On 17-18 September, members of the Society’s Council visited historians at the University of Aberdeen: to learn more about the department, and historical studies across the institution; to discuss shared priorities and concerns; and to consider how the Society can best support the work of historians within, with and beyond higher education.
Our focus for the two-day visit was ‘Fostering a Positive Research Culture in Troubled Times’. Panels considered the definition and assessment of research culture; a review of REF2029; history, the humanities and interdisciplinarity; teaching and research in the context of Artificial Intelligence; and academic career progression and the Society’s provision for historians at different career stages. An additional session introduced the work of the Society and its priorities prior to the launch of its new strategy later this year.
The first day closed with a public lecture given by our guest speaker, Professor Matthew J. Smith, Director of the Centre for the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London.
Matthew’s lecture — ‘Twice Removed: Slavery, Big Data, and the Cultures of Caribbean Ancestral Histories’ — explored the limitations of traditional genealogical methods for understanding the complexity of Caribbean kinship structures, and the potential for new digital history projects to trace family history networks connecting 20th-century Jamaicans with African-born forebears transported to the Caribbean. Matthew’s lecture was followed by a reception and chance for Council members to meet Fellows and Members of the Society from the region.
Our great thanks to Matthew for his excellent lecture and to Professors Karin Friedrich and Jackson Armstrong at Aberdeen for organising the visit and their welcome to the university.
Forthcoming Society Visits
The Society’s next visit is to historians at the University of Suffolk and Suffolk Archives, Ipswich, on Wednesday 22 October. This visit will include a public lecture by Professor Tim Grady (Chester) who will speak on ‘Unravelling the Tapestry of Death: Britain and the Memory of the Two World Wars’.
This lecture — which takes place at 5.30pm at The Hold, home to Suffolk Archives — considers the practice of war burial which saw British soldiers buried alongside Americans, French and Belgians who in turn mingled with the graves of enemy servicemen: Germans, Austrians and Italians.
Booking to attend is now open to all and, again, we look forward to welcoming RHS Fellows and Members from the region to the lecture and reception which follows. Visits will be attended by the Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes, and members of the RHS Council.
The Society’s 2025 Visits close, on Wednesday 10 December, with a joint meeting with historians at the Institute of Education and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Our public lecture on this occasion is by Dr Heather Ellis (Sheffield) on ‘Hunger, Health and Hope: A History of School Meals in Britain’. Further details of Heather’s lecture (6pm, LSHTM) are available here and booking for this event is also now available.