With one academic year behind us and the next about to begin, it’s time to round up the latest achievements of the Lincoln School of Humanities and Heritage in our second twice-yearly newsletter.
The second half of the year has seen several big appearances from LSHH faculty in national and international media and a triumphant performance by two of our students, John Clayworth (History) and Laura Bruce (Conservation of Cultural Heritage), in Lincoln’s first ever University Challenge appearance.
Speaking of student successes, we’re delighted to celebrate several successful PhD defences, and to congratulate two of our students, Eddie Smith-Wilds (Philosophy) and Thomas Woodcock (Philosophy), on joining the Lincoln Students’ Union as a Student Trustee and the Student Support & Development Officer.
As usual, our staff have contributed to an astonishing number of academic and public events in and beyond Lincoln, collaborating with distinguished institutions like the British Museum, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
We’ve also seen numerous new publications and the inception of several exciting projects, including Jon Coburn, Tom Bishop, and Adam Page’s digital public heritage project, ‘Radioactive Lincolnshire!’, which documents antinuclear activism in the East Midlands from the 1980s to the present day.
While it is a pleasure to celebrate our successes, these come against the backdrop of a challenging period for the University, in which we have lost highly valued colleagues to staffing cuts and have seen others moved to reduced-time contracts.
We deeply regret losing several distinguished members of the School of Humanities and Heritage. We wish them the very best in their future careers and thank them for everything they have contributed to our School.
There’s much more below, so please read on, and please continue to keep me informed of all your achievements. Meanwhile, on behalf of our Head of School, Professor Amy Livingstone, I wish you a terrific end to the summer and beginning of the new academic year.
Your dedicated Communications Lead,
Ralph
Media
On Sunday, 9 February, Alice Crossley made an appearance on Sunday Morning Live talking about the history of Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s traditions. You can watch the interview on BBC iPlayer from 42.21–45.50.
Owen Clayton – on the back of his 2023 book on the subject – was interviewed for and quoted in an article about the phenomenon of American hobos, published in the Financial Times on 22 February.
On 16 April, Swiss National Radio and Television interviewed Chiara Beccalossi about the UK Supreme Court’s legal definition of ‘woman’, drawing on her expertise in the history of science and sexuality. She discussed the factors contemporary science considers in the determination of sex.
Jon Coburn gave an interview to Morgan Fischer of the Phoenix New Times about his current research into the history of protest suicide and mental health among community organizers.
Lincoln made its first ever appearance on the prestigious BBC quiz show University Challenge on 1 September. The Lincoln team defeated Lancaster University 170-145 and features two LSHH students, John Clayworth (History) and Laura Bruce (Conservation of Cultural Heritage), as well as Grace Bloomfield (Chemistry) and Sam Orman-Chan (Computer Science).
Events
Ralph Weir spoke on ‘Neuroscience and the Soul’ for a Royal Institute of Philosophy public lecture series 28 January. He was also interviewed about his work for the Walden Pod podcast on 11 February and was one of 5 out of over 700 applicatns to be awarded a writing fellowship by Works in Progress magazine and Asimov Press in the summer.
Jon Coburn, Tom Bishop, and Adam Page initiated a new community heritage project, ‘Radioactive Lincolnshire!’, on the history of resistance to nuclear waste sites in the county with a discussion at Theddlethorpe Village Hall on 18 February.
Alexandra Morris spoke on disability in ancient Egypt and the display of ancient Egyptian artefacts related to disability at the conference ‘Displaying the British Museum’ at the British Museum on 20–21 February.
On 13 March, Renée Ward (LSHH-English) spoke on ‘Henry Bolingbroke, Books, and Chaucer’s Empty Purse’ to a full audience in the village of Old Bolingbroke. On 29 March, Renée rejoined community partners in Old Bolingbroke to launch a volume of oral histories and an exhibition featuring the village’s medieval heritage, Old Bolingbroke: Through Our Eyes and Imaginations. Read more here. A further launch event took place at the Boston Book Festival on 8 June.
On 11 March, Lincoln College, Oxford, hosted the first Lincoln Rare Books School, a joint venture with Lincoln University. LSHH Professor Emeritus Anna Marie Roos organised the workshop with Dr Sarah Cusk, the antiquarian bibliographer of Lincoln College, as a means to forge ties between our institutions, Lincoln to Lincoln.
On 19 March, in collaboration with the University of Lincoln Film Society, the Environmental Humanities Research Group held a screening of the investigative documentary The Devil We Know, which addresses contamination by Forever Chemicals (PFAS), with remote participation and testimony from the chair of the community group Cleaner-Bentham, representing one of the most PFAS-contaminated areas in the United Kingdom.
Between 7 and 14 April, Chiara Beccalossi organised and took part in two events for LGBT+ History Month Italia, of which she is a founder and active member of the coordinating committee and delivered a welcome address and talk for the conference ‘Queer Kindships cross Space and Time’, at Christ Church College, University of Oxford.
On 30 April, Michele Vescovi delivered the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland annual lecture at The Courtauld Institute of Art. The talk explored the intersections of Romanesque sculpture and water in medieval stone vessels.
Our conservation labs opened for guided tours on 3 May as part of this year’s Lincoln Festival of History. After a short introduction to conservation from Lynda Skipper, visitors were able to chat to our third year student conservators as they worked on the historic objects that would feature in their exhibition later in the year.
On 5 May the Lincoln Festival of History also saw Jim Cheshire deliver a lecture on Alfred Tennyson’s fluctuating relationship with the Pre-Raphaelites. The lecture discussed the Pre-Raphaelites’ love of Tennyson’s poetry and the poet’s more guarded attitude about the way that they interpreted his poems.
Rebecca Shipp, PGR representative for the Nineteenth-Century Research Group, organised this year’s Postgraduate Symposium on 7 May, featuring a keynote lecture from Prof. Roger Ebbatson: ‘Ever the Road: Hardy and Edward Thomas’.
7 May was also the date of the annual Lincoln Medieval History Lecture, with Dr Nicholas Bennett delivering a talk entitled ‘Combatting the “swinish snouts” of heretics: the life and episcopate of Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln 1420-1431′.
Multiple LSHH staff and students including Amy Livingstone, Louise Wilkinson, Hannah Boston, Dean Irwin, Katherine Delaney, Francesca Cannon, Sonya Nikiforova, Martin Roberts, and Jessica Holt participated in the 32nd International Medieval Congress which took place at the University of Leeds between 7 and 10 July.
Daniel Came and Ralph Weir organised several meetings of the Lincoln Philosophy Salon, with visiting speakers including Fabien Pailluson (Lincoln), Matthew Booth (Lincoln), Ed Willems (York), Kevin Byron (Leeds), and a special student edition with Sam Barrett (BA Philosophy), Sophie Willis (BA Philosophy), and Joseph Davidson (MPhys Physics).
Student Successes
Three alumni who served on the LSHH Student Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, Liv Hennessy, Bethany Stokes, and Freddie Copson spoke at the event ‘Enabling Positive Changes: Awareness and Activism Within and Beyond the University’, co-organised by Laura Gill and Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo on Thurs 27 Feb.
LSHH students Sam Barrett and Sophie Willis and physics MA student Joseph Davidson delivered public talks on art and morality, personhood, and the quantum measurement problem at this year’s student edition of the Lincoln Philosophy Salon on 6 May.
Two of our students, Eddie Smith-Wilds (Philosophy) and Thomas Woodcock (Philosophy) joined the Lincoln Student’s Union as a Student Trustee and the Student Support & Development Officer.
Leah Warriner-Wood passed her viva for her PhD in Conservation. Leah’s thesis is: ‘Material Maketh Man: Material self-fashioning of cultural identity within John Delaval’s tapestry interiors at Doddington Hall, 1759-62’.
Saheba Saxena passed her viva for her PhD in Philosophy with her thesis ‘Analysing the Anselmian Being and God’s Moral Obligations Towards Rational Beings.’
Garry Crossland has passed his viva for his PhD in History with his doctoral thesis ‘The Development of a Provincial Port during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: The Case of Grimsby 1780-1880.’
Publications
Jonathan Fitzgibbon published a post about Oliver Cromwell’s creation of the ‘Other House’ at the History of Parliament blog on 25 March, drawing lessons for House of Lords reform today.
Lynda and Philip Skipper’s research report ‘Characterisation of Primary and Secondary Stone Bioreceptivity’ was published by Historic England. The report forms part of an ongoing Historic England funded research project to explore sustainable alternatives to chemical biocides in stone conservation.
Giustina Monti’s book, Alexander the Great. Letters: A Selection has been favourably reviewed in multiple prestigious venues in several languages including English, German, and Italian. It has been described as ‘a milestone in the field’.
Jon Coburn has published an article on the peace activism of women in the American feminist movement for the 20th anniversary special edition of Italian journal DEP.
Lacey Wallace published an article in The Conversation about Roman London’s first basilica found under an office block on 18th February.
On February 14 Ralph Weir published an article in Psychology Today about whether AI has already achieved consciousness. This is the first of an exciting series that he’ll get back to when he’s finished writing this newsletter.
AIs may not be conscious but your dog may be. That’s what Gary Francione claims in a piece for The Philosopher’s Magazine.
The LSHH blog also has new posts on a number of fascinating and stimulating topics including: MA History student Jamie Markham on volunteering at Metheringham Airfield Visitors Centre; MA Medieval Studies student Jean Suszko on digital humanities; BA History student Jack Ashman on forever chemical; MA Medieval Studies student Erin Fountain on medieval prosthetics; Modern History student Ella Simmond’s on the International Bomber Command Centre; and BA History student Tabby Burrel on accessibility in heritage.
Congratulations also to the staff who had the modesty not to tell me about their recent publications. But next time, we want to know! Please send all achievements to rweir@lincoln.ac.uk. (Synopses under 300 characters are especially appreciated.)
