We offer MPhil and PhD research programmes in a range of topics linked to staff expertise in History. Our staff are recognised as international experts in their fields, and have produced a large number of influential books, journal articles and edited collections, and won funding for a number of prestigious research projects. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, we enjoyed outstanding success with a grade point average of 2.65 in the area of history and a large percentage of 'world-leading' research.

We are proud of our prestigious and highly regarded research culture, which creates a rich and stimulating environment for staff and students.

We have a series of links to a number of other centres in our University and the wider community. We contribute to many of our Faculty's research groups, including the Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute (CoDE), and we run our own research unit, the Labour History Research Unit (LHRU). Our programme also hosts and participates in a variety of research-oriented events, including Faculty and Departmental research seminar series.

The Labour History Research Unit (LHRU) is co-directed by Dr Jonathan Davis and Professor Rohan McWilliam. The main aim of the LHRU is to promote fresh approaches to Labour history - both British and international - through seminars, conferences, postgraduate studies and scholarly publications. We have organised symposia on various aspects of Labour history, including the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, on votes for women and on Labour's past, present and future. Our most recent conference commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of E. P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class. The papers from our 2009 conference reappraising the second Labour government were co-edited by Jonathan Davis and published by Manchester University Press in 2011. In 2010 we held an evening of history and politics with Lord Roy Hattersley, where he talked about the need for a return to ideological politics. Videos of this event can be viewed on our site, and In 2012 we hosted a symposium on Blue Labour featuring papers by Lord Maurice Glasman and Dr Jon Lawrence.

We have close links with many organisations in the local area and the wider region, including the University of Cambridge's Centre for Research into Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH).

Case study profile

Patrick Chaplin achieved his PhD in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Rohan McWilliam and Professor John Shepherd. His subject was the history of darts in the early twentieth century. Despite being one of the most popular of modern pastimes, darts has never been studied before and Dr Chaplin uncovered its intriguing history. This entirely original piece of research was published as a monograph by Manchester University Press in its prestigious series on the history of popular culture in 2009, and has begun to receive excellent reviews in scholarly journals. Dr Chaplin is now a research fellow of Anglia Ruskin University and is writing and researching further aspects of the history of the game.

Supervision and support

You will will be allocated two supervisors, with additional members added if necessary. Academic supervision is available in many areas of history. We have a particularly strong concentration of expertise in the areas of labour history (through the work of the LHRU), and modern social, political and cultural history, especially the history of the British Empire, local history, the history of the monarchy and aristocracy, Russian history and the history of popular culture.

Facilities

We have a range of excellent facilities and close links with local and national archives. Our research students also have access to our outstanding library resources, as well as to the Cambridge University Library and other local archives.

Funding

There are a number of ways in which you can obtain external funding for doctoral research, from the full-time awards granted by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to smaller grants available from a range of grant-awarding bodies. Our programme periodically offers fully funded and fees-only fellowships and, from time to time, Departmental bursaries are awarded to candidates showing exceptional potential. In addition to these, our programme has a Postgraduate Fund to which students can apply for help with travelling expenses, conference fees, and other research needs. We offer advice on external and internal funding to any interested prospective candidates for our PhD degree.

Career development and training

We are committed to offering training and career development opportunities for all research students. Our PhD students may be offered teaching opportunities in our programme, and are encouraged to give papers at graduate conferences within both our University and at other universities. Within our Department, we can also offer advice and support on a range of subjects, including:

• writing up a paper for publication
• placing an academic article
• giving a conference paper
• style in PhD writing
• updates on research methods and literature searches
• internet training
• editing skills for doctoral research
• subsequent monograph publication
• working with agents and publishers.

We welcome proposals from students wishing to work in History. Below is a list of current staff and their research specialisms:

Clarissa Campbell Orr
Research interests: The Enlightenment in England and France; the English family in the 18th century; the bluestockings; The British monarchy and the royal court in the 18th century.

Dr Jon Davis
Research interests: Russian and Soviet history; British labour and socialist history.

Dr Sean Lang
Research interests: History of the British empire; social history of empire; imperialism in popular and children's literature; decolonisation.

Dr Rohan McWilliam
Research interests: Social and political history; popular politics and popular culture in the modern period; Victorian studies; the history of London (especially the West End).

• MPhil: Candidates must hold a BA or equivalent in a related subject area.
• PhD: Candidates should normally hold an MA or equivalent in a related area subject area.
• For candidates whose first language is not English, a minimum IELTS score of 7 or equivalent is required with a minimum score of 6.5 achieved in each of the four language skills. We welcome applications from EU and international students.