Research and Impact
At Durham we generate transformative histories through our research and impact.
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:
- Economic and Social History;
- History on the Margins;
- Landscape and Environment;
- Political Cultures;
- Science, Technology, and Medicine;
- Transnational History; and
- Visual and Material Culture.
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.
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.
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.
Find out more...
Find out about our research in our Departmental Clusters, Research Centres and University Research Institutes and our outreach activities.