Postgraduate research

History at Reading is one of the University's longest established and most distinguished research areas. We are recognised as being particularly strong in inter-disciplinary medieval studies (much of the activity here is focussed on the Graduate School in Medieval Studies) and in early modern British History. But the department is also strong in modern British History and some aspects of modern European history and so we can offer supervision in a wide range of areas, often in collaborative arrangements with colleagues from other departments. The areas in which we are especially eager to recruit students include Medieval History, European History, Economic and especially Rural History, Early Modern History, American History, Modern British and Colonial History and Regional and Local History. More details of individual staff interests may be found below but as the list of our current postgraduates shows (also below), this is by no means exhaustive. We invite potential students to identify possible supervisors from the list of staff interests and write to them direct, or to email the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Hoyle, r.w.hoyle@reading.ac.uk outlining their interests.

 

History Department staff interests

List of Postgraduate Students

 

Research facilities are excellent at Reading and include:

• The main University library, which holds many special collections
• The Stenton library: an important resource for local history, law and women's studies
• The Overstone Library collected by the political economist John Ramsay McCulloch (1789 – 1864) containing some 8,000 printed volumes, which is especially strong in economics, travel, history, literature & classics, and political & religious philosophy
• The Cole library of early Medicine
• The Abingdon, Buckland, Didcot & Henley parish Libraries, containing theological and polemical works.
• A large microfilm collection, including the Thomason Tracts: an extensive collection of seventeenth century texts.

In addition, Reading has strong links with the Berkshire Record Office, and is very close to the Bodleian Library, the  British Library, & the National Archives.

The University also houses the Museum of English Rural Life which operates as a major resource and research centre for the history of food, farming and the countryside with links into the School of Humanities and other academic departments at the University.