Humanities Research Institute

Founded in 2008, the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute exists to bring together internationally distinguished scholars working in the field of the humanities, to support their research, and to engage them in the life of the University.

The Institute’s Fellows and Visiting Professors are drawn from a wide variety of disciplines but have notable concentrations in the areas of military history and security studies, political history, the history of art and connoisseurship, and nineteenth-century literature and social history.

Research Master’s programmes

The Institute also fosters the development of innovatory graduate-student research

programmes within the humanities. Since 2009, the Institute has promoted the launch of a series of London-based research programmes.

Our MAs by research offers the following:

Unique and flexible structure, which is specifically tailored for those who wish to fit their studies around work and other commitments
Access to eminent academic staff who are leading scholars in their fields
Invaluable opportunity for personal and career development
Exclusive access to study space at the university’s London building in Bloomsbury

Courses include:

Collaborations

The Institute actively promotes academic and inter-disciplinary collaboration with other leading institutions, and over recent years has worked in association with the Wallace Collection, London, in the development of teaching and research in the study of the decorative arts and curatorship; with the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in the development of the University’s new research programme in Modern War Studies; and with the Royal United Services Institute in the production of a major policy paper examining the lessons of history for the formulation of contemporary British strategy.

See all research degrees in the School of Humanities.

HRI Events

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Full list of Fellows

The Institute is composed of some thirty Fellows in various categories and supports a series of Visiting Professorships, with a particular focus in history, history of art, modern war studies and international relations. Read our full listing of Fellows, which also provides short biographies and details of major and recent publications.

News

Riches of the earth: An MA in digging up the past can lead to a bright future, says Lucy Hodges

A recent article in The Guardian highlights the benefits of studying for an MA in Archaeology by Research. The article shows how students combine practical, on-site experience working on the oldest continuously-occupied site in Europe with the academic side, writing ground-breaking dissertations on the subject.

Latest findings from Stonehenge excavations

Carbon dating from an archaeological dig by the University of Buckingham shows that the parish of Amesbury, which includes Stonehenge, has been continually occupied for every millennium since 8820BC. The origins of Amesbury have been discovered as a result of carbon dating bones of aurochs, wild boar and red deer following a dig at Vespasian’s Camp, Blick Mead, a mile and a half from Stonehenge last year.

Publication: Tom Holland (tr.), Herodotus: The Histories

This new translation of the work of the “Father of History” by Tom Holland, Senior Research Fellow in Ancient History, has been published by Penguin Classics. Completed in the second half of the 5th century BC, The Histories is generally regarded as the first work of history and the first great masterpiece of non-fiction writing. It includes accounts of the Persian invasions of Greece and information about subjects ranging from the pyramids of Egypt to the cannabis habit of the Scythians.

The New Discoveries at Blick Mead: the Key to the Stonehenge Landscape

A flint tool from Blick Mead An archaeological team from the University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute has been uncovering very large amounts of Mesolithic material from a site immediately adjacent to Stonehenge. At a point called Blick Mead (a part of the Stonehenge landscape known as ‘Vespasian’s Camp’ on the mistaken assumption that it was the remains of a former Roman settlement) around 12,000 pieces of worked flint and burnt flint have been unearthed, as well as over 500 pieces of bone dating from over 8,000 years ago. Virtually all the tools are in pristine condition – indeed, some of the team have had their fingers cut by them as they are still so sharp. The most significant consequence of the excavation is that we have now discovered where the communities who built the first monuments at Stonehenge once lived – something that has eluded archaeologists for the best part of two centuries. Read more and watch an interview with David Jacques.

Seminars for graduate research students

The Humanities Research Institute’s seminars are open to all research students in the Humanities pursuing courses at the University, subject only to the constraints of space. Two places at each seminar are available and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. If you are interested in attending a seminar, please email the Humanities Research Secretary (london-programmes@buckingham.ac.uk) stating the course, date and seminar topic you would like to attend. She will advise on availability.