Answering the call for REF2029’s History subject panel
The next Research Excellence Framework takes place in 2029, with work now underway to create the structures that will determine the form and scope of latest next ‘REF’ assessment. Most recently, the REF2029 steering group has issued a call for applications to join one of the 34 subject panels, including History, whose members will assess submissions in four years’ time. In this post, the Society reviews changes to the appointment method for subject panels, and considers how REF2029’s bid for more diverse panel membership sits with the realities of growing inequality of opportunity for historians within UK higher education.
The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville
In this post, co-editors Stewart Beale, Andrew Hopper and Ann Hughes introduce their new volume in the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series: ‘The Household Accounts of Robert and Katherine Greville, Lord and Lady Brooke, at Holborn and Warwick, 1640–1649’ (December 2024). Robert Greville, 2nd Lord Brooke, was a prominent figure among the aristocratic opposition to Charles I, a religious radical and intellectual who emerged as a successful popular leader in the early months of the English Civil War. This volume publishes the richly detailed household accounts kept for Brooke and then for his widow, Katherine, on an annual basis between 1640 and 1649. These texts make an illuminating source for Brooke’s capacious intellectual, religious, and political networks, and for his mobilisation of popular support for Parliament in 1642.
Accepted applicants to study History in UK Universities: UCAS end-of-cycle data 2019-2024
Last week UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, released its end of cycle data for the 2024 applications round to UK higher education. This release provides information on numbers of applications, offers and accepted applicants for degree subjects, including History. This post highlights selected data for accepted applications in History, in 2024, and for annual cycles since 2019. Trends for the past five years are provided for accepted applicants, with refinement to consider accepted applications by students’ age, gender and place of residence. UCAS figures for applications and offers to study History, 2019-2024, are also included for context at the end of the post.
REF2029 and Open Access – what’s in, what’s out, and what comes next
On 11 December 2024, the steering group for REF2029 published its final Open Access policy relating to research outputs submitted for assessment. The policy follows an initial set of proposals and an accompanying consultation phase over the summer. REF’s assessment of the consultation was also published on 11 December. This post offers a brief summary of key responses to the consultation; decisions drawn from these; and the resulting terms and extent of the Open Access policy for REF2029. The post closes with a note on REF plans to broaden the Open Access mandate for future assessment exercises, and what form work to this end might take. This summary is primarily intended for historians but we hope will also be of use to others publishing in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Rethinking Transnational Activism – and Rethinking Article-Writing for History Journals
This post outlines the genesis of ‘Rethinking Transnational Activism through Regional Perspectives: Reflections, Literatures and Cases’, an article in the 2024 volume of ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’. As a coming together of scholars in this field, the article explores through case studies the regional dimensions that influence historical transnational movements. Here, Daniel Laqua and Thomas Davies—who organised an initial workshop and served as lead authors—share the background and experiences connected to this article, which assembled the perspectives and voices of ten historians. The 2024 volume of ‘Transactions of the Royal Historical Society’ is now available online, published by Cambridge University Press.
New Historical Perspectives book series publishes its 20th title
New Historical Perspectives (NHP) is the Royal Historical Society’s book series for early career historians. In late November, the series published its 20th title, the edited collection ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’. The series is a partnership between the Society, the Institute of Historical Research and University of London Press. All titles in the series are published in print and online as free Open Access editions, with publishing costs covered by the institutional partners. NHP titles have now been downloaded more than 150,000 times. In this post we look back on previous titles and forward to new monographs in 2025. We also welcome proposals for future monographs or edited collections from early career historians.
Histories of Adulthood in Britain and the United States
Adulthood has a history. In this post, Maria Cannon and Laura Tisdall introduce their new edited collection, ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’, which explores how concepts of adulthood have changed over time in Britain and the United States. Expectations for adults have altered over time, just as other age-categories such as childhood, adolescence and old age have been shaped by their cultural and social context. Collectively, the volume’s authors consider four key ideas: adulthood as both burden and benefit; adulthood as a relational category; collective versus individual definitions of adulthood; and adulthood as a static definition. ‘Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z’ (November 2024) is the 20th volume in the Society’s New Historical Perspectives series published by the University of London Press.
A Workshop in Ruins
Last month, academic historians and heritage professions gathered at Scotney Castle, Kent, for ‘A Workshop in Ruins’. Funded by the Royal Historical Society and hosted by The National Trust, this two-day event brought together museum and heritage site curators, ecologists, art, architectural, and documentary historians to consider the changing uses and perceptions of ruins in and with their surroundings. In this post, Claire Kennan reports on the workshop, its findings and the project’s development of online resources for heritage professions working with architectural ruins.
The Value of History: a new briefing from the Royal Historical Society
In October 2024 the Royal Historical Society published ‘The Value of History in Higher Education and Society’. This briefing offers views on the state, and value, of history in the UK university sector. A vibrant discipline has traditionally indicated a flourishing profession. However, in recent years the Society has witnessed a divergence between the popularity of history—as a subject of study and public interest—and the security of historians within UK higher education. ‘The Value of History’, introduced here by the Society’s President, Emma Griffin, highlights the extent of cuts and closures facing departments, as well as history’s many strengths, in terms of student enrolments, satisfaction, and graduate outcomes. It also considers what we risk losing if cuts continue.
Jinty Nelson – a memoir
The Royal Historical Society was deeply saddened to learn last week of the death of the historian and former RHS President, Dame Jinty Nelson FBA. In this post, her close friend, colleague and fellow RHS Councillor, Professor Pauline Stafford, offers a memoir of Jinty as a champion of history, a teacher, scholar and collaborator with so many across the discipline. We are very grateful to Professor Stafford for this article and her observations on Jinty Nelson as RHS President and Jinty’s enormous contribution to the Society.
Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act
The 1832 Reform Act was a landmark moment in the development of modern British politics. In his new book — ‘Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act’ — Martin Spychal rethinks the Act. ‘Mapping the State’ provides a major reassessment of why and how the 1832 Reform Act passed, its impact on reformed politics both at Westminster and in the constituencies, and its significance to the expansion of the modern British state. Martin’s book, published in September 2024, is the 19th title in the Royal Historical Society’s ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series for early career historians, published by University of London Press. As with all books in the series, ‘Mapping the State’ is available in print and as a free open access download.
Present and Precedent in the Church Councils of Late Antique Iberia
In this post, Graham Barrett and Jamie Wood outline their recent workshop on the compact between Church and Crown in late-antique Iberia. This event, funded by the Society’s Workshop Grant programme, enabled participants to collaborate in an investigation of the agreements surrounding the Visigothic kingdom, know as the ‘Hispana’. Written in dense and difficult Latin, the Hispana has never been translated into English, nor the modern critical edition into any language. With the workshop, the project seeks to form a research network to make the Hispana accessible through English translation, annotation, and contextual studies. RHS Workshop Grants are awarded annually to enable historians to meet together to develop research ideas or projects; the next call for applications will be in late 2024.
