Department of History
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About the department
Research
Lifelong Learning
About the Department
The Department of History is an internationally recognised centre for the research and teaching of history at one of the UK's most prestigious universities.
In terms of research activity, the Department plays a key role in University research initiatives, and in developments with collaborators across a wide range of institutions, nationally and internationally. Our staff encompass a wide range of historical approaches, operating in both the Arts and the Social Sciences. We are particularly active in a number of areas (contemporary history, colonial history, early modern history and medieval history) and these are complemented by research on other themes and periods.
Staff and research students from the department engage widely in the activities of Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA) and the Worldwide Universities Network. Close links also exist with national scholarly institutions such as the British Academy, the Institute for Historical Research, the Economic History Society, and other such institutions..
At postgraduate level, we offer a History MA (Master of Arts), with pathways available in colonialism, medieval and early modern history, public history, cultural and intellectual history and contemporary history. Staff in the Department also supervise postgraduate students taking research degrees (M.Phil, M.Litt & PhD) and there is a lively postgraduate research community.
The research interests of the staff are also fully represented in our undergraduate degree programmes, which attract students of the highest academic potential from a wide range of educational, social and ethnic backgrounds. The Department offers BA courses in History and History with a Language, and it is one of the most popular in the UK in terms of the ratio of applicants to places offered.
Since August 2009 the Department of History has been located within the 'primary unit' of 'Historical Studies' within the School of Humanities in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Bristol. Historical Studies consists of History and History of Art, which are overseen by a single Head of Subject and a single Head of Education. The School of Humanities occupies a number of Victorian villas in Woodland Road. These are linked by attractive and sympathetically developed modern buildings to the rear that are arranged around a series of gardens. Despite the merger of History and History of Art into one 'primary unit', the two departments retain a distinctive identity, each delivering their own undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. While the administrative merger of the departments into 'Historical Studies' will increase the opportunities for students starting from 2010 to take undergraduate to take units from History of Art (and vice versa), there are no plans to merge the degree programmes, both of which are extremely popular and successful.
The Head of Subject is Professor Ronald Hutton, who has responsibility for all matters that pertain to research, including research students.
The Head of Education is Dr Fernando Cervantes, who has responsibility for the taught programmes within Historical Studies. As such he has overall responsibility for both the BA and the MA programmes in History and History of Art.
Please address all correspondence as directed on the Department's general enquiries page or, if you wish to contact an individual member of our staff, you can find their email address and / or telephone number on our staff contacts page.