Research projects

The Department of History at the University of Sheffield has a successful track record of securing external funding for major research projects.

A public history lecture.
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Academic staff have obtained major grants from British funding bodies such as:

We have also obtained grants from continental European funding bodies such as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation or the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

The topics and structures of these projects reflect the highly diverse research culture in the department. They range from major collaborative projects on aspects of British History and research networks with international partners to projects by individual staff members.

The Department of History has particular expertise in the Digital Humanities. Academic staff members in the department have worked on a number of key research projects that use digital technologies and online facilities.

Through the use of web-based technologies, these projects offer access to online databases and facilitate data-mining. They have also changed the ways in which texts and databases can be searched and analysed, and how different types of information can be cross-referenced and linked.

These projects are conducted in collaboration with the Humanities Research Institute, which functions as a national reference centre in the Digital Humanities.


Current funded research projects

Colonising Disability: Race, impairment and otherness in the British Empire Principal Investigator, c1800-1914

Staff lead: Esme Cleall, Principal Investigator

Funder: AHRC Leadership Fellowship, 2017-20

Women, Conflict and Peace: Gendered Networks in Early Medieval Narratives

Staff lead: Julia Hillner, Principal Investigator

Funder: Leverhulme Project Grant, 2018-2020

Reassessing Rome after Empire: An Urban History Approach

Staff lead: Julia Hillner, Co-Investigator

Funder: British Academy Conference Grant 2021

Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India

Staff lead: Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Principal Investigator

Funder: GCRF-AHRC Project Grant, 2019-22

Advancing Women's Literacy and Empowerment in Pakistan and India through Life Writing

Staff lead: Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Principal Investigator

Funder: QR GCRF Sustainable Partnership Award, 2019-21

Capital of the World: New York City and the End of the 20th century

Staff lead: Sarah Miller-Davenport, Principal Investigator

Funder: Leverhulme International Fellowship, 2020-21

Irish Political Thought under the Union: Visions of Representative Government, 1798-1922

Staff lead: Colin Reid, Principal Investigator

Funder: AHRC Leadership Fellowship, 2020-21

Victims' Access to the Justice Through The English Criminal Courts, 1670-present

Staff lead: Robert Shoemaker, Co-Investigator

Funder: ESRC, 2018-21

Jurisdiction, Legal Community, and Political Discourse in Medieval Europe, 1050-1250

Staff lead: Danica Summerlin, Principal Investigator

Funder: British Academy ‘Tackling the UK’s International Challenges’ Grant, 2019-22

The Violent State in Historical Perspective

Staff lead: Simon Toner, Principal Investigator

Funder: White Rose University Consortium Collaboration Fund, 2018-2020

Intoxicating Spaces. The Impact of New Intoxicants on Public Spaces, Consumption and Sociability in North-Western Europe

Staff lead: Phil Withington, Principal Investigator

Funder: HERA, 2019-2021


Post-doctoral funded projects

“Agitations: mental health activism, anti-capitalism and the radical left in Britain since 1956”

Staff lead: Steffan Blayney

Funder: Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities Research Fellowship.

“Subverting Borders: Musicians, Nationalism and Memory in Punjab, 1947-1991”

Staff lead: Radha Kapuria

Funder: Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship, 2019-2022

Flagship institutes

The University’s four flagship institutes bring together our key strengths to tackle global issues, turning interdisciplinary and translational research into real-world solutions.