Transitions through Higher Education

This section is about what is involved as students transition from studying History in secondary school, through to undergraduate courses, on to taught Masters courses, and to higher research degrees.

In recent years great attention has been paid to the important transition point from school to university, partly in connection with calls for widening participation. Yet challenges in transition persist throughout university life, as recent studies of retention have shown.

The posts in this section include discussion of postgraduate funding, and offer personal reflections on some of the issues raised in student progression. They are designed to open discussion of issues particularly relevant to first-generation HE students, members of BAME communities, mature and part-time students, those with disabilities, and those returning to study.

We welcome more contributions connected to this theme, including those that consider students arriving in the UK from abroad.

Browse the Resources

Futures for the History Journal

Futures for the History Journal

    ABOUT THIS EVENT Journals have long been, and remain, central to the communication of historical research. As a publishing form, History journals have proved remarkably durable, with developments typically taking place within an established framework of...

Disability History Month 2022: reflections on recent research

Disability History Month 2022: reflections on recent research

  To mark this year's Disability History Month (16 November-16 December), Beckie Rutherford considers three recent monographs that have significantly contributed to the field of disability history: charting experience in the Soviet Union, the coal industry during...

REF 2021: Reflections from the History sub-panel chairs

REF 2021: Reflections from the History sub-panel chairs

    The Research Excellence Framework (REF), undertaken by the UK's four HE funding bodies, provides a review and assessment of research in higher education. The results of the latest assessment (REF2021) were published on 12 May 2022. Here, Professors Mark...

UKRI Open Access Policy for the Arts and Humanities: FAQs

UKRI Open Access Policy for the Arts and Humanities: FAQs

    In August 2021  UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) announced its future policy regarding Open Access publishing. UKRI is the overarching body responsible for government research strategy and funding for universities in the UK. It brings together the...

Applying and Interviewing for your First History Lectureship

Applying and Interviewing for your First History Lectureship

      About this event ‘Applying for your First Job: a Guide to Preparing and Interviewing for a History Teaching Post’ is part in the Royal Historical Society’s series of online training events designed for early career historians. This session was...

UKRI Open Access protocols: August 2021

UKRI Open Access protocols: August 2021

On 6 August, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) published its long-awaited report on its future approach to Open Access publishing. UKRI is the overarching body responsible for government research strategy and funding for universities in the UK. It brings together...

Historians on ‘Contested Heritage’

Historians on ‘Contested Heritage’

In March the Royal Historical Society was one of six institutional signatories to a letter calling on government to clarify its attitude towards and involvement in areas of 'contested heritage'. The letter highlighted ministers' increasing attempts to define -- and so...

Surviving the PhD Process as a Self-Funded Student

Surviving the PhD Process as a Self-Funded Student

In this post, Dr Eilish Gregory, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Royal Historical Society and an early career researcher, offers an account of her own personal experience of studying her PhD as a self-funded student. While there were many scholarly and personal...

Funding and Fellowship Opportunities in Historical Studies

Funding and Fellowship Opportunities in Historical Studies

There are many funding opportunities for history researchers to apply for in the UK and internationally, including research and travel grants, and library fellowships. Funding grants and fellowship opportunities are advertised across the year, although some have...