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Research in Focus

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Bridging the gap between the academic and non-academic worlds III: Sharing local histories

By on February 20, 2023 in Alumni, Employability, Learning in Focus, Public History, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

In this blog Josh Wintle, who graduated with a History degree from Portsmouth last year (well done, Josh!), discusses a project he worked on in his second year with some of his fellow History students for the module ‘Working with the Past’, coordinated by Dr Mike Esbester. As part of their project, the students looked into how academic historians take their work ‘out of the academy’ and into the public realm. Josh and his fellow students interviewed our Dr Rob James, who researches leisure history, to find out how he has tried to engage the wider public in the history he researches. The aim of the interviews we conducted with […]

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The Jewish Museum in Strassburg resized

Jewish Historians and the Construction of Regional Identities during the German Empire

By on February 2, 2023 in New Publications, News, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

Dr Mathias Seiter, Principal Lecturer and Subject Area Lead for History, has recently published an article in the journal German History on the importance of regional identities for Jews in imperial Germany. See below for the abstract, and if you want to read the article, click here.   Abstract:  The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a wave of interest in history among Jews in Germany. The popularity of the subject extended to those who lived at the geographic margins of the German Empire, in the Prussian Province of Posen and the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine. Living in borderlands in which national identities were contested, Jewish historians established and joined […]

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Researching the letters of Allied service personnel in WW2: A student podcast

By on January 5, 2023 in Employability, Learning in Focus, Public History, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

Recently, the internationally-renowned museum, The D-Day Story, published on their website a podcast recorded in 2022 by three second year History students, Amy Deighton, Jessie Rickman and Sam Marchetti. The students, who are now in the final year of their studies, worked with the museum’s archives as part of their assessment for the ‘Working with the Past’ module, coordinated by Mike Esbester. The second-year module encourages students to work with our local community partners where possible and produce work that has a benefit to them and the organisation they are working with. To hear the podcast, go to the D-Day Story website here.

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“Officers of the society”: Lloyd’s Register surveyors in China and transnational maritime networks, 1869-1918

By on December 21, 2022 in Events, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

On 14 December 2022 University of Portsmouth PhD researcher, Corey Watson, presented at the second joint Naval History/ History research seminar of the year. In the paper Corey, who is in the second year of his doctoral programme, discussed the crucial role that the small group of surveyors who worked for Lloyd’s Register in China played as middle-men in this global maritime system. If you missed the paper, the recording is available to watch here. You will need the following password MLFv8c.z to access the recording. An abstract for Corey’s paper is below. To read more about Corey’s PhD programme, generously funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, see Dr Melanie […]

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Pompey History Society project exhibition 1

Pompey: Champions of England: A research collaboration between the History team, students and Pompey History Society

By on November 22, 2022 in Employability, Events, Learning in Focus, New Publications, Public History, Research in Focus, Uncategorized

In this blog, our Rob James, Senior Lecturer in History, discusses the local history project he worked on with one of our local community partners, Pompey History Society, that culminated in the publication of a book which includes a chapter written by Rob and four of our History students, Sam Ewart, Maria Kopanska, Dan Ward and Jack Woolley. Rob’s research explores society’s leisure activities and feeds into a number of optional and specialist modules that he teaches in the second and third year.   On 26 October 2022, I attended the launch of the book POMPEY Champions of England: The sporting and social history of Portsmouth FC’s league title wins […]

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‘”Bandied about for a place of refuge”: Extreme Weather, Coastal Shipping and the Loss of Lord Nelson, Liverpool 1840.’

By on October 26, 2022 in Research in Focus, Uncategorized

On 19 October 2022 our own Dr Cathryn Pearce, Senior Lecturer in Maritime History, presented at the first History research seminar of this academic year with a thought-provoking paper looking at the grounding of the coastal brig Lord Nelson at Liverpool, UK, and the civic and social responsibility for seafarers and the shipwrecked in a port dominated by shipping interest. If you missed the paper, the recording is available on the Port Towns and Urban Cultures website here (scroll down to find Cathy’s paper).  

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