IHR History Lab

Our call for blog posts is now open! If you're working on marginalised communities/histories, please get in touch. We'd love to hear your ideas!

The Olivette Otele Paper Prize is open for submissions! Black UK-Based PhD students are invited to submit an abstract of a maximum of 500 words based on a 40-minute paper by the 18th November. This prize was created in 2020 with the aim of addressing the inequities faced Black scholars in academic History, named after the UK’s first Black female History Professor. The prize aims to both provide some financial renumeration for the labour involved in academic research, as well as producing the paper, and to boost the academic profiles of the shortlisted scholars.
As the UK’s national network for postgraduate History students, History Lab is well placed to platform excellent scholars from underrepresented communities in academia. Abstracts are welcomed on any place or period in history or a related discipline, from students based at any institution.
The judges will select a shortlist of 5 applicants by the 16th December to then submit their full paper of no more than 8000 words by the 24th February 2022. Shortlisted candidates will all receive a £50 book voucher, and from this list a winner of the prize will be chosen. The winner will be invited to present their paper at one of History Lab’s seminars in term 2. They will also receive a £500 prize award and the opportunity for their work to be published after peer review in the History Workshop Journal.
The judging panel will be made up of members of the History Lab committee, a representative from History Workshop Journal, a representative from the IHR, and some of the shortlisted candidates from last year’s prize. Papers are judged on their academic excellence, including the historiographical contribution made and the originality of the methodology or sources employed in the work. The prize was so brilliantly received last year that we cannot wait to hear from you!

We are delighted to announce the line-up for our autumn term seminar series! Join us for a fantastic range of research papers spanning a broad variety of topics and time periods. Sign up here: https://www.history.ac.uk/seminars/history-lab

We're looking for new committee members!

History Lab is the national network for postgraduates in History and related disciplines in the UK. This is a great opportunity for PhDs at whatever stage of research. As the academic job market becomes ever more competitive, involvement in an organisation such as History Lab represents a valuable addition to your CV. It signals engagement with the broader historical community, and enables you to work alongside other PhDs, taking part in seminars, events, and our annual conference.

The roles available are:
- Conference Convenors
- Publicity Officers
- Membership Officer

To apply, please email [email protected] with your CV and indicate the role you are applying for in the subject line of the email. The deadline for applications is 20th August.

There are just under three weeks to go until the deadline for abstracts for our new Olivette Otele prize. The prize is open to Black UK-based PhD students researching any historical topic or discipline. The winner will receive £500.

Please share widely!

The Olivette Otele Prize The Olivette Otele Prize is awarded annually for the best paper submitted to the History Lab Postgraduate Research Seminar by a Black PhD research student

The link for tonight's seminar is below!

The Politics, Organisation and Representation of Squatting 1968-79: An Investigation into the causes of the Squatting Movement’s Failure When I began my research, I considered squatting to be an important 'forgotten' history that needed restoring to the historical record. I had squatted myself during the 1980s, obtaining my squat through the Advisory Services for Squatters whose newly-archived material formed the basis of my research...

Paper Prize Announcement!
https://www.history.ac.uk/join-ihr/fellowships/awards-bursaries-and-prizes/olivette-otele-prize
We are delighted to announce the CfP for our new annual Olivette Otele Paper Prize! We welcome abstracts from Black UK-based PhD students, researching any era and topic within the historical discipline. We’ve created this prize as a response to a growing sense of urgency to tackle racial inequalities in academia, and in recognition of the emotional and financial burdens faced by scholars from BAME and non-traditional backgrounds. In particular, we recognise the distinct and intersectional challenges of being Black in this space.
Our prize is named in honour of the UK’s first Black female professor in recognition of her scholarly achievements in the history of race and slavery, and because she is an inspiring role model!

The deadline for abstracts is 15th March 2021. For more details on the prize, eligibility, and how to apply, please see the link at the top of this thread.

If you have questions, tweet us or email us at [email protected] with the subject line 'Olivette Otele Prize'.

The Olivette Otele Prize The Olivette Otele Prize is awarded annually for the best paper submitted to the History Lab Postgraduate Research Seminar by a Black PhD research student

Our first paper of the term will be this Thursday (21st Jan). Join us to hear David Christie (University of Birmingham) present his paper: 'The Politics, Organisation and Representation of Squatting 1968-79: An Investigation into the causes of the Squatting Movement’s Failure'.

Attendance is free but registration is required. The session starts at 5:15 pm GMT.

Sign up here:

The Politics, Organisation and Representation of Squatting 1968-79: An Investigation into the causes of the Squatting Movement’s Failure When I began my research, I considered squatting to be an important 'forgotten' history that needed restoring to the historical record. I had squatted myself during the 1980s, obtaining my squat through the Advisory Services for Squatters whose newly-archived material formed the basis of my research...

History Lab Term 2 Seminar Schedule!

All details for this term's seminar series are below. The links to sign up will be up on the website and our blog in due course, and we will share when they are! https://history.ac.uk/seminars/history-lab

Our elevator pitch workshop is this Thursday! Hear 3-minute talks on:

👉16th - 20th C
👉 Themes including slave ownership, emotional communities, politics, rebellion, representation
👉Places including Transylvania, Ireland, Spain, England

And more!

This session helps presenters to practice discussing their research concisely, and offers the chance to hear about the amazing variety of new research happening! There will be time for questions after each presentation so come along and get involved🤗

Elevator Pitches: 3-minute pitches showcasing current research Want to learn about the amazing work that’s being done in the postgraduate history community? Come along to our final History Lab session of the Autumn 2020 programme and hear a group of students present their PhD study in three minutes or less. The Elevator Pitches session is a History Lab tradit...