Research
Historical Research at Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen was ranked as the leading University in Scotland in History after the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and these outstanding results reflect a strong commitment to research innovation in a number of key areas.
- Scotland, Ireland and the Outside World
- Medieval Studies
- Early Modern Studies
- Medicine, Science and Technology
- Modern History
- The 1641 Depositions Project
- Aberdeen Centre for Russian and East European History (ACREEH)
Scotland, Ireland and the Outside World
This group pursues the aim of a truly international history primarily through the study of Scotland and Ireland in their wider context. The medieval period is covered by Professor David Dumville, Professor Jane Stevenson, Dr Jackson Armstrong and Dr Alastair Macdonald, the early modern by Dr Caroline Erskine, Dr Andrew Mackillop and Dr Michael Brown, and the modern by Professor Thomas Bartlett, Dr Andrew G. Newby and Professor Marjory Harper. Coverage of the modern and contemporary period is enhanced by the Department's close links with RIISS, which was opened in 1998 by President Mary McAleese, and is now under the leadership of Dr Michael Brown. RIISS is internationally recognised for its work on migration and diasporas. Please see futher details under www.abdn.ac.uk/riiss.
Medieval Studies
The Department's Medieval specialists are Professor Stefan Brink, Professor Michael Gelting, Dr Jackson Armstrong, Professor David Dumville, Dr Marie Luise Ehrenschwendtner, Dr Alastair MacDonald, Dr Ralph O'Connor, Dr Frederik Pedersen, Dr Karen Bek-Pedersen and Dr Tarrin Wills, and Professor Jane Stevenson. Areas of particular strength include the History of Britain and Ireland from the early to the later middle ages, Scandinavian history, and various aspects of the history of religion in the middle ages. The medievalists work closely with specialists in other departments, including Professor Angelo Forte (Law), Professor Jane Geddes (History of Art), Dr Glynn Hesketh (French), and Dr Margaret Jubb (French).
Early Modern Studies
Early modern historians include Professor Robert Frost, Professor Jane Stevenson, Professor William Naphy, Dr Andrew Mackillop, Dr Karin Friedrich, Dr Michael Brown, Dr Jackson Armstrong and Dr Caroline Erskine, all of whom are active members of the Centre for Early Modern Studies (CEMS). Areas of interest include the history of the Three Kingdoms, Scotland and Europe, Northeastern and East Central Europe, with a particular emphasis on the history of Poland-Lithuania, social and cultural history, witchcraft and deviance, and urban history. Recent early modern initiatives include the Sawyer Seminar Citizens and subjects: political rights and participation in historical and contemporary perspective (sponsored by the Mellon Foundation), a series of conferences on Translatio in Europe and the Transatlantic World, and a joint conference with the Huntingdon Library on Shaping the Stuart World. The Department is co-hosting a conference with the Newberry Library in 2013, and Professor Edward Muir, Professor Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College, Dublin), Professor Geoffrey Parker (Ohio State), Professor Paul Bushkovitch (Yale) and Professor Maija Janssen (Yale Centre for Paliamentary History) have recently been visiting professors. For further details on CEMS, see www.abdn.ac.uk/cems.
Medicine, Science and Technology
Staff with interests in this area include Professor William Naphy for the medieval and early modern periods and Dr Ben Marsden, Dr David Smith, and Dr Ralph O'Connor for the modern period. In 2005-6, Ben Marsden received a Dibner Institute Senior Fellowship to work on a book project entitled W.J. Macquorn Rankine and the Making of Engineering Science. There is close cooperation with Anthropology and Sociology, in particular Dr Elizabeth Hallam and Professor Andrew Blaikie. See more details also under the separate website for Cultural History. In 2008 the School of Divinity, History & Philosophy established the Centre for History of Science, Technology and Medicine, directed by Dr Marsden. In July 2010, the University of Aberdeen hosted the annual meeting of the British Society for the History of Science. In 2012 the British Science Festival will come to Aberdeeen.
Modern Historical Studies
The interests of the Department's modern historians are focused on the political, economic and social history of the late nineteenth and the twentieth century. Specialist areas of interest are in British (Dr Andrew Dilley and Dr. Thomas Weber), German / Central European (Dr Thomas Weber & Dr Christoph Dartmann), Russian/Soviet (Dr Tony Heywood) Finnish-Scandinavian (Dr Andrew G. Newby) and American history (Dr Greg Smithers, Professor Thomas Bartlett & Dr Alex Spelling). Dr Elizabeth Macknight's interests focus on the society and culture of modern France. Following grants received from the British Library, AHRC, and other sources, the profile of oral history is also developing. A major new oral archive relating to the North Sea Oil Industry has been established, supplementing oral archives already located in the University. These themes are reflected in the taught MLitt in Modern History.