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Research and Impact

At Durham we generate transformative histories through our research and impact.

We pursue a diverse range of approaches to transform knowledge and understanding within and beyond the discipline. We practice and disseminate our research broadly beyond universities and across the world. And we value our colleagues’ research-led teaching that transforms our students’ lives and careers in ways that forge a life-long connection with the past. (Photo credit: Durham Miners' Gala, 20th July 1946, Beamish, Flikr)
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Historic picture of people dancing during Minors' Gala by the Durham Race course

Transformative Histories

Durham historians explore a vast range of past human experience across the world, from Late Antiquity to the twenty-first century. We engage in collaborations across the humanities, sciences, and social sciences to develop innovative research methods and techniques. And we make critical interventions to inform policy and public debate, whether to draw lessons from the past or challenge the use and abuse of history in the present.

Our History Department research clusters develop the Transformative Humanities framework of the Arts and Humanities Faculty. We have a special thematic focus on:

We also work closely with colleagues across the university, including via the Institute for Medical Humanities and the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, as well as the Centre for African History, the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, and the Centre for Visual Arts and Cultures.

 

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Explore our global research

Durham University is a world top 100 university, with 12 of our subjects ranked in the world top 50 and 19 in the world top 100. We conduct innovative and impactful research to transform lives and make a difference, globally and locally.

Durham University's Research Impact
Transformative Humanities

Transformative Humanities

Discover the Faculty of Arts and Humanities' new Transformative Humanities framework which brings together distinctive approaches to humanities research and education within the academy and across a wide range of partners and communities.

Visit the Transformative Humanities website

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Find out about our research in our Departmental Clusters, Research Centres and University Research Institutes and our outreach activities.

Clusters, Centres and Institutes

Academic members of the Department lead a number of Research Clusters and Centres and are actively involved in a number of Institutes within the University.
Exterior shot of the front of the Department of History building

Outreach

Our world-leading research is grounded in its outstanding collections (e.g. the Oriental Museum) and in the extensive international research networks of its staff.
A panoramic view of the library collections