History

On this page

Introduction
Facilities
Further information
Publications

An image to illustrate studying history with The Open University

The Department of History covers a broad range of the political and social history of Britain and Europe from the late middle ages to the present, with additional expertise in imperial history and in heritage studies. It has particular strengths in policing and crime (embedded in a multidisciplinary research group), medical history, and imperial history (supported by the University’s multidisciplinary Ferguson Centre for Asian and African Studies). We welcome applications from students interested in studying full or part time for a PhD in medieval, early modern, modern, international, heritage, imperial or medical history.

Key facts

Leading national and international role played by the History Department’s European Centre for the Study of Policing and Justice, with close links to social policy colleagues via the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research.
Leading scholars in the fields of criminal justice history, the history of medicine, early modern, imperial, central European history and heritage.
Key research areas supported by multidisciplinary groups, notably in criminal justice history, empire, gender and heritage.
Regular training events enable students to combine training and networking.
Competitive full-time studentships available, funded by the Faculty of Arts.
Particular expertise in supporting part-time students.

Facilities

The University houses an important archive of material for police history collected from individuals and organisations from the police service.

The Open University’s library offers outstanding access to one of the UK’s largest collections of online resources and our postgraduate students benefit from access to collections of both primary and secondary source materials, online journals, periodicals, and other online publications.

Further information

If you have an enquiry specific to this research area please contact:

Name:: Professor James Moore, Postgraduate Admissions Tutor
Email:: arts-history-pg-enquiries@open.ac.uk
Phone:: +44 (0)1908 653266

For general enquiries please contact the Research Degrees Team via the link under 'Your questions' further down the page.

Publications

Research publications by Open University staff are available through Open Research Online (ORO), the university's repository of research publications and other research outputs. ORO can be searched or browsed by staff name or subject.

The following list, generated from ORO, provides a flavour of the most recently published work in History: