university of bristol phd history

Department of Classics and Ancient History

Postgraduate programmes in classics and ancient history, research programmes (mphil, phd).

We welcome and encourage applications for postgraduate degrees by research. In addition to topics focusing on single research areas, we actively encourage interdisciplinary research that cuts across the spectrum of classics and ancient historical studies, or other intellectual  disciplines in arts  and beyond. Joint supervision may be provided.

In addition to working on their 25,000 Masters Dissertation throughout the year, MPhil students attend the Department's fortnightly research seminars; attend a specialist research training programme; and can audit a wide selection of BA units, such as ancient Greek and Latin - giving you the opportunity to study subjects you might have missed out at BA level or want to develop - before going on to further research or a career in teaching.

If you would like further information on the application process, please email  [email protected] .

Further information on Classics and Ancient History research programmes »

Skills training

You will also benefit from a postgraduate skills training programme, which allows you to extend your range of academic and professional skills. You may also be given the chance at an appropriate stage to teach undergraduates, and you will be offered training for this purpose, leading to formal accreditation.

Faculty support

We foster a vibrant postgraduate community across the Faculty of Arts, providing you with  dedicated support when you need it .

Classics and Ancient History are among the subjects eligible for funding from the  AHRC South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership . The Faculty of Arts also offers  funding opportunities  for taught and research programmes.

Bristol is the perfect place for a hesitant classicist with interests in contemporary theory as well as ancient philosophy.

• Help & Terms of Use
• Department of History (Historical Studies)
• Faculty of Arts
• School of Humanities
• Website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/

United Kingdom

Organisation profile

Historical Studies at Bristol consist of two subject areas, History and History of Art, which each have their own degree programme, though students are encouraged to treat staff from the whole department as a collective resource. What is distinctive about both in combination is the way in which their research is made outward-looking, directed both into the activities of students and to audiences and partners outside as well as within the academic system. This characteristic is manifested in a number of different ways:

• In degree programmes which aim to turn students into practising historians and art historians by the time that they graduate, enabling them to learn the essential skills of professionals and to research and write history and history of art for themselves.
• In a broad spectrum of engagement with public bodies and arenas, including English Heritage, various museums and art galleries, schools, writers’ groups, government departments and film and television companies. We have a 'Public History' pathway to the History MA programme and hold an annual festival of history, Past Matters, for the citizens of Bristol and friends. A parallel strand in the History of Art MA offers a number of curatorial units in collaboration with museum partners locally and nationally.
• In an interest in major themes which cut across chronological and disciplinary boundaries in research and teaching, such as the environment, the body, and visual culture.
• In the continued development of a broad span of subjects for teaching and research, allowing plenty of choice to students and staff alike, with particular strengths in the medieval and early modern, modern and contemporary periods, and in imperial and colonial history.
• In a participation in the widest possible spans of academic collaboration and association, including a particular input into the World University Network.

Research in the Department of History encompasses a wide range of historical approaches, operating in both the Arts and the Social Sciences, and focus mainly on these areas:

• Contemporary history
• Colonial history
• Early modern history
• Medieval history

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.

Fingerprint

• Bristol Arts and Humanities 100%
• UK Social Sciences 69%
• Empire Arts and Humanities 51%
• England Arts and Humanities 39%
• Nineteenth Century Arts and Humanities 37%
• London Arts and Humanities 35%
• China Arts and Humanities 35%
• Contemporary Arts and Humanities 34%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Miss Houda Al-Kateb

• Bristol Doctoral College
• Migration Mobilities Bristol

Person: Member, Member, Doctor of Philosophy

Mr Ali Al-Khafaji

Person: Member, Doctor of Philosophy

Ms Jennifer Allison

Person: Master of Philosophy, Member

Research output

• 1965 Article (Academic Journal)
• 777 Chapter in a book
• 442 Book/Film/Article review (Academic Journal)
• 234 Authored book
• 160 Other contribution
• 115 Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)
• 93 Edited book
• 91 Conference Paper
• 71 Web publication/site
• 31 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• 30 Review article (Academic Journal)
• 20 Article (Specialist Publication)
• 17 Other report
• 14 Commissioned report
• 13 Working paper
• 12 Editorial (Academic Journal)
• 12 PhD thesis (not Bristol)
• 11 Comment/debate (Academic Journal)
• 7 Special issue (Academic Journal)
• 7 Performance
• 6 Other chapter contribution
• 6 Book/Film/Article review (Specialist Publication)
• 5 Scholarly edition
• 5 Conference Abstract
• 5 Conference Poster
• 5 Digital or Visual Products
• 3 Featured article (Specialist Publication)
• 2 Letter (Academic Journal)
• 2 Exhibition
• 2 Discussion paper
• 1 Confidential report for external body
• 1 Chapter in a report
• 1 Other Conference Contribution
• 1 Editorial (Specialist Publication)

Research output per year

Inclusive research agendas: What's excluded?

Research output : Other contribution

Electric Wind: Energy and History in Modern Britain

Research output : Book/Report › Authored book

A deeply personal manuscript: Robert of Torigni’s historical compendium and working copy (Leiden BPL 20)

Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

• 13 Not started
• 155 Finished

Projects per year

MR/Y018834/1 Plants and Public History: Re-imagining gardens as spaces of heritage and healing for difficult histories

Moody, J. (Principal Investigator)

1/10/24 → 30/09/28

Project : Research

Imperial Letters: Labour, Text and Social Experience in the Making of Colonial South Asia, 1857-1930 (Ellen Smith)

Smith, E. (Principal Investigator) & Mukherjee, S. (Other )

1/10/24 → 30/09/25

Third World, Third Way: Socialist Asia in the Era of Decolonisation

Lewis, S. L. (Principal Investigator)

1/09/24 → 31/08/25

Student theses

"a free-gift to the city of bristol": richard cottrell's avon metro project and the changing nature of urban centre transport solutions, government and funding, 1979 - 1992..

Student thesis : Master's Thesis › Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

America’s First Modern Aquarium: The 1893 Columbian Exposition Aquarium

A new way of life: the emergence of political identity and consciousness in hong kong, 1945-1979.

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

2009 Jonathan Hart Prize

Mawdsley, S. E. (Recipient), 2009

Prize : Prizes, Medals, Awards and Grants

• Student 100%

2010 Sir James Lougheed Award of Distinction

Mawdsley, S. E. (Recipient), 2010

• Scholarships 100%
• Awards 100%
• Doctoral Program 100%
• Tuition Fee 100%

2011 H.N. Segall Prize

Mawdsley, S. E. (Recipient), 2011

• Annuals 100%
• Canadians 100%

Bristol 1509-10: Particulars of account of a controller of customs: Further supplement

Condon, M. M. (Creator) & Jones, E. T. (Creator), University of Bristol, 11 Mar 2024

DOI : 10.5523/bris.26xl8p2r74j932tloifnsfdwoe , http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/26xl8p2r74j932tloifnsfdwoe

Bristol c.1477: Particulars of Account of Thomas Asshe, controller, large fragment, early August to 2 September

Jones, E. T. (Creator) & Condon, M. M. (Creator), University of Bristol, 11 Nov 2019

DOI : 10.5523/bris.27wfz95m0q6fw2ths0w2ae37or , http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/27wfz95m0q6fw2ths0w2ae37or

FindMyPast Yearly N-grams and Entities Dataset

Team, T. F. N. (Creator), Lansdall-Welfare, T. (Creator), Cristianini, N. (Creator), Sudhahar, S. (Creator), Thompson, J. (Contributor) & Lewis, J. (Contributor), University of Bristol, 16 Dec 2016

DOI : 10.5523/bris.dobuvuu00mh51q773bo8ybkdz , http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/dobuvuu00mh51q773bo8ybkdz

• 527 Participation in conference
• 223 Participation in workshop, seminar, course
• 197 Invited talk
• 111 Public talk, debate, discussion
• 33 Media coverage or participation
• 28 Fellowship awarded competitively
• 27 Editorial activity
• 22 Publication peer-review
• 17 Advisory work for/on national or international committee or working group
• 17 Visiting an external academic institution
• 15 Hosting an academic visitor
• 14 External Examination and Supervision
• 14 Festival, exhibition, performance
• 12 Schools engagement
• 10 Membership or peer review panel or committee
• 8 Membership of external research organisation
• 5 Stakeholder engagement
• 4 Advisory work for/on panel for social community or cultural engagement Advisory work for/on
• 4 Collaboration
• 3 Community engagement, including convening focus/advisory groups
• 2 - Research and Teaching at External Organisation
• 1 Consultancy

Activities per year

Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts, workshop ‘The final countdown: writing about numeracy and numbers

Thompson, J. (Speaker)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course

The First Labour Government - 1924

Thompson, J. (Advisor)

Activity : Talk or presentation types › Public talk, debate, discussion

Norse and the Sea conference

Tyson, R. (Participant)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference

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History PhD

University of bristol, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Course type.

The Department of History delivers expert postgraduate supervision by internationally recognised scholars in a wide range of subject areas. The department offers a lively research community in the setting of an exciting city and region with a rich heritage. Excellent research resources are available for postgraduate study locally (for example in the library's Special Collections department and its print holdings), online through the library's database subscriptions, and in close proximity to the city.

Members of the History department publish and supervise research in a range of areas within the broad fields of cultural, social, economic and political history. We cover the medieval, early modern and modern periods. Our research culture is diverse and dynamic, and our collective work includes interests in political culture, studies of people and ideas on the move, environmental history, public and creative histories, and work on visual and material culture alongside colleagues in the Department of the History of Art.

Prospective applicants should make contact with a potential supervisor before submitting an application to discuss their proposed research questions, the state of the proposed field of study and appropriate primary source material.

In addition to topics focusing on single research areas, we actively encourage interdisciplinary research that cuts across the spectrum of historical studies, or other intellectual disciplines in the Faculty of Arts and beyond.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

Contact University and ask about this fee

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

For this course (per year)

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

MA Global Fashion History

University for the creative arts, mres history, northumbria university, anglia ruskin university, history mphil.