History News

Each year the History Department holds a two-day conference, at which MA and PhD students present short papers on their research. The audience is composed of students and members of academic staff, who provide a friendly environment for sharing ideas and receiving feedback. The Warwick History Postgraduate Conference 2011 will take place on Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th June 2011 in the Maths and Statistics Building, University of Warwick.

Applications are invited for a three-year, full-time PhD studentship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, to be held in the History Department at the University of Warwick. The studentship forms an integral part of a wider collaborative research project on ‘The East India Company at Home, c. 1757-1857’ which aims to explore the ways in which Asian commodities influenced social and cultural life and identities in British country houses in the heyday of the East India Company. The selected PhD student will be supervised by Professor Margot Finn and will also benefit from the expertise of the project’s senior Research Fellow, Dr Helen Clifford. Applicants should be committed to pursuing historical research to the doctoral level, focusing on a specific topic within the project’s wider framework and working with the project team. The studentship will entail a three-year residence in the UK and associated funded research trips to archives and libraries.

At its meeting on 17 February 2011, the University Council approved the recommendation of the Committee on the Appointment of Pro-Vice-Chancellors for Professor Margot Finn to be appointed to the position of Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Professor Finn, based in the Department of History, will assume her role on a partial basis from 1 April 2011 with a primary focus on outreach and access, as well as supporting development and fundraising.

Congratulations to Professor-Elect Rebecca Earle who has been awarded the 2010 Wayne Rasmussen Award for the best article on agricultural history published in a journal other than Agricultural History. The prize-winning article "'If You Eat Their Food …': Diets and Bodies in Early Colonial Spanish America" was published in the American Historical Review last year.

The Idea of a University was created by a collaborative research team of students and staff from the departments of sociology and history at the University of Warwick with funding from the Reinvention Centre and the HEA History Subject Centre. This mixed-media installation used original archival and interview data in order to map the spatial and historical generation and regeneration of the University of Warwick from the 1960s to the present day.

Professor Steve Hindle, current Head of the History Department, has been named the W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. He is scheduled to take up the new position on 1st July 2011.

Full-time 3-year PhD Studentship (overseas fees only, maintenance not included)

Jointly offered by the History Department, the Global History and Culture Centre, and the ERC Project ‘Europe’s Asian Centuries, Trading Eurasia 1600-1830’

The deadline for applications is 25 February 2011.

Applications from students are invited for a 3-year full-time overseas fees only PhD studentship commencing in Autumn 2011. The successful candidate will work with Dr Anne Gerritsen to explore a topic related to the work of the Project. He or she will register for a PhD research degree in Global History. This studentship offers its holder a unique opportunity to work with experts in global history and culture, and to develop expertise and a professional profile.

The University has been awarded the prestigious Venice Prize for Cultural Communication.

The prize was presented to University representatives on 2 December 2010 at a ceremony during the 14th Exhibition of the Arts and Cultural Activities held in Venice. Among the patrons of this exhibition are the Italian Ministry of Arts and Culture, Venice City Council and the University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice.