
All postgraduate research students are eligible to apply for GTAs. See Graduate Teaching Assistantships.
The School also offers several more specialist studentships, covering areas such as the History of Science and Technology, Medieval and Early Modern History, or for those wishing to study in Paris.
For full details, visit our website. Also see: Postgraduate funding.
Further information:
Resources and facilities
The resources for historical research at Kent are led by the University's Templeman Library: a designated European Documentation Centre which holds specialised collections on slavery and antislavery, and on medical science. The Library has a substantial collection of secondary materials to back-up an excellent collection of primary sources including the British Cartoon Archive, newspapers, a large audio-visual library, and a complete set of British Second World War Ministry of Information propaganda pamphlets.
The School has a dedicated Centre for the Study of Propaganda and War, which has a distinctive archive of written, audio and visual propaganda materials, particularly in film, video and DVD.
Locally, students have access to: the Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archive (a major collection for the study of medieval and early modern religious and social history); the Centre for Kentish Studies at Maidstone; and the National Maritime Collection at Greenwich. In addition, Kent is within easy reach of the country's premier research collections in London and the national libraries in Paris and Brussels.
Further information:
Research areas
Medieval and early modern history
Covering c.400–c.1500, incorporating such themes as Anglo-Saxon England, early-modern France, palaeography, British and European politics and society, religion and papacy.
Staff
Dr Barbara Bombi, Dr Alixe Bovey, Professor Grayson Ditchfield, Professor Kenneth Fincham, Dr Helen Gittos, Dr David Grummitt, Professor David Ormrod, Dr David Potter.
Modern history
Covering c.1500–present, incorporating such themes as modern British, European and American history, British military history, and 20th- century conflict and propaganda.
Staff
Dr Philip Boobbyer, Dr Timothy Bowman, Professor Mark Connelly, Dr Stefan Goebel, Dr Karen Jones, Dr Giacomo Macola, Professor David Welch, Dr John Wills.
History of science, techonology and medicine
Incorporating such themes as colonial science and medicine, Nazi medicine, eugenics, science and technology in 19th-century Britain.
Staff
Dr Julie Anderson, Dr Pratik Chakrabarti, Professor Ulf Schmidt, Dr Charlotte Sleigh, Professor Crosbie Smith.
Show all
|Staff research
Dr Julie Anderson: Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern Medicine
The cultural and social history of 20th-century medicine in Britain and the Commonwealth, particularly with regards to war and medicine, surgery and disability.
Dr Barbara Bombi: Reader in Medieval History
Ecclesiastical and religious history, 1200-1400; canon law and history of the medieval papacy; crusades and history of the military orders; Anglopapal relations in the 14th century; Latin diplomatic and palaeography.
Dr Philip Boobbyer: Senior Lecturer in Modern European History
Russian and Soviet history, especially Russian religious and political philosophy.
Dr Alixe Bovey: Lecturer in Medieval History
Medieval visual culture, focusing especially on Gothic illuminated manuscripts.
Dr Timothy Bowman: Senior Lecturer in British Military History
British military history in the 19th and 20th centuries; Irish history c1775-1998.
Dr Pratik Chakrabarti: Wellcome Lecturer in the History of Modern Medicine
History of colonial science and medicine; South Asian and imperial history from the 18th to the 20th century.
Professor Mark Connelly: Professor of Modern British History
British modern history; British military history; the British at war from 1800; the image of war in popular culture.
Dr George Coyne: Lecturer in American History
American, constitutional, political and diplomatic history; Anglo-American relations; British diplomacy in the 20th Century; the Cold War
Professor Grayson Ditchfield: Professor of 18th-century History
Eighteenth-century British political and religious history; reforming movements; the Evangelical Revival; the career of Dr Johnson; the nature of the British monarchy in the reign of George III; English Unitarianism and the correspondence of its father figure, the Rev Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808).
Professor Kenneth Fincham: Professor of Early Modern History
Early modern British politics and religion; the clergy of the Anglican Church; the era of the Civil Wars.
Dr Helen Gittos: Lecturer in Medieval History
Anglo-Saxon England, especially church history; early medieval liturgy and architecture.
Dr Stefan Goebel: Senior Lecturer in Modern British History
Modern British and German history; war and commemoration; the impact of war on cities; collective memory; 20th-century urban history.
Dr David Grummitt: Lecturer in Early Modern History
Early modern government and politics, diplomacy and war; particularly Tudor England.
Dr Karen Jones: Senior Lecturer in American History
The American west; environmental history; the wolf: science and symbolism; hunting, nature and American identity; human relationships with animals; nuclear culture; parks and other tourist/heritage landscapes.
Dr Giacomo Macola: Lecturer in African History
Central African political and intellectual history from the 18th century to the present.
Professor David Ormrod: Professor of Economic and Cultural History
Early modern economic and social history, focusing on overseas trade, the economy of Kent and the south-east, and relations with the Low Countries; museum theory and practice.
Dr William Pettigrew: Lecturer in American History
England and her Atlantic colonies in the 16th to 18th centuries; the history of the British Atlantic Empire; the trans-Atlantic slave trade; race and ethnicity; the history of economic thought; Renaissance diplomacy.
Dr David Potter: Reader in French History
Early modern France; the state and local society in the 15th and 16th centuries; the impact of war; the French aristocracy in the 16th century; Renaissance diplomacy.
Professor Ulf Schmidt: Professor of Modern History
German and European modern history, especially the history of medicine, eugenics and medical films during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich and the Cold War.
Dr Charlotte Sleigh: Senior Lecturer in the History of Science
History and culture of the life sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries; history of natural history; literature; gender.
Professor Crosbie Smith: Professor of the History of Science
Science and technology in 19th-century Britain; literature and science in historical context; the historiography of science.
Professor David Welch: Professor of Modern History
Late 19th- and 20th-century German history; political propaganda in the 20th century; war and the media.
Dr John Wills: Senior Lecturer in American History
Modern US history; environmental, cultural and visual history; American nuclear landscapes; California protest culture; Disney; theme parks; tourism; 1950s America; cyber-society (including video games).
Further information:
Contact details
Admissions enquiriesT: +44 (0)1227 827272
E: information@kent.ac.uk
School of History
Rutherford College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 827279
F: +44 (0)1227 82725
Further information: