Launch event for new School of Classics, English, and History

The University’s new School of Classics, English, and History will launch on Thursday 23 November with special guest talks on the theme of ‘Democracy & Humanities’.

The launch will take place in the Templeman Lecture Theatre from 6pm. All staff and students, and members of the public, are warmly invited.

The new School will be launched by the Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Karen Cox.

The speakers for the evening are:

• Professor Katherine Harloe, Director of the Institute of Classical Studies. An interdisciplinary classicist, Professor Harlow has published on authors ranging from Sappho, Thucydides and Pausanias to Hannah Arendt and Walter Pater. Her books include Winckelmann and the Invention of Antiquity (2018) and Thucydides and the Modern World (2012). 
• Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge, Interdisciplinary Chair of Humanities and Human Rights in the Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham. Professor Stonebridge’s work focuses on twentieth-century and contemporary literature, political theory and history, human rights, and refugee studies, drawing on the interdisciplinary connections between literature, history, politics, law, and social policy. Her books include Placeless People: Writings, Rights, and Refugees (2018) and We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience (2024).
• Richard Toye, Professor of Global History at the University of Exeter, whose research interests include Britain in its global and imperial context in the period from the late Nineteenth Century to the present day. His books include Winston Churchill: A Life in the News (2020) and Age of Hope: Labour, 1945, and the Birth of Modern Britain (2023).

Dr Bashir Abu-Manneh, Head of the new school and Reader in Postcolonial Literature, said: ‘We are incredibly excited to bring together our three disciplines in one School – Classics, English, and History. This new formation is a focal point for academic excellence in the humanities and will help us provide the best education for a new generation of students through curiosity-led, rigorous disciplinary and cross-disciplinary training.

‘Our community of academics is profoundly energised and deeply committed to nurturing future generations of critical thinkers at Kent – creative, questioning, and confident. We are also firmly committed to enhancing our students’ future prospects.

‘The theme of our launch is “Democracy and Humanities” and our internationally renowned speakers will show how democracy and the humanities require one another to shape a fair and just global society.’