History@Portsmouth

University of Portsmouth's History Blog

Archive | Learning in Focus

Learning in Focus

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Enhancing students’ skills and experiences: A Twitter takeover, an exhibition and a podcast

As a team we always encourage our students to enhance their skills while studying for their History degree with us, and one way we do this is by offering them opportunities to work with some of our external partners. In this post, we demonstrate how this is undertaken in one second year core module, ‘Working with the Past, co-ordinated by Dr Mike Esbester. As part of their studies during their History degree, our students have worked with a range of local and international institutions, including the Mary Rose Museum, Lloyd’s Register Foundation,  the D-Day Story archive, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Pompey History Society, and have undertaken a wide variety […]

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

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

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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How to prepare for life after university: History graduates reveal how the University’s careers services helped them gain vital workplace experience

In this blog Luke Nicolson, who graduated with a History degree from Portsmouth in July (well done, Luke!), discusses a project he undertook as part of the second year module, ‘Working with the Past’. Luke and some of his fellow students interviewed recent UoP History graduates and asked them about their careers since graduating. In this blog Luke reveals that the various opportunities the students undertook while studying at Portsmouth helped them in their current careers. The module ‘Working with the Past’ is coordinated by Dr Mike Esbester. With the findings of interviews from four graduates of History who studied at the University of Portsmouth, this blog will explore the […]

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

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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A History degree can open many doors II: A student interviews UoP History graduates

In this blog Archie Godden, recent History with American Studies graduate from Portsmouth, discusses a project he undertook as part of the second year module, ‘Working with the Past’. Archie and some of his fellow students interviewed recent UoP History graduates and asked them about their careers since graduating, Archie found out that having a degree in the Arts and Humanities has been really beneficial to them, something also highlighted in recent studies by organisations such as the British Academy, which Archie also discusses here. The module ‘Working with the Past’ is coordinated by Dr Mike Esbester. A History degree offers the potential for a vast range of jobs, so […]

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