Research

Aberdeen historians have expertise in areas as diverse as medieval Scandinavia, early-modern Poland and modern East Asia. The department fosters individual and collaborative scholarly endeavour, and the work of its members forms four concentrations of research activity: Irish and Scottish Studies, Medieval History, Early Modern Studies, and World History/Global Empires. Historical research is supported by the state-of-the-art Sir Duncan Rice Library which opened in 2012. The Library’s Special Collections Centre holds a major international archive of Jacobite material, The MacBean Collection, and has significant holdings on the Scottish Enlightenment. It is the repository of the outstanding archive of Scottish Catholic heritage, and it also houses landed estate papers dating from the middle ages, and a number of printed collections.

A regular History Research Seminar allows members of the department to give papers on work in progress, and hosts visiting speakers. Click on the links to the left to find out more about areas of research in History.