History PhD

History at Queen’s is the largest group of historians at any university on the island of Ireland. It is a dynamic research area, with strengths in ancient, medieval, early modern and modern periods, across a wide geographical area that includes Ireland, Britain, Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia. We specialise in oral history, gender and women’s history, urban history, public history, religious history political history, and the history of race.

Proposals are welcome in any of these areas. As a History PhD candidate, you will engage in original research in a historical subject of your choice, supervised by our internationally recognised scholars. With Queen’s being part of the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium(with Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teeside and Ulster Universities), there are also opportunities for co-supervised doctoral work with staff at these institutions.

A flourishing programme of events, seminars, and research groups complements our postgraduate courses and doctoral supervision. Research expertise: Queen’s is one of the premier research centres globally for the study of Irish history and boasts a large and active team of researchers in this field, with interests ranging from the middle ages to the twentieth century. We have particular strengths in Irish social history, politics, gender and religion, and Ireland's and Ulster’s relationships with Britain and the wider world.

The dynamic Centre for Public History involves historians with a variety of geographical and chronological interests. A number of current or recent history PhD candidates are engaged in public history related projects, which involve internships and collaborations with bodies such as the BBC, Belfast City Council, Historic Royal Palaces, the Public Research Office of Northern Ireland and National Museums NI. Other areas of particular research expertise include oral history, 20th-century British social, cultural, political and imperial history, history of the U.S.

South, gender history and religious history. There are also specialists in the history of Ancient Rome, Medieval England and Europe, Early Modern Britain and Europe, twentieth-century Europe, modern China, India, and South-East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Take a look at our History staff profiles for details. https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/happ/subject-area/history/people Research resources: The School boasts the following Research Centres: - Institute of Irish Studies - a pioneering centre for interdisciplinary Irish scholarship and teaching. - Centre for Public History - a lively hub for those engaged in researching, teaching and practising public history. - The QUOTE hub at Queen's has members from across the University who are passionate about oral history and its potential for producing democratic and inclusive forms of history.

Major research resources are close at hand. This includes the extensive collection of Irish manuscripts, books and pamphlets in the Queen's University Library's Special Collections and our state-of-the art McClay Library with extensive book and journal holdings, and subscriptions to many of the principal online resources for historical study, including digital newspaper archives, Mass Observation Archive, ECCO, EEBO, and HCPP. Also nearby are wide-ranging collections in Belfast's historic Linen Hall Library, extensive manuscript holdings at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and the Gamble Library’s specialist collections in religious history and theology.

The National Archives of Ireland and National Library of Ireland in Dublin are within commuting distance. About the Programme: The aim of the programme is to produce independent researchers. From the outset, PhD candidates are encouraged to disseminate their work at seminars and conferences, and through publication or public engagement.

The programme culminates in the submission of an 80,000-word dissertation that makes an original contribution to historical…