The Natural Hazards and EmpireLink opens in a new window exhibition explores how natural hazards were studied and experienced under the conditions of empire, drawing on examples from the Royal Geographical Society's Collections. For many people, colonialism itself was a disaster. When combined with the shock of an earthquake, an avalanche, or volcanic eruption, the effects could be especially damaging and long-lasting. The exhibition was put together following an undergraduate workshop held at the Royal Geographical Society in collaboration with the University of Leeds and the University of Warwick. This was an exercise in participatory research.

What do undergraduates, studying geography at university today, make of the historical Collections held at the Royal Geographical Society? And what does ‘decolonisation’ mean for them as the geographers of the future? View the online exhibition hereLink opens in a new window.

Image credit: Photograph of the 1935 Quetta earthquake. Credit: C.P. Skrine / Royal Geographical Society.

The International conference 'Commodities and Environments in Early Modern Global Asia, 1400-1800' is organised under the auspices of the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant Project, CAPASIA ;The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism', hosted at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. The conference explores the relationship between environments and commodities in early modern Global Asia between 1400 and 1800. It investigates the environmental consequences in these regions of the extraction, production and the trade in commodities.

For further details, hereLink opens in a new window

The Global History and Culture Centre is delighted to announce the establishment of the Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme, which will fund a total of 4 PhD studentships over five years (2023-28). The Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme has been made possible through the generous donation of Warwick alumnus and co-founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler. Up to two fully-funded studentships will be available for Autumn 2024 entry. The remaining studentships will be available from 2025 onwards. See full details hereLink opens in a new window.

Natalie Zemon Davis, who died on October 21 just short of her 95th birthday, was probably the best-known and most well-regarded of North American historians since the 1970s. Her early work on the popular culture and religious mentalities of artisans and labourers in the 16th century captured imaginations, and she led the early teaching of women’s history at the University of Toronto. But it is her distinctive methods and contributions to what came to be known as microhistory that are best remembered, writes Maxine Berg for the ConversationLink opens in a new window.

Horizons: A Global History of Science (Penguin, 2022) by Dr James Poskett has been awarded the 2023 Jerry Bentley PrizeLink opens in a new window from the American Historical AssociationLink opens in a new window for 'the most outstanding book on world history'.