"research" blog posts
Liverpool Institutions and their Legacies of Slavery: A Collaborative Approach
This research blog by PhD researchers Lucy Moynihan and Michelle Girvan, explores Liverpool Institutions and their Legacies of Slavery. Lucy and Michelle help us understand the complex legacies within institutions like the Blue Coat Hospital and the Liverpool Athenaeum, shedding light on the city's complex past.
Posted on: 4 March 2024
REF 2021: Making a Difference - The Impact of our Research
The History Department takes great pride in the work we do to ensure that our research has a real relevance and impact outside of academia. 100% of our research was classified as 4* and 3* for impact in REF2021 and this impact score is testament to our commitment to publicly-engaged research.
Posted on: 28 June 2022
REF 2021: History Publications
It’s been a busy few years for publications for Liverpool Historians. We submitted 81 outputs to the REF, ranging from single authored monographs and articles to co-edited collections and scholarly editions of translated works. Our REF outputs represent only a fraction of the diverse work that we publish for a wide range of audiences.
Posted on: 23 June 2022
Bridgerton's Regency style - what was fashion really like in the early 19th century?
Were you dazzled by Daphne Bridgerton's debutante dress in 'Bridgerton'? With its wardrobe of high waistlines and puffed sleeves, this hit show has made Regency fashion - and the idea of #regencycore - a key trend in 2021. We spoke to museum curator, Pauline Rushton, to find out what fashion was really like in the early 19th century.
Posted on: 29 April 2021
The Kremlin, the past and 2020
2020 was meant to be a blockbuster year for the Kremlin: twenty years of Vladimir Putin, seventy-five years since the victory over fascism in the Great Patriotic War and constitutional changes approved overwhelmingly by the population in a referendum.
Posted on: 6 January 2021
Mary Mary, quite contrary: a statue for Wollstonecraft
Dr Myriam Wilks-Heeg gives her view on the contraversial new statue honouring feminist icon, Mary Wollstonecraft.
Posted on: 18 November 2020
Will Kamala Harris be the first female president of the United States?
US political history expert, Dr Cheryl Hudson, gives her view on the Democratic vice-presidential candidate and the possibilities for her future in the corridors of power. \"Regardless of who is elected as the 46th President of the United States, they will be male. Just as the previous 45 were. Not a single American woman has served as head of state and Commander in Chief.
Posted on: 28 October 2020
Connecting the power of African Ancestors
When I confirmed my upcoming talk with the University of Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool, it was February 2020. In some ways, it was a completely different world. I couldn’t have known that Black History Month 2020 could see us operating in a second lockdown, as the first lockdown was still a myth and a whisper on the UK agenda.
Posted on: 25 September 2020
Misunderstanding Black Lives Matter
History student Caleb Howie gives his opinion on how the Black Lives Matter movement has been misunderstood and misrepresented by some sections of society.
Posted on: 21 July 2020
'Untold Histories of Empire': The truths about empire that museums don’t want to tell you – and why
Dr Deana Heath is a Reader in Indian and Colonial History at the University of Liverpool, and organiser of the Untold Histories of Empire project at the World Museum as part of the Being Human Festival.
Posted on: 13 November 2019
Libraries, Reading Communities and Cultural Formation in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic
7-12 October is National Libraries Week 2019 – a time to celebrate the power of libraries to change lives through reading. The theme this year is how libraries engage communities through technology, building skills and encouraging participation. It’s fitting, therefore, that this week also marks the launch of a major new digital humanities project funded by the AHRC exploring the history of libraries, led by Professor Mark Towsey from the Department of History at the University of Liverpool.
Posted on: 9 October 2019
Opinion: What’s special about Robert Mugabe?
Following the death of Robert Mugabe earlier this month, Dr Diana Jeater reflects on the life of the former President of Zimbabwe and the response to his passing in the media.
Posted on: 18 September 2019
Department of History Graduation 2019 — Social media roundup
Last week we said goodbye to our Class of 2019 at the School of Histories, Languages and Cultures graduation ceremony as they begin the next step of their journey as University of Liverpool graduates. Check out our roundup of social media messages from the day.
Posted on: 23 July 2019
Q&A: What's it like to study a PhD in History at the University of Liverpool?
Emily Gibbs is a postgraduate research student in the Department of History, specialising in the anxieties felt by British society during the Cold War. Find out Emily's thoughts on studying a PhD at the University: from her topic of study to the city of Liverpool.
Posted on: 2 April 2019
Opinion: British Empire is still being whitewashed by the school curriculum – Dr Deana Heath on why this must change
Dr Deana Heath: Jeremy Corbyn has recently proposed that British school children should be taught about the history of the realities of British imperialism and colonialism. This would include the history of people of colour as components of, and contributors to, the British nation-state – rather than simply as enslaved victims of it. As Corbyn rightly noted: “Black history is British history” – and hence its study should be part of the national curriculum, not segregated in a single month each year.
Posted on: 8 November 2018
Extreme Weather - how human stories can help us engage with climate change
Climate change is a global phenomenon but it can often feel abstract and detached from our everyday lives. Engagement with the public about climate change can be more effective if human experiences of extreme weather are used, in the form of memories and personal stories.
Posted on: 15 May 2018
"It’s two institutions presenting rival claims on the loyalties of North African Christians" – Dr Robin Whelan discusses Being Christian in Vandal Africa
Following the recent publication of Dr Robin Whelan’s book 'Being Christian in Vandal Africa: The Politics of Orthodoxy in the Post-Imperial West', Dr Chris Pearson sat with the author and Lecturer in Mediterranean History at the University of Liverpool to discuss their research and how their interest in the topic began.
Posted on: 8 February 2018
Opinion: Anti-Roma stigma of Czech president Miloš Zeman threatens progress over Romani rights
Czech president Miloš Zeman faces a tough run-off against rival Jiří Drahoš in the second round of the presidential election on 26-27 January 2018. Voters will deliver their verdict on Zeman’s open hostility to refugees, Muslims, and the European Union, and his support for Russia.
Posted on: 24 January 2018
Exploring perceptions of Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum
Third year history student, Tiria Barnes, explores perceptions of Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum using articles from Gale Primary Sources.
Posted on: 15 December 2017
An experience to remember - PhD research at University of Georgia
Early in 2017, I was awarded a University of Georgia (UGA) Franklin College – University of Liverpool Short-Term International Research Fellowship. So a few months later, I found myself in Athens, Georgia, enjoying a week of beautiful fall weather and the generous hospitality of the southern United States.
Posted on: 8 December 2017
Let's meet...a history masters graduate
Find out what it's like to study a history masters with us at Liverpool, from prize-winning graduate Emma Copestake.
Posted on: 7 December 2017
Robert Mugabe’s resignation - an extraordinary week in Zimbabwe's history
‘What’s happening?’ ‘Have you seen the news?’ ‘Is this it?’- these were the messages that started coming in from contacts all over the world, as I was preparing to head out to the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association in Chicago last month.
Posted on: 1 December 2017
Victorian vagrants - researching female criminals from the Victorian era
One of the most fascinating aspects of my research is going beyond the stats and the figures and constructing biographies of the women I’m researching. In order to do this I’ve been utilising material held in local archives, such as newspapers held on microfilm, but I’ve also been making extensive use of digital sources.
Posted on: 5 October 2017
Statues of medical racist who experimented on enslaved people should also be taken down
Stephen Kenny blogs about how statues of a medical racist who experimented on enslaved people should be removed.
Posted on: 23 August 2017
Nuclear stories: understanding nuclear anxiety through storytelling
When I first undertook my History PhD research on nuclear anxiety in Britain, I was instantly surprised by how much people wanted to tell me their 'nuclear stories'. It appeared to me that the legacies of Cold War nuclear anxieties ran much deeper than I had originally believed.
Posted on: 23 August 2017
The 'Sniffing the Past' app - take a dog's eye view of the city in London, Paris and New York
What part do dogs play in urban history? Can their stories give us a fresh perspective on some of our most iconic cities? Chris Pearson has been researching dogs, humans and history in London, New York and Paris - and his new app is bringing these 'hidden histories' to life.
Posted on: 1 August 2017
Pursuing a career in academia - history alumna Wendy Asquith tells her success story
As a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, I am currently working on a new project \"The Spectacle of Universal Human Rights: A Century of Intergovernmental Display at World's Fairs\".
Posted on: 31 July 2017
Genoa’s Freedom: Entrepreneurship, Republicanism, and the Spanish Atlantic
My new book 'Genoa’s Freedom: Entrepreneurship, Republicanism, and the Spanish Atlantic' is the result of many years of work. It all started one day at the Newberry Library, in Chicago, where I found a sixteenth-century account book of taxes paid in Peru to the Spanish monarchy.
Posted on: 14 June 2017
Libraries and life in Washington DC - building the foundations of my PhD thesis
I was lucky enough to move to Washington D.C. from September 2016 until February this year, to undertake a British Research Council Fellowship at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress.
Posted on: 5 April 2017
BAFTA-nominated film-maker Tina Gharavi gives us an insight into her film ‘People Like Us’
How do you cope with being convicted of a crime you know you did not commit? What happens when you are condemned to death row and spend over 18 or 30 (sometimes many more) years of your life locked away; often not knowing how long you will be alive? How do people survive when placed in such extraordinary situations?
Posted on: 27 February 2017
A student's view: Harry Roberts on using our new history e-textbook
Still lugging heavy history books around? Student, Harry Roberts, gives us the lowdown on how he's been using the new history e-textbook, 'Using Primary Sources' and how it's changed the way he researches the subjects he's passionate about.
Posted on: 22 February 2017
'Asylum Squad' - exploring religion and mental illness
The Victoria Gallery and Museum's 'Phantom Limb' exhibition focuses on medicine, memory and the treatment process. It features around 20 works by nine artists, most of whom work from their own personal experiences of operations and illnesses.
Posted on: 15 November 2016
Researching the slave trade in Liverpool
For Black History Month, we take a look at some of the stories behind the slave trade in Liverpool with PhD student Nicholas Fuqua:
Posted on: 21 October 2016