The School's complementary Centres for the History of Medicine, Ethics and Medical Humanities, and for the Sciences have a strong postgraduate research group, and support full or part-time research. Recently completed theses include projects on 19th-century literature and science, the relations between instrument makers and natural philosophers, the history of home computers, the construction of engineering science in Britain, and the history of Porton Down. Current research includes literature and science in 20th-century cultural context, the popularisation of science in France, and spatial themes in the history of science.

The Centre for the History of the Sciences also offers a taught MSc in Science, Communication and Society. This is suitable for students who wish to build on their undergraduate studies in the history of science with a professionally oriented qualification, or who have a particular interest in the history of science and its media.

Full details of staff research interests can be found on our website.

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 regard to war and medicine, surgery and disability. Recent publications include: War, Disability and Rehabilitation in Britain: Soul of a Nation (2011).

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; Anglo-papal relations in the 14th century; Latin diplomatic and palaeography. Recent publications include: Il registro di Andrea Sapiti, procuratore fiorentino presso la curia papale nei primi decenni del XIV secolo (2007); Novella plantatio fidei. Missione e crociata nel nord europa tra la fine del XII e i primi decenni del XIII secolo (2007); I Cristiani e il favoloso Egitto: Una relazione dall'Oriente e la storia di Damietta di Oliviero da Colonia (co-ed, 2009).

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. Recent publications include: Under the Influence: The Concept of Influence and the Study of Illuminated Manuscripts (co-ed, 2007); Jean de Carpentin's Book of Hours: The Genius of the Master of the Dresden Prayer Book (2011).

Dr Timothy Bowman: Senior Lecturer in British Military History

British military history in the 19th and 20th centuries; Irish history c1775-1998. Recent publications include: Carson's Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910-1922 (2007); The Edwardian Army: Recruiting, Training, and Deploying the British Army, 1902-1914 (co-author, forthcoming).

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. Recent publications include: Materials and Medicine: Trade, Conquest and Therapeutics in the Eighteenth Century (2010); Bacteriology in British India: Laboratory Medicine and the Tropics (forthcoming); Medicine and Empire, 1600-1960 (forthcoming).

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. Recent publications include: The Edwardian Army: Recruiting, Training, and Deploying the British Army, 1902-1914 (co-author, forthcoming).

Dr George Conyne: 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). Recent publications include: The Letters of Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808), Volume I: 1747-1788 (2007).

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. Recent publications include: Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship, 1547-c.1700 (co-author, 2007); Vital Statistics: Episcopal Ordination and Ordinands in England, 1646-60, English Historical Review (co-ed, 2011).

Dr Helen Gittos: Lecturer in Medieval History

Anglo-Saxon England, especially church history; early medieval liturgy and architecture. Recent publications include: Liturgy, Architecture, and Sacred Places in Anglo-Saxon England (forthcoming); Understanding Medieval Liturgy (co-ed, forthhcoming).

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. Recent publications include: The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914-1940 (2007); Cities into Battlefields: Metropolitan Scenarios, Experiences and Commemorations of Total War (co-ed, 2011).

Dr David Grummitt: Lecturer in Early Modern History

Early modern government and politics, diplomacy and war; particularly Tudor England. Recent publications include: The Calais Garrison: War and Military Service in England 1436-1558 (2008); War, State and Society in England and the Netherlands, 1477-1559 (co-author, 2008); A Short History of the Wars of the Roses (forthcoming).

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. Recent publications include: The American West: Competing Visions (co-author, 2009).

Dr Giacomo Macola: Lecturer in African History

Central African political and intellectual history from the 18th century to the present. Recent publications include: One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-colonial Zambia (co-ed, 2008); Recasting the Past: History Writing and Political Work in Modern Africa (co-ed, 2009); Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa: A Biography of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (2010); Living the End of Empire: Politics and Society in Late Colonial Zambia (co-ed, 2011).

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. Recent publications include: The Rise of Commercial Empires: England and the Netherlands in the Age of Mercantilism, 1650-1770 (2008); Artists, Dealers and Connoisseurs. The Origins of the English Art Market, 1650-1815 (forthcoming).

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. Recent publications include: Renaissance France at War: Armies, Culture and Society, c.1480-1560 (2008); Henry VIII and Francis I: the Final Conflict, 1540-47 (2011).

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. Recent publications include: Karl Brandt – The Nazi Doctor: Medicine and Power in the Third Reich (2007); Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt: Medizin und Macht im Dritten Reich (2009); Secret Science: Human Experimentation in Biological and Chemical Warfare Research during the Cold War (forthcoming).

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. Recent publications include: Six Legs Better: A Cultural History of Myrmecology (2007); Literature and Science (2010); Frog (2012).

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. Recent publications include: Cinema and the Swastika: The International Expansion of the Third Reich Cinema (2007); Justifying War: Propaganda, Politics and the Modern Age (co-ed, forthcoming).

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). Recent publications include: The American West: Competing Visions (co-author, 2009).

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