June 2023

Please check this page, and our social media feeds, regularly for updates on future events, and to register to attend!

On welcoming your student into the room, you can immediately tell from their body language that something is wrong…they appear distracted, arms tightly closed with their eyes fixed on the carpet. The student looks up at you and shares what is distressing them with you.

You are the first person they have told…what are you going to do next?

Situations like this can be difficult for personal tutors and managing students in distress is something that personal tutors can often find daunting. If you sometimes feel apprehensive about supporting distressed students, you are not alone.

This workshop provides a safe space to explore these challenges using interactive theatre and will equip you with management strategies to deal with such situations. The strategies have been devised to specifically build tutor confidence in working with students who present with distress at differing levels of severity.

Register here: https://www.ukat.ac.uk/curriculum/register?id=32

Please note: Booking is essential and early booking and registration is strongly advised. Places on this CPD training course are limited.

For more information, please contact [email protected]  

Please contact [email protected] for more information

The University of Northampton’s Centre for Historical Studies, in partnership with English Heritage, is hosting a two-day conference on 12 – 13 July 2023. The conference committee are calling for historians and professionals working in the field of wellbeing to present a papers of c.20 minutes in length, speaking on any part of the topic of wellbeing.

Papers could be from the perspective the history of wellbeing, or present viewpoints from contemporary organisations, such as perspectives from the heritage sector or community groups. As well as more traditional papers, we are also interested in suggestions for other forms of activity within a 20-minute timeframe.

In particular, we are looking for researchers and practitioners who can address topics including:

• Wellbeing shaped by social, economic and / or political forces
• Health and wellbeing
• Race and wellbeing
• Gender and wellbeing
• Heritage perspectives on wellbeing
• Medical perspectives on wellbeing
• Wellbeing and the history of emotions
• Voices from diverse community groups on wellbeing
• Approaches to the wellbeing of researchers who study history

If you would like to contribute to the conference, please submit a short extract (300 words max) detailing your paper or presentation idea, and its working title. Send this to the organising committee via Siobhan Hyland at: [email protected]. Please also include a link to a professional profile or a short CV. If you have any other questions, please use this email address.

Deadline for abstract submission: 14 April 2023

This two-day conference will be free for those attending. It will be an in-person conference. We have a small budget to support engagement from postgraduate researchers. If you would like to request support to attend this event, please let us know when you submit your abstract and provide an approximate cost.

Dominic Cummings has been in the news lately, you may have noticed. He drove, whilst infected with COVID-19, from Islington to County Durham, with his family. He then took them on a tour of County Durham, whilst infected, and after having been discovered defended his actions, supported by the PM and the government he advises…. Continue Reading →

This blog post is by our undergraduate student Joseph Price. Image from It’s A Sin The recent Channel 4 drama series ‘It’s a Sin’ directed by Russel T Davies offers a terrifying and heartbreaking insight into the experiences of gay men in the 1980s. The series follows the lives of a group of friends where… Continue Reading →

This blog is based on the presentation given on 8 November 2018, as part of the History at Northampton Research Seminars series at the University of Northampton. It explores the origins of perinatal (premature baby) care in the UK from 1947 to 1965, using recently available archival material for Northampton, made possible through the generosity of… Continue Reading →

In my last post I promised to give you some examples of interesting medieval women, whose experiences pushed beyond the misogynistic limitations they were theoretically subject to in a patriarchal society. As I’m a specialist in the fifteenth century, and I teach a third year undergraduate module on the Wars of the Roses, I thought… Continue Reading →

On 22 April 2022 the Searchlight Archive Research Group hosted a free online conference for Early Career Researchers (ECR) and Postgraduate Researchers (PGR). Entitled ‘Post-war Anti-Fascism, the Radical Right and the Far Right: Emotion, Culture and Identity’ it brought together MA students, PhD students and ECRs from the UK and Europe to share their research… Continue Reading →

The University of Northampton History department is home to the Searchlight Archive, a unique archive collection of material documenting the activities of British and international fascist and racist organisations from the 1930s onwards. It is one of the most extensive and significant resources of its type in Europe. Daniel Jones, the Searchlight Collections Officer recommends:… Continue Reading →

After a successful year running my first year module The Medieval World 1200-1500, I’m delighted that this autumn I’m able to launch a year two module: Medieval Chivalry and its Afterlives. Chivalry is a popular topic with students interested in medieval society. Who hasn’t been caught up in the romance of knights jousting for the… Continue Reading →

  Recognising that we are committed to more deeply embedding Black history into our teaching, the History team have put together a suggested reading list for the summer – for our students and for ourselves! To make this list as accessible as possible, we have selected texts that are either available as e-texts through the… Continue Reading →

This is last of the series of blogs from our students this week, inspired by the Black Lives Matters protests, and it comes from Holly, one of our History Masters post graduates.  As a white female growing up in East London, the concept of multi-culturalism has always been something that has intrigued me and made me proud… Continue Reading →

‘All Lives won’t matter until Black Lives Matter too’ This is the now the sixth in a s series of blog posts written by undergraduate students at the University of Northampton. These are personal reflection on the killing of George Floyd in the USA and the wave of protests that have followed from that across… Continue Reading →

Today it is the turn of Sabrina, another of our wonderful bunch of History undergraduates at Northampton, to share her experiences of the Black Lives Matter movement and why she was inspired to get involved.  Growing up I was surrounded by racist comments, which living in such a culturally diverse place that was Bradford confused… Continue Reading →

This killing of George Floyd has inspired several of our History students to write blog posts, this one is from Monique, one of our current second years.  My heart aches for my people, we have been through a lot. There is so much trauma, so many things we need to unlearn that the oppressor has… Continue Reading →

This week we sharing a series of personal  blog posts from staff and students reacting to the killing of George Floyd and the protests here and around the world. Today’s is from Charlotte, who has just completed her second year of study for a degree in History at the University of Northampton.  Here are some of… Continue Reading →

In common with students and staff at Northampton and elsewhere, and in solidarity with the family of George Floyd and all victims of racism we add our voice to those protesting worldwide. History does not belong to any group or person and does not exclude any group or person.  The history we teach, the history… Continue Reading →

The next in our continuing series of blogs inspired by the BLM movement from students and staff is from Catriona, who has just completed her second year of study with us.  As another middle aged, middle class white person, I also wondered what contribution I could make to the quest for change, the need for… Continue Reading →

This week we are posting personal blogs from students and staff in History at the University of Northampton. Today’s post is by Joseph, a first year History Undergraduate.  When you look back in history and you see black people as slaves, then you see them segregated and treated as second class citizens and you think… Continue Reading →

Preparing teaching materials for a new term can lead to some surprising discoveries. My highlight this year, while getting things together for my history of Communism module, was coming across the Revolting Russians episode of Horrible Histories on Box of Broadcasts, the video streaming service for schools and universities. The show takes a typically light-hearted,… Continue Reading →

CPD Training Event at the University of Northampton in partnership with UKAT UK Academic Advising and Tutoring! The History team at Northampton and the East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning in HE is pleased to announce that booking is open for our upcoming inspiring workshop, ‘Managing Students in Distress’. Working with trainers from… Continue Reading →

At the University of Northampton we use all kinds of interesting methods to assess our students! This piece of work by Nicole Brack was submitted as part of last year’s assessments for the Wars of the Roses module, and Nicole has given permission for us to share it. The relationship between Henry VII and Elizabeth… Continue Reading →

This blog post is by Amber Millard, submitted last year as a coursework assignment for the module The Wars of the Roses. Now it’s marked and deanonymised we can share it with you! The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower,painted by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878. One of the most debated topics in… Continue Reading →

As part of the degree course at UON, history students have the opportunity to be assessed by all kinds of interesting methods, from podcasts to posters. Over the next few weeks we’ll showcase some student work (now it’s been marked and de-anonymised!) here. This is a blog post completed for the module Wars of the… Continue Reading →

Being a postgraduate researcher in History can be challenging, especially when preparing to enter the university or college classroom for the first time or when teaching new materials or potentially sensitive topics.   We want to hear from you! We want to help! The East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning (EMC) is a professional… Continue Reading →

Online Event, 14th September 2022 We need your views and ideas! We’re delighted to announce that Northampton is the new host of the East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning in HE! The East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning (EMC) is a professional development network of History researchers and academics. The Centre… Continue Reading →

This blog post is by our undergraduate student Joseph Price. Image from It’s A Sin The recent Channel 4 drama series ‘It’s a Sin’ directed by Russel T Davies offers a terrifying and heartbreaking insight into the experiences of gay men in the 1980s. The series follows the lives of a group of friends where… Continue Reading →

This post is by our student Charlotte – you can read more of her thoughts on her blog. I have been asked so many times, ‘what is the point in studying history?’ and ‘what good is a history degree?’ So, I thought I would write a blog about it! What drives your desire to study?… Continue Reading →

Our second year students taking the Dissertation Research Skills module were given an assignment to write a 500-word blog post that would serve as a  how-to guide for using a particular online archive or library catalogue. With the students’ permission, we’ll share some of the best posts here. This one is by Tom, who writes… Continue Reading →

Our second year students taking the Dissertation Research Skills module were given an assignment to write a 500-word blog post that would serve as a  how-to guide for using a particular online archive or library catalogue. With the students’ permission, we’ll share some of the best posts here. This one is by Nicole, who wrote… Continue Reading →

On 13 November, David Renton gave a History Research seminar based on his work on the history of fascism and National Front. In this blog he reflects further on issues of free speech raised in his presentation:

For years, I’ve written about the battle between left and right. My interest hasn’t been so much in the structured alternation between two projects for government which gets resolved in a election. I mean rather the conflict between the far right and far left: a story of street-fighters, cultural warriors and intelligence-gatherers.

Recently, I’ve been writing about the rise and fall of one group, the National Front, which in 1976 and 1977 was a mass party capable of winning 100,000 votes in local elections in London and similar support across Britain.

That research has taken me to the Searchlight archive at the University of Northampton. Searchlight was a monthly magazine, with a predominantly left-wing readership which reported on the activities of the Front and other groups on the right.

You find in its archives all sorts of reports – sent in by regular informers, wavering former fascists, or individuals who came into contact with the British right and felt a need to tell someone else what they’d seen.

An example of the committed anti-fascist spy is the individual who attended a meeting of the Front at the Shakespeare pub in Birmingham in June 1975 and who recorded not merely the names of all the speakers, but the content of their speeches:

‘A short discussion was held on infiltration and meetings. Tom Finnegan gave a report on the proposed bulletins for various areas – displaying a map with several hundred coloured pins on it he outlined how things would be done – the communist cell system would be applied with several people in each branch covering a set number of members … John Finnegan then took up the question of trades unions and said that National Front members must gain trade union posts. Communist training classes were referred to and possible emulation commented on.’

Or, if you want an example of the opportunistic anti-fascist spy: here is a one-off letter sent to Searchlight a couple of years later, at a time when the National Front held weekly paper sales at Chapel Market in Islington and the group’s National Organiser Martin Webster was a frequent visitor:

‘Please find enclosed Martin Webster’s passport, diary and a couple of letters. I came into possession of these items as a result of stealing his bike from outside a pub in Islington. I don’t normally steal things but as a committed anti-Nazi I thought I would take it first to wind Webster up.’

The next project I’ll be working on is about silencing and speech. The National Front wanted to see Britain become a one-party state on which everyone who disagreed with the Front would be silenced.

Anti-fascists also had their own idea of silencing, ‘no platform,’ which held that the Front should be prevented from speaking because the Front was a fascist party, and had as its defining purpose the destruction of democracy. As Alan Sapper, General Secretary of the broadcast workers union ACTT put it. ‘Democracy is threatened. We don’t need to bother with philosophical arguments. We can discuss democracy until the concentration camps come in.’

I am only just beginning my research but the things which intrigue me include the resistance of the Front to posing as free speech martyrs. They were desperate to be seen as a virile force capable of beating any opponent, literally or metaphorically, into resistance. Therefore, they declined to play the role which the far right had played in earlier decades: of demanding free speech for themselves but not their opponents.

On the left, meanwhile, no platform was not a single political position but a range of arguments whose resolution was never properly resolved.

Should no platform be restricted to fascists or could it be applied universally to anyone who championed racial or sex discrimination?

Was no platform only appropriate for places controlled by social movements (eg student unions, trade unions, politicised black communities), or did it apply everywhere (eg to party political broadcasts watched by anyone)?

Linked to that question, was no platform something to be carried out ‘from below’ (eg by people themselves blocking the road to prevent a speaker making their way into a meeting) or ‘from above’ (eg by petitioning the local authority to have a particular speaker’s invitation rescinded?

The confused outcomes of these debates is, I’d argue, something which was apparent even after the Front had gone into decline, and its legacy remains with us today.