Dan Meldon
I am a first-year PhD researcher in History at the University of Warwick, funded by the AHRC-Midlands4Cities. My PhD project is titled 'Warwickshire Identities: Early Modern Archival Perspectives', and is a Collaborative Doctoral Award, working in concert with the Warwickshire County Records Office.
Research
My research aims to explore the extent to which processes of environmental change in Early Modern Warwickshire impacted the identities of those living in the region across the Early Modern centuries. My working definition of identity is broad; identity is not just individual, but often familial, professional, communal, religious, and to a lesser extent, regional, across this period. I hope to assess to what extent the significant processes of environmental and climate change in the Early Modern Centuries impacted these identities, and whether these identities transformed, competed, or became increasingly entrenched in this period.
I am particularly interested in protest and poverty, and the machinery of agricultural enclosure in the transformation of Warwickshire's early modern environment. I hope my project can uncover how processes of environmental change, whether anthropogenic or natural, significantly impacted the lives of those living in Warwickshire in the early modern centuries, across broad social, economic, and political strata.
I am supervised by Professor Beat Kümin and Dr Naomi Pullin.
Wider Research Interests
I am also interested in the history of nostalgia, especially its deployment in political discourse, and the formation of Conservative ideologies. I wrote my Master's Thesis on the topic, titled Conserving Merry England: Merry England Mythology in Conservative Literature, 1790-1845, supervised by Dr Christopher Donaldson.
My research interests also include environmental histories more broadly, particularly in relation to the early modern world, and the continuities of early modern environmental change with contemporary climate crises and challenges.
I am also interested in the histories of revolt and rebellion in the early modern centuries.
Education and Related Experience
2016-2019: BA (Hons), History, Lancaster University
2019-2020: MA (Distinction), History and Heritage, Lancaster University
2022-2024: Postgraduate Diploma in Education, (PGDE, Distinction), Sheffield Hallam University.
October 2025 onwards, PhD in History, University of Warwick. M4C Funded CDA.
I also hold Qualified Teacher Status (Awarded in 2023)