Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship Opportunity

The School of History at the University of Kent is looking to support an exceptional candidate for a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in 2012-2015 in any area of history.

To view the eligibility criteria and further details about the Fellowship please visit The Leverhulme Trust's Early Career Fellowship website.

To register your interest in having an application supported by the School of History please send a copy of your CV (1 page of A4); a detailed research proposal of no more than 1000 words; and the names, addresses and emails of two referees to the School of History's Administration Manager, Mrs Jackie Waller (J.A.Waller@kent.ac.uk) by no later than 4pm on Friday 17 February 2012.

Informal enquiries may be directed to Professor David Welch, Head of the School of History; Dr Barbara Bombi, Director of Graduate Studies; or Professor Crosbie Smith, Director or Research.

Professor Ian Beckett and Dr Timothy Bowman to advise Army Study Team

Professor Ian Beckett and Dr Timothy Bowman have accepted an invitation to join a specialist group of six military historians advising the Army Study Team on Force Structure 2020.

Established by the Chief of the General Staff, and led by the Director of Force Development, the Army 2020 Study Team is seeking historical context as part of its examination of future force structures. It will report in February 2012.

Dr Karen R. Jones awarded the Rufus Z. Smith Prize

Dr Karen R. Jones has been awarded the Rufus Z. Smith Prize for the best article appearing in the American Review of Canadian Studies over the past biennium (issues 39.2-41.1, 2009-11) for her paper “From Big Bad Wolf to Ecological Hero: Canis Lupus and the Culture(s) of Nature in the American-Canadian West.”

The paper, based on Dr Jones's specialist interests in the North American West and environmental history, traced changing attitudes towards wolves across US and Canadian national parks in the Rockies.

The Prize was formally presented during the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States' 40th anniversary reception on Thursday, November 1, 2011 at the Museum of Civilization, Ottawa. More details about the conference and the Rufus Z. Smith Prize are available at the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States' website.

2012 Anselm Lecture

The School of History and the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies are delighted to announce that the 2012 Anselm Lecture will take place on Thursday 19 January 2012 at 6pm in the Brabourne Lecture Theatre, Keynes College by Dr John Goodall, Architectural Editor of Country Life, on ‘The English Castle’.

A highly regarded and influential historian, Dr Goodall has previously worked for English Heritage and, in his current post, is responsible for writing and commissioning the weekly architecture features in Country Life magazine. He was also the series consultant for the BBC1 architecture series The Way We Built Britain (2007) hosted by David Dimbleby and is a part-time member of the Humanities staff at the City and Guilds of London Art School.

Dr Goodall is also an award winning author; his first book God's House at Ewelme (Ashgate, 2001) won the Royal Historical Society's Whitfield Prize, and his second book The English Castle received the award for Large Format Illustrated Book of the Year at Spear's Book Awards 2011.

As well as featuring Dr Goodall's lecture, this year's Anslem lecture will be followed by a drinks reception and launch party for the publication of Dr Alixe Bovey's latest book Jean Carpentin's Book of Hours.

This is a public lecture to which the School of History and the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies welcome you all to attend.

More information about Dr John Goodall and his work can be found on his website.

More information about Dr Alixe Bovey and her work can be found on her School of History staff profile.

A poster (in pdf format) of the event for distribution and/or display at your institution is available for download.

Propaganda, Power and Persuasion: A Conference in Memory of Professor Philip M. Taylor

The Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda & Society and the Institute of Communication Studies (University of Leeds and venue of the conference) are co-sponsoring a two-day conference in memory of Professor Phil Taylor.

On 16th and 17th December 2011, The CSWP&S and The ICS will host a major international conference in memory of Professor Philip M. Taylor who died in December 2010. The conference – for invited guests only – will bring together leading international scholars in the areas of interest in which Phil worked: the history of propaganda; war journalism; and contemporary strategic communications. Professors Mark Connelly and David Welch will be presenting papers at the conference as will Dr Edward Corse a former PhD student at Kent.

Participants include Professors Gary Rawnsley, Nick Cull, David Culbert, David Ellwood, Stephen Badsey, and journalists Paul Moorcraft and Kate Adie.

Professor Welch will be editing a Festschrift of essays in memory of Phil Taylor who was the first external examiner of the School's MA programme on ‘Propaganda and Persuasion in History’ (now War, Media & Society).

A pdf containing the full programme of conference events is now available for download.

Love, Hate & Propaganda: The Cold War

Professor David Welch, Head of the School of History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Propaganda, War and Society is currently featuring as historical consultant on the CBC's new, four part series Love, Hate & Propaganda: The Cold War.

This new series follows on from the hugely successful Love, Hate & Propaganda: The Second World War, a six part series that aired in 2010 for which Professor Welch was also historical consultant.

Professor Welch has now begun work with CBC on a third series and will appear again as historical consultant on Love, Hate & Propaganda: The War on Terrorism which is scheduled to be aired in 2012.

Information about each series can be found at CBC's Love, Hate & Propaganda: website.

The Falklands Conflict: 30th Anniversary Conference

The Falklands Conflict started on Friday, 2 April 1982, with the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Britain's Conservative government, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, launched a naval task force to retake the islands.

The conflict ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. It lasted 74 days and resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and the deaths of three civilian Falkland Islanders.

The conflict was the result of a dispute over the sovereignty of the islands. Neither state officially declared war. Argentina characterised its invasion as the re-occupation of its own territory: the UK defined it as an invasion of a British dependent territory. The political consequences of the conflict were felt in both countries. A wave of patriotic sentiment swept through both: the Argentine loss hastened the downfall of its military government. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Thatcher's government was boosted to victory in the 1983 general election.

To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the conflict, the School of History and the Centre for Journalism at the University of Kent will unite policy-makers, academics and reporters at a unique conference. Argentine and British historians of the conflict and journalists who covered it will share analyses, perspectives and memories with residents of the islands and service personnel who fought over them.

Historians including Professors Peter Hennessy, Klaus Dodds and Sir Lawrence Freedman will be joined by correspondents including Robert Fox, Michael Nicholson and Kim Sabido. Sir John Nott, the Secretary of State for Defence who despatched the Royal Navy Task Force, will open proceedings. Major-General Julian Thompson and Commodore Michael Clapp will describe how the amphibious phase of British military operations was planned. Peter Hennessy will assess what British intelligence knew of Argentine intentions on the eve of the invasion. A panel of islanders including Patrick Watts, the former head of Falklands Radio who was broadcasting when Argentine soldiers captured his studio on 2 April 1982, will describe their experiences and recollections.

We invite you to register to attend. For further information please download the Conference Programme (pdf) and the Conference Booking Form (pdf).

'Re-framing disability', by Dr Julie Anderson, wins prestigious award

A project undertaken by Dr Julie Anderson (the University of Kent) and Dr Carole Reeves (the University College London), in association with the disability arts organisation Shape and The Royal College of Physicians and funded by the Wellcome Trust has won a prestigious award.

The exhibition of portraits 'Re-framing disability: portraits from the Royal College of Physicians' was heralded ‘inspired’ and ‘challenging’ by an international panel of judges, and won the Ability Media International (AMI) Visual Arts Award 2011.

The award was presented at a ceremony at London Studios on November 19th. The packed event was attended by some of the UK Arts industry’s most influential representatives – including Downton Abbey actor Dame Maggie Smith and filmmaker Mike Leigh.

The AMI awards, created by Leonard Cheshire Disability in 2009, identify outstanding creative projects that encourage a more inclusive world for disabled people.

The art exhibition explores rare portraits of disabled people from the 17th to 19th centuries, uncovers their hidden histories, and looks at their impact today through contemporary responses from 27 disabled participants across the UK. This exhibition is touring venues across the UK throughout 2011-2012. It is currently on display at the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies until the end of January 2012.

Tony Heaton, the Chief Executive of Shape, said 'Shape relishes the opportunity to work with Universities and cultural institutions, to help facilitate inclusion and understanding within a creative setting, we are always actively seeking partners for interesting opportunities to develop themes arising from the histories of disabled people.'

Further details about venues and the online exhibition can be found on the RCP website.

Cosmopolitan Animals

The School of History's Dr Charlotte Sleigh and Dr Karen Jones have collaborated with members of the School of English to create 'Cosmopolitan Animals' a two-day, international conference.

Taking place on the 26th and 27th October 2012 at the Institute for English Studies in the heart of the Bloomsbury area of central London, the conference seeks to interrogate and decentre humanist metanarratives that have dominated our thinking and ways of living, while looking to the many non-human others who populate the cosmos.

The conference committee is pleased to invite proposals for papers and non-paper based presentations (poster, performance or other artistic work). For further information please download the Cosmopolitan Animals: Call for Papers pdf.

Research Funding Awards

School of History staff have recently received funding awards from several national and international bodies for current and future projects .

Dr Karen Jones has been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) fellowship for 'Epiphany in the Wilderness', a new exploration of hunting and nature in the American West.

Professor Ulf Schmidt has been awarded a Herbert D. Doan Fellowship at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), Philadelphia, United States, for the year 2011-12. The Fellowship has been awarded in connection with Professor Schmidt's Wellcome-Trust-funded research on "Secret Science: Human Experimentation in Biological and Chemical Warfare Research during the Cold War".

Dr Don Leggett and Dr Charlotte Sleigh were awarded funding from the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) for their Scientific Governance in Britain 1914-1979 conference that took place at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus in September 2011.

Royal Society Lecture

On Sunday 2nd October Dr Charlotte Sleigh will be delivering a lecture to the Royal Society as part of their One Culture festival.

Dr Sleigh's lecture The Stanford Linear Accelerator 3-day particle smashing diet: Contemporary literature and science communication will take place at 3.15pm in the Royal Society's Dining Room and will look at novels from the '90s to the present by authors such as Don DeLillo, Jonathan Franzen and Ian McEwan to see how they engage with the conflicting perspectives of rational science and 'the credulous and backwards humanities' on popular scientific knowledge.

Tickets can be purchased through the Royal Society's page for Dr Sleigh's lecture.

Professor Patrick Collinson 1929-2011

It is with great sadness that the School announces the death of one of its former members of staff, Professor Patrick Collinson.

Professor Collinson joined the School of History at Kent from Sydney in the mid 1970s as Professor of History. He went on to become Professor of History at the University of Sheffield and eventually the University of Cambridge, where he was Regius Professor of History and Fellow of Trinity College.

Professor Alf Smyth, Emeritus Professor of History at Kent and a friend and former colleague of Professor Collinson's, described him as 'a leading light in the field of Early Modern History' and went on to say that 'colleagues and former students from the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies remember him with affection. He will be missed by the many friends he made among us'.

Professor Collinson had been suffering from a long-term illness but had continued to write and publish up until his death. He was 82.

Research Seminar Series

The School of History is delighted to announce the schedule for its 2011-2012 Research Seminar Series.

Beginning on 5th October 2011 with Professor Martin Daunton of the University of Cambridge discussing "New Deal to Cold War: reconstructing the post-war economy", the series will play host to a diverse range of researchers from across the globe covering current historical research in such areas as the history of science, medicine and technology; military history; cultural and social history; and environmental history.

Seminars will take place on Wednesdays at 5pm in Rutherford Seminar Room 7 (RS7). Further details of this series can be found on the School's Events page.

Welcome Week

Throughout Welcome Week (Monday 19 - Friday 23 September), the School of History is running a series of welcome events for new students.

• New Undergraduates - Introduction to the School. Monday 19 September, 11 - 13:00, Gulbenkian Cinema.
• New Short-Term Students - Introduction to the School. Wednesday 21 September, 16 - 17:00, Rutherford Seminar Room 7.
• New Postgraduates - Introduction to the School. Thursday 22 September, 09:30 - 13:00, Rutherford Extension 12.
• New Undergraduates - Introductions to Making History, Learning Technology and Student Support. Thursday 22 September, 14:00 - 16:00, Gulbenkian Cinema

Start of Year Lecture

On Tuesday 27 September at 6.15pm in Woolf College Lecture Theatre the School of History hosted its annual Start of Year Lecture.

This year we were delighted to welcome Professor Simon Keynes (University of Cambridge) who delivered a lecture on 'Canterbury and the Vikings in the reign of King Æthelred the Unready'.

The lecture was also part of a series of events taking place in September and October to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Siege of Canterbury by a Viking army. For more information about the commemorations please download the pdf leaflet of events.

Scientific Governance in Britain 1914 -1979

The Centres for the History of the Sciences and History of Medicine, Ethics and Medical Humanities will be hosting a two-day advanced research conference in September 2011 on Scientific Governance in Britain, 1914-1979.

Taking place at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus from 12-13 September 2011, the conference aims to provide a big-picture study of twentieth-century science by revealing the patterns of change over the century, specifically in relation to the key stakeholders (state and industry, public and private) and their take on the values and mentalities offered by a scientific approach. Such a 'big picture' is timely not only in scholarly terms but also as the financial climate prompts reassessment of research in industry and academe. This conference will help us understand how invention and experiment have been managed in recent British history.

For further information and registration details please visit the Scientific Governance webpage. Registration for the Conference will close on Friday 26 August.

Roger Anstey Memorial Lecture

On Saturday 10 September at 6pm in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1 (GLT1) The School of History hosted Dr Peter Thompson of the University of Oxford who delivered the Roger Anstey Memorial Lecture on '1744: The Logic of Slavery and the Logic of Revolt'.

The Roger Anstey Memorial Lecture commemorates the University of Kent's association with Professor Anstey who was Professor of History at Kent in the 1970s and a renowned expert on the movement to abolish slavery. His work remains highly influential.

Prestigious Fellowship Awarded to Kent Professor of History

Professor Ulf Schmidt, School of History, has been awarded a Herbert D. Doan Fellowship at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), Philadelphia, United States, for the year 2011-12. The Fellowship has been awarded in connection with Professor Schmidt's Wellcome-Trust-funded research on "Secret Science: Human Experimentation in Biological and Chemical Warfare Research during the Cold War".

One of the central foci of Professor Schmidt's stay at the CHF will be to study a range of unique Anglo-American and German sources on chemical warfare, and examine the scientific networks and experimental programmes of US scientists involved in chemical warfare research, development and production. The findings will be disseminated through Professor Schmidt's forthcoming monograph, research papers, seminars, workshops and a planned exhibition on the subject.

PhD Funding Opportunities

The School of History is pleased to announce two new PhD studentships for specific projects within the school. Both scholarships will cover fees at the Home/EU rate and offer an £11,000 maintenance bursary.

Applicantions are welcomed for the following projects:

The Media and the Falklands Conflict 1982

Supervised by Professor Mark Connelly

The aim of the PhD is to produce an overview of the role of radio, television, newspapers and journals in shaping public opinion during the Falklands Conflict. The PhD will look at government information policy, the experiences of frontline and UK-based journalists, the editorial policies of the media as well as analysing news content and style. The candidate should be prepared to investigate a wide variety of archival sources from government documents to newspaper editorials and be ready to conduct interviews with major figures. This is a high profile project which will coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the Falklands Conflict and will provide an exciting opportunity for a well qualified research student.

For further particulars, please click here

Canterbury c.1485-1603: negotiating state formation in the age of Reformation

Supervised by Dr David Grummitt

This will be an opportunity to chart the progress of political, social and religious change upon the city of Canterbury in the sixteenth century. The successful candidate will work in both the municipal and ecclesiastical archives to assess how successfully the local community renegotiated both its internal relationships and those with the crown and other outside authorities (such as the wardens of the Cinque Ports). As well as local archives, he or she will be encouraged to look at the records of royal government held at the National Archives.

For further particulars, please click here

How to Apply

Students would normally have completed or be about to complete a Masters in History or a related discipline, with an achieved or predicted grade of Merit or Distinction, and have gained an upper second or first class BA honours degree in a relevant subject.

Applicants should submit a detailed cv and the names and addresses of 2 referees together with a two page summary outlining your suitability for the scholarship by 15 July 2011 to: Juliette Ashby, Postgraduate Coordinator, School of History, Rutherford College, Canterbury CT2 7NZ

Cartoon Exhibition

Tuesday 29th March saw the launch of Pantomime Parliamentarians: Politicians in Cartoons Past and Present, an exhibition curated by the History Society, the British Cartoon Archive, and Dr James Baker.

The exhibition uses documents from the British Cartoon Archive to explore how cartoonists have used literature (Alice in Wonderland; Winnie the Pooh) and figures from the past (Gladiators; Nelson) as a means of portraying the character of politicians (Thatcher; Blair; Brown).

Supported by a grant from Kent Union, the project was designed to allow for student contribution, and both undergraduate and postgraduate students from the School of History made a significant contribution to the selection and interpretation of the cartoons.

The curators would like to thank all who attended the private view of the exhibition and all those who visited the exhibition and left meesages on the comments wall.

As a result of the popularity of the exhibition the History Society and the British Cartoon Archive are planning to make this an annual event.

Distinguished Brocher Foundation awards Fellowship to Kent Scholar

The School of History's Professor Ulf Schmidt and Professor Andreas Frewer, University of Erlangen, Germany, have jointly been awarded a distinguished Visiting Fellowship by the Brocher Foundation, Switzerland, with their proposal "Medical Ethics and Human Rights in Medicine: Reassessing 50 Years of the Declaration of Helsinki, 1964-2014".

Professor Schmidt and Professor Frewer's project was selected from over one hundred high-quality applications. The jointly-held Fellowship, which will be taken up in 2012, will allow both scholars to conduct innovative research at the Wold Medical Association in Geneva, organise an expert workshop and prepare a major international conference to mark the 50th annivarsary of the Declaration of Helsinki in 2014.

In Memoriam: Professor Richard Holmes CBE TD

Professor Mark Connelly has paid tribute to the military historian Richard Holmes CBE TD, who died last month aged 65. Professor Holmes received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2007.

'Richard Holmes made a huge impact on military history in Britain. He combined an eye for detail and academic rigour with the ability to communicate to an extremely wide audience. His many best-selling books and equally popular television series brought military history to life for millions of people. Few who heard Richard speak or saw one of his many television programmes could fail to be captivated by his passion, engagement and verbal dexterity.' said Professor Connelly.

Professor Holmes, who received the award of Doctor of Civil Law (honoris causa) at the University's Graduation Ceremony in November 2007, died on 30 April.

Dr Karen Jones on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour

Dr Karen Jones featured on 'Woman's Hour' (BBC Radio 4, Monday May 9th, 10am), discussing the western movie Meek's Cutoff, the settlement of the American West in the 19th century, and the experiences of frontier women.

Dr Jones is a specialist on the American West who has written on such topics as wolves, hunting, and Calamity Jane.

Special Public Lecture

The School of History is delighted to welcome Professor Jonathan Moreno from the University of Pennsylvania on 16 May, at 5 pm, to deliver his key note lecture on

The Body Politic: The Battle over Science in America

Jonathan D. Moreno is one of twelve Penn Integrates Knowledge university professors. He is also Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and of History and Sociology of Science at Penn. Moreno is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, where he edits the magazine Science Progress. He was a member of President Barack Obama's transition team for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Professor Moreno has recently been appointed by President Obama to serve on the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues which looks into the syphilis experiments performed by medical scientists in Guatemala in 1946-48. He was previously senior staff on the President Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments which had been established in the mid-1990s.

Moreno is the author or editor of 19 books and monographs. His next book, The Body Politic: The Battle over Science in America, will be published in fall 2011. His other books include Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (2006) and Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans (1999), described by the The New York Times as "an earnest and chilling account" and by the Journal of the American Medical Association as a classic in the literature on human experimentation.

The lecture is jointly organised by Centre for the History of the Sciences and the Centre for the History of Medicine, Ethics and Medical Humanities.

Monday, 16 May 2011, Grimond Lecture Theatre 3, at 5.00 pm. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception in the foyer of the Grimond Building.

All are most welcome.

Further Postgraduate and Undergraduate Funding Opportunities

The School of History is pleased to announce that we are offering two postgraduate scholarships for our MA in Modern History, Paris. This one-year MA programme is taught in English and offers students the opportunity to study in the heart of two European cities, Canterbury and Paris. Full details can be found at our postgraduate Paris funding page.

We are also offering two undergraduate scholarships for North American applicants wishing to study the BA in History or the BA in War Studies. For more information, please visit our undergraduate funding page.

Literature and Science nominated for prize

Dr Charlotte Sleigh's latest book Literature and Science (Palgrave, 2010) has been shortlisted for the British Society for Literature and Science Book Prize 2010. It was recently praised by P. D. Smith in the Guardian, who called it an 'eloquent and erudite' account of the field.

The prize is awarded to the best book published in English in 2010 in the field of literature and science. Past winners have included Ralph O’Connor for The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856 and George Levine for Realism, Ethics and Secularism: Essays on Victorian Literature and Science.

Funding Available for US Undergraduates

The School of History is pleased to offer two undergraduate scholarships for North American applicants wishing to study the BA in History or the BA in War Studies.

These scholarships are only available to North American applicants, and cover one years' tuition at the overseas rate (see undergraduate fees). The closing date is 1 June 2011. For more information, please visit our undergraduate funding page.

Funding for MA in Modern History, Paris

The School of History is pleased to offer two postgraduate scholarships for the MA in Modern History, Paris. This one-year MA programme is taught in English, and offers students the opportunity to study in the heart of two European cities, Canterbury and Paris.

These scholarships are available to UK, EU and Overseas applicants, and cover tuition fees at the home rate (see postgraduate fees). They are for one-year only and total £6,000. The deadline for applications is 1 June 2011. Full details can be found at our postgraduate Paris funding page.

Inaugural Lecture

After its initial postponement due to the adverse weather conditions in early December the School of History is delighted to announce that Professor John Gooch will be delivering an inaugural lecture to celebrate the launch of the new Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda & Society on Friday 1 April 2011.

The lecture, titled 'Understanding War', will take place in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1 at 5.15pm and all are welcome to attend.

Cosmopolitan Animals

The School of History's Dr Charlotte Sleigh and Dr Karen Jones have collaborated with members of the School of English to create 'Cosmopolitan Animals' a two-day, international conference.

Taking place on the 26th and 27th October 2012 at the Institute for English Studies in the heart of the Bloomsbury area of central London, the conference seeks to interrogate and decentre humanist metanarratives that have dominated our thinking and ways of living, while looking to the many non-human others who populate the cosmos.

The conference committee is pleased to invite proposals for papers and non-paper based presentations (poster, performance or other artistic work). For further information please download the Cosmopolitan Animals: Call for Papers.

Annual Bolt Lecture

The annual Bolt Lecture will take place on Friday 13th May at 5.30pm in Grimond Lecture Theatre 2.

This years' speaker is Dr Jackie Fear-Segal (University of East Anglia) and the title of her lecture is “Photographs, Memory, and Native Americans in the Twenty First Century”. All are welcome.

Guns and Identity Conference

The School of History in conjunction with the Centre for American Studies, the Centre for the Study of Propaganda, War and Society at the University of Kent and the Institute of History at the University of Leiden will be running a conference on Guns and Identity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries to be hosted at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus.

More information about the conference, including a schedule of events and booking form can be found here.

Anselm Lecture

The annual Anselm Lecture will take place on Wednesday 16th March at 5.45pm in Woolf Lecture Theatre.

This years' speaker is Dr Kevin Leahy, speaking on “The Staffordshire Hoard: is Medieval Archaeology the new Rock and Roll?”. All are welcome.

The Staffordshire Hoard - the largest archaeological Anglo-Saxon find ever unearthed - came as a shock; we had never seen anything like it and had no reason to suspect that such a find might exist.

It is strange in many ways, its contents appear to have been carefully chosen and consist mainly of war-gear with a few Christian objects, gathered together and buried on a hillock overlooking a Roman road. The craftsmanship and artistry is breath taking and has much to tell us.

There are so many questions to answer: when was it buried and by whom? Why was it consigned to the earth? From where did the objects come? The hoard does not exist in a vacuum and other finds will help provide a context for it. We are at the start of a long and exciting exploration of this magnificent treasure.

Dr Kevin Leahy is a freelance archaeological finds specialist who works as the National Adviser, Early Medieval Metalwork for the Portable Antiquities Scheme. He was the person who prepared the first catalogue of the finds from the Staffordshire Hoard. He has excavated many important Anglo-Saxon sites and published a number of books on Anglo-Saxon archaeology including 'Anglo-Saxon Crafts' and 'The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey'.

Dr Don Leggett wins prestigious award

Dr Leggett has been awarded the prestigious international Singer Prize (2010) by the British Society for the History of Science for his comparitive, cultural history of “tanks” in Britain and America.

His paper is a history of the naval architects' test tanks, introduced in the late Victorian period to carry out experimental tests on scale models of ships in order to determine the best hull form under different conditions of speed and weather.

The award is offered every two years for the best 8000-word essay submitted by a young scholar in the field of history of science, medicine, and technology. Don's essay will be published in the Society's international journal, BJHS.

HG Wells open lecture

On Friday 4th February 2011 The School of History Centres for the History of the Sciences and the History of Medicine, Ethics and Medical Humanities hosted the first H.G. Wells Science and Society Lecture.

The open lecture, delivered by Professor James Moore (University of Cambridge/Open University), titled ‘Darwin and the “Sin” of Slavery’, focussed on the moral and religious dimensions at play in how Charles Darwin developed his theory of species evolution.

2011 postgraduate funding opportunities

The School of History is pleased to announce its postgraduate studentships for 2011. In order to further foster excellent research and to demonstrate its committment to postgraduate study, the School is offering 11 studentships (some funded internally, others by external organisations), with prospective postgraduates invited to apply by March 1.

Once again, the School is taking the highly unusual step of funding a limited number of taught MA programmes. Full details can be found here.

'Spatial Turn' special lecture

On Tuesday 7 December, Simon Gunn (Professor of Urban History at the University of Leicester) will deliver a special lecture on 'Urban Environment and the Problem of Traffic in 1960s Britain', as a part of the 'Spatial Turn' series of workshops.

The event will take place in Rutherford Seminar Room 7, at 5pm. All are welcome.

Inaugural Lecture - postponed

To celebrate the launch of the new Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda & Society, the School of History is proud to announce that on Friday 3 December an inaugural lecture will be given by John Gooch on ‘Understanding War’.

The lecture will be held at 5.15pm in Woolf Lecture Theatre 1, and all are welcome.

John Gooch Professor of International History at the University of Leeds. His most recent book is ‘Mussolini and His Generals: The armed forces and Fascist foreign policy, 1922-1940’ (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He is currently writing a military history of Italy in the First World War.

9 Erasmus Mundus Fellowships available

The University of Kent is pleased to announce the introduction of 9 fully-funded PhD fellowships under the EU Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate scheme.

Titled Text and Event in Early Modern Europe (TEEME) these fellowships are structured around a unique collaboration of university-based researchers in the Humanities in four EU countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic), and promise to foster intercultural dialogue and disseminate the best research in history, literature and culture to the wider community.

For more information, click here.

Professor Connelly talks Christmas

On Thursday 11 November, Professor Connelly is due to feature on the podcast of the National Gallery, discussing the history of shop window display design at Christmas. Later this month, Professor Connelly is also due to present to the staff of the Geffrye Museum in London, as they prepare to host their annual exhibition on the celebration of Christmas in the English home.

Study Modern History MA in Paris

The School of History is excited to announce the launch of a new version of our Modern History MA, allowing for a term studying in Paris.

Launching in September 2011, this programme is taught entirely in English with students spending their Spring term at the University of Kent campus in Paris - Reid Hall. As well as gaining a valuable postgraduate qualification, students experience life, culture and study at the heart of two European cities, Paris and Canterbury.

Full details of the programme can be found here, with details of funding options available here.

Dr Chakrabarti publishes new book

Published by Manchester University Press, Materials and Medicine: Trade, Conquest and Therapeutics in the Eighteenth Century focuses on the transformation of Medicine in the eighteenth century. Chakrabarti examines both the West Indies and South Asia, the two main sites of commercial and territorial expansion of the British Empire, to uncover the inextricable link between intellectual developments in European medicine and histories of conquest and colonialism.

Aligning the trajectories of intellectual and material wealth, the book draws from the resources of naval, military, missionary, Orientalist, medical and natural history from the archives in the UK, West Indies and India in order to examine how medicine acquired a new materialism as well as new materials in the context of global commerce and warfare.

This fascinating and wide-ranging book will appeal to experts and students in a wide range of areas; histories of medicine, science, imperialism as well as south Asian and Caribbean history.

More details can be found here.

Dr Sleigh publishes new book

Dr Charlotte Sleigh, Senior Lecturer in History, is pleased to announce the immiment release of her latest book Literature and Science published by Palgrave.

In this book, the growing field of literature and science is for the first time given a fully theorized overview. Using case studies from a three hundred year history, Dr Sleigh focuses on literary form and argues that novels did not just reflect or inform areas of science, but were part of a broader, ongoing cultural negotiation about how to read things.

“Charlotte Sleigh's elegant book will appeal to general readers and scholars” - Carol Colatrella

The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon here.

Professor Connelly to deliver at the IHR

On Saturday 23 October, Professor Mark Connelly is to present the plenary session at the Winter Conference at the Institute for Historical Research. His lecture is entitled Keep the aspidistra flying: The representation of Home Front and suburban culture in ‘This Happy Breed’ and ‘Hope and Glory’.

The two day event will feature lectures from renowned academics, speaking on a range of cultural, political and social issues surrounding the British film industry.

Attendees will be shown rare footage from the IWM, Scottish Screen Archive, North West Film Archive and other recognised film organisations, presented and interpreted by speakers such as Toby Haggith, Paul Sargent and Janet McBain.

More information can be found at the IHR website: www.history.ac.uk/film2010.

Professor Welch opens international conference

On 14 October, Professor David Welch will be opening a two-day international conference on L'affiche politique au 20 siécle: Stratégies de communication visuelle at the University of Limoges with a paper on 'Civilians Fall In: Mobilising the Home Front in Britain in World War One'.

Professor Schmidt Delivers US Keynotes

On 27 and 28 September 2010, Professor Schmidt gave two key note lectures to invited expert audiences at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States. The papers were entitled “Justifying Chemical Warfare: The Origins and Ethics of Britain’s Chemical Warfare Programme, 1915-1939” and Hitler’s Doctors: Research Ethics, Mental Illness and ‘Euthanasia’ in Nazi Germany, 1939-1945”.

History Alumni day

On Saturday 25 September, the School of History held its first ever alumni day. The event was a great success with 300 graduates spanning five decades in attendance.

The programme of events included special guided tours of Canterbury Cathedral (led by Professor Fincham and Dr Bovey), talks from past and present students and staff and a guest lecture from honorary Professor David Starkey, entitled "Life in the Old Dog Yet? Rewriting the biography of Henry VIII".

Of course, there was also plenty of time for catching up with old friends and reminiscing over memories of Kent, whilst enjoying lunch, afternoon tea, cake and champagne!

The School does plan to run similar events in the future, so please be sure to stay in touch and to notify our alumni office of any change of address.

School of History announces two new centres

The School of History is pleased to announce the launch of two new centres, the Centre for the History of Medicine, Ethics and Medical Humanities and the Centre for the History of the Sciences.

This represents an exciting new development for the School, and promises to enhance our 'world class' research output in this area. Further details will be provided shortly.

Dr Chakrabarti to co-edit Social History of Medicine

Dr Pratik Chakrabarti has joined the journal Social History of Medicine (SHM) as the co-editor from September 2010.

He was elected unanimously by the executive committee of the Society for the Social History of Medicine to the position. SHM (published by the Oxford University Press) is a premiere international refereed journal in history of medicine, which is concerned with all aspects of health, illness, and medical treatment in the past. It is committed to publishing work on the social history of medicine from a variety of disciplines, http://shm.oxfordjournals.org/.

Dr Chakrabarti is delighted and honoured. One of his aims as the co-editor is to encourage articles on non-western/imperial history of medicine in the journal's future publications.

Professor Beckett to present New Zealand Keynote

Professor Ian Beckett, Visiting Professor of Military History within the School of History, will be delivering the keynote lecture at the Tutü te Puehu: New Zealand's Wars of the Nineteenth Century conference in Wellington in February 2011.

The conference is to be hosted by the Massey University and focuses on the military, political, social, economic or cultural aspects of wars in New Zealand and comparative nineteenth century colonial conflicts.

Professor Beckett is recognised globally for his expertise in Military History, having recently completed peer review assessments on academics from the Australian National University and the South African National Research Foundation.

Start of Term Lecture

The School of History is pleased to announce that Professor Robert Bartlett of the University of St Andrews will be giving the start of year lecture on Tuesday 28 September.

Professor Bartlett is a distinguished medievalist, author of The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950-1350, which won the Wolfson Prize, presenter of TV series The Medieval Mind and most recently The Normans, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

The lecture will be entitled 'Saint-Making in the Middle Ages' in the Woolf Lecture Theatre at 6.15pm. It will be followed by a reception. All are welcome.

Literature, Science and Medicine: Theories and Methods

Professor Crosbie Smith has been invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the above two-day meeting held at the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Institution of Great Britain, on 1-2 July 2010. The meeting is part of a programme of training for PhD students supported by the AHRC.

Professor Smith's lecture is entitled Mirror of the Sea: Reflections on the Sea Literature of Joseph Conrad.

Interpreting Medieval Liturgy at St Fagans

On 25 June, Dr Helen Gittos' AHRC-funded International Research Network on Interpreting Medieval Liturgy met for the third time at St Fagans, National Museum of Wales near Cardiff.

The events included a re-creation of an early sixteenth century rite for Reconciliation of Penitents in a medieval church in the museum. Full details of the public event can be found on the official site, and on the National Museum of Wales blog.

For more information about the International Research Network on Interpreting Medieval Liturgy, please visit their website.

Moscow Book Launch

On June 8th over 50 people attended the launch of a Russian edition of Dr Philip Boobbyer's book, Conscience Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia, recently released by the reputable Moscow publisher, ROSSPEN. The gathering took place in the conference room of the Losev House, a library in central Moscow dedicated to Russian Philosophy and Culture.

At the book presentation, Dr Boobbyer explained why the concept of 'conscience' became so important to late Soviet dissidents and intellectuals. More generally, he said that his research into the Russian conscience, and his earlier biography of the Russian philosopher, Semyon Frank (also published by ROSSPEN, 2001), were both attempts to explore the Russian intelligentsia's ethical response to Marxism and materialism.

The event was chaired by Elena Takho-Godi of the Losev House, and introduced by Andrei Sorokin, Director of ROSSPEN. Those contributing included Andrei Zubov, editor of a much discussed two-volume study of 20th century Russian history, Vyacheslav Igrunov, a former dissident and liberal member of parliament, and Alexander Tsipko, a former advisor to Gorbachev. A lively debate ensued about the nature of Soviet ethics.