The New History Lab was established in 2008 by a
group of postgraduates in the School of History who were concerned with the isolation
experienced by MA and PhD students working in the Arts and Humanities. Researchers
in the sciences meet their colleagues on a regular basis in shared laboratories,
allowing them to discuss work and ideas in a supportive environment. History, by contrast, is generally a more solitary pursuit. The New History Lab, therefore,
aims to provide a space in which historians and anyone else with a love of the
past can meet each other, enjoy a sense of community, and celebrate the study
of history in all its forms.
Our guest speakers reflect our own diverse research interests, coming both from within the university and outside of it. We have hosted a number of public figures, including Lord Melvyn Bragg, Tristram Hunt MP, the architectural historian and broadcaster Jonathan Foyle, and ITV newsreader Julie Etchingham.The Lab has also been featured on the front cover of the Independent's postgraduate supplement. As you'll see from our Archive, New History Lab has a long and proud history of delivering a varied and interesting programme. These include labs that are more career oriented, such as getting your first article published by Professor Clare Anderson, to blogging as a historian from Professor Matt Houlbrook - aka The Trickster Prince, but also labs solidly on subject, such as the recent lab on being an Academic Activist by Adam Barker and Emma Battell Lowman, a fascinating lab on slaveries past and present by Laura Brace, and possibly our most well attended lab yet, when Rebecca Magdin returned to Leicester with Richard Rodger to talk about the modern history of the city that we call home: Leicester.
We are a thriving postgraduate community, with a steering committee made up of students at various stages of postgraduate study. If you would like to get involved yourself, please feel free to contact us.
