Research
Staff in the History, Politics and Religious Studies department offer expert supervision to students wishing to pursue research at MPhil or PhD levels. Please browse our staff for a guide to this expertise. Initial enquiries about research degrees should be addressed to Dr Kevin Yuill. For more research opportunities at the University of Sunderland, see the Graduate Research School web pages.
History Research
History research focuses on the post 1500 world and the team currently includes specialists of national and international standing in European, British and American history. History at Sunderland was rated top of the new universities in the North East in the recent RAE exercise and is one of only seven areas of this University to achieve "World Leading" outcomes. History has for a long time been strong at Sunderland; we achieved a 4 in the 2001 National Research Assessment Exercise. The active research community includes the teaching staff, research fellows, assistants and students. There is a regular research seminar series and a range of postgraduate programmes and opportunities.
British History: Recent and current research on British history at Sunderland includes work on nineteenth-century reform, liberalism and independent radicalism, Catholic minority in modern Ireland and the history or women in early modern Scotland. The University holds important collections on the history of the North East of England, including the archive of the National Association of Colliery Overseers and Deputies and Shotfirers, in addition to the papers of the prominent social and economic historian, Sidney Pollard.
American History: Research strengths in American history range from the colonial period to the present day, including crime and society in colonial Virginia, transportation, Civil Rights and Affirmative Action and the Nixon administration.
Research Centres and Projects
Arts and Humanities Research Council Sunderland is a founder member of the AHRC Centre for North-East England History that brings together the university history departments in the region to promote research, reach-out and postgraduate teaching. Staff at the University of Sunderland are involved in a number of the Centre's projects, particularly those concerned with migration and identity.
The University is currently host for the Victoria County History project to write the comprehensive history of the city and its region. This project began in September 2002 and is backed by substantial grants and charitable donations. The County Editor, Gill Cookson, is based at the University and the project will be the first VCH project to be made available entirely online, as well as in the conventional print format. Isonymic Analysis of Irish Migrants in Britain, 1851-1901. A substantial Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project on the Isonymic Analysis of Irish Migrants in Britain, 1851-1901, run in conjunction with Durham and Northumbria Universities. The North East England Mining Archive and Research Centre (NEEMARC) NEEMARC at the University of Sunderland is home to some of the region's most important mining information. The new centre, which received £270,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, houses trade union records, health and safety information, technical reports and legal records relating to mining legislation.
Material for the archive comes from the Durham Miners' Association (NUM North East), the Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers and the National Association of Colliery Overmen Deputies and Shotfirers (North East). The project reflects cooperation between the institutions, which have at times not seen eye to eye.
The University's main library, the Murray Library, has played an important part in the archive process. Dr Stuart Halliday will project manage the archive at the Murray Library. For more information please contact Stuart Howard on +44 (0)191 515 2214.
North East Bibliography Online - During the 1980s, Graham Potts and Geoff Milburn of the University of Sunderland oversaw a Manpower Services Commission scheme to find and list articles published in regional and national journals about the history and archaeology of North-East England. The result was a card index with over 6,000 entries. Thanks to a grant from the Marc Fitch Fund this card index has been digitised and is now online and searchable.
North East Irish Culture Network - The History department participate in a regular series of Irish Studies conferences held at the University. For more information about History research at the University of Sunderland, contact Dr Kevin Yuill on 0191 515 2205.
