The Centre's expertise is particularly strong for Italy and England, but also covers France, Spain and the Hispanic world, the Low Countries, German-speaking territories, and the wider Mediterranean. Many members take (or are sympathetic to) a comparative or global approach.

Thematically, the CSR has special strengths in:

• religious, political and social history
• manuscript studies, print culture and the history of the book
• late-medieval to early modern thought and intellectual culture, including the history of scholarship and universities; the classical tradition / reception studies; commentaries and translations; and the history of medicine and the history of science
• medieval and Renaissance literature, theatre, and performance
• the visual arts and the world of artisans, especially in Italy
• the Neo-latin language and literature