About | Events | Meet us | Contact | Join

Past Events

4 Nov 2025 History Day
11am – 4pm @ Institute of Historical Research [IHR], Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

History Day was a day for students, researchers & history enthusiasts to explore library, museum, archive and history collections across the UK & beyond. There will be over 70 organisations at the History Day fair ready to showcase and discuss their collections. There was also be online content to browse and discover on our new website.
As part of History Day 2025, we celebrated the diverse and rich histories of LGBTQ+ people. We partnered with Justin Bengry to create the Queer History and Heritage Trail to highlight queer stories, figures, and collections.

More on our blog here…

HL+ Network Northern Ireland – 25th Sept. 2025

_{^{Queens University Belfast – Image Wikimedia Commons}}

Network Northern Ireland 2025 was a day of connection for history postdocs and late-stage PhDs based in Northern Ireland. The programme of social opportunities and academic and public history sessions will bring the ECR community together in Belfast.

Programme
ECR coffee morning @McMordie Room, Queens University, Belfast
Early career historians networking and information about History Lab Plus.
Lunchtime seminar @ McMordie Room
Researching History and Teaching Liberal Arts: From ECR to Senior Lecturer
Dr Sophie Cooper, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts, Queens University Belfast
Tour of Ulster Museum and walk around the gardens
Including an introduction to the history of Ulster Museum, curator tours of two temporary art exhibitions – the Okamura and the Art of the Possible – and guided viewing of The Troubles and Beyond exhibition and the latest instalment of the Belfast Archive Project exhibition.
History Open Mic Night @ The Pavillion Pub with Dr Maurice Casey and Special Guests
We heard about the work and working lives of historians in Belfast. Maurice Casey (QUB) was on the mic welcoming special guests from across the history scene and invited the audience to share their research stories.

Teaching in a Time of Crisis Conference May & June 2025

Our annual conference jointly organised by HistoryLab⁺, HistoryLab and History UK, ‘Teaching in a Time of Crisis’, aptly described the current moment in Higher Education. Indeed, the only modification could be to describe a time of crises, given simultaneous redundancies across the sector, threats to academic freedom, and AI upending the fundamentals of academic assessment. Yet, those gathered at the University of Warwick on May 29th, 2025 showed that highly significant work is being done to address these challenges, whether by creative assessments, rethinking how we teach major topics, or using new mediums to teach about the past. From this, original and insightful teaching continues to be developed during this time of crisis. Read blog by Alex Riggs (Regional Ambassador, Midlands) and Michael Reeve (Co-Chair) here

(Left) Rebecca Stone and Alex Riggs (Right) Katherine Parsons and Rita Gayle

We concluded our ‘Teaching in a Time of Crisis’ conference with online sessions in June. There was great discussion from the panel focussed on researching ‘historical truth’ in Canada, and questions around indigenous land and languages. Dr Jack Hepworth (Newcastle University) gave a fantastic keynote on teaching public history – it was brilliant. We are frustrated we did not record it but want to thank Jack again for his generosity of time.

This conference was led by Tom Cryer (Chair, History Lab), Simon Peplow and Liz Egan (History UK), and the History Lab Plus team. It was an important focus of discussion and valuable collaboration. We hope to work together again.

Historical Research and Policymaking

Mid-June we convened a workshop about how historical research and historical researchers are valuable within national policy spheres. It was a long, hot afternoon, but attended by over 50 people. Our speakers gave sage insight, and we thank them again for their time.

There were so many takeaways from the event, but we want to share further details/ links for those looking to get involved in policymaking –

Connect with UK Parliament Knowledge Exchange

Add yourself to the History and Policy Database.

Thank you again to our speakers –

Helen McCabe and Sarah Foxen, UK Parliament Knowledge Exchange Unit

Abigail Fletcher, Scottish Parliament

Phillip Murphy, History and Policy (IHR)

Henry Irving, Leeds Beckett University

Tom Kelsey, University of Oxford

Ana-Maria Sichani, University of London

And our HL+ members and chairs who contributed.

Past Events