Research & Expertise

At the forefront of historical research deep in time and wide across the world.

King’s historians are at the cutting edge of historical research into the processes that have shaped our world from the early medieval period to the present day, across every inhabited continent. We make full use of our London location, with collaborations across the city, from the Black Cultural Archives to the Treasury. We value the conversations that occur when people researching different places and topics talk, and particularly work together on the following themes:

World-leading expertise

Historians within the Department, as well as those in the Departments of War Studies and Defence Studies, generate new insights and approaches in a number of significant areas: notably broad and inclusive British and Irish histories, a chronologically deep history of Europe and European empires, global histories encompassing the pre-modern era, and a reconceived history of warfare and history of science which offers historical insights into contemporary issues, such as security, climate change and technological development.

The Department of History is one of the largest in the UK. Ranked in the top five in Europe in the QS World University Rankings 2021, with 86 per cent of its research rated either ‘World leading’ (4*) or ‘Internationally excellent’ (3*) in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2021).

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Postgraduate Research and PhD

We have a vibrant postgraduate research culture, with doctoral candidates engaged in deep research and supporting teaching.

Whatever your research passion, we offer specialist PhD supervision in a wide variety of subject areas, from the medieval to the modern periods, covering British and Irish, European, and Global and Imperial History, as well as the History of Science, Technology and Medicine.

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Research & Expertise

At the forefront of historical research deep in time and wide across the world.

World-leading expertise

Postgraduate Research and PhD

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