The Department is involved in the running of one MA programme: Military History. This programme continues to be well received by such institutions as the British Commission for Military History, the Imperial War Museum and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The Department has also been involved in organising the Gladstone Centenary International Conference, and two residential weekend colloquia on Divine Learning at St. Deiniol's Library, Hawarden.
Research by certain members of the Department benefits from the rich historical resources of the locality (Chester, Cheshire, the north west, the northern Marches, and north east Wales) and also from good working contacts with Chester Archaeology and a number of local heritage and education officers throughout the area.
The research interests and specialisms of the historians within the Department are diverse, ranging over the medieval, early modern and modern periods, and over local, British, European, American and international history, while the research conducted by the archaeologists focuses on the early medieval period in Britain, particularly within the north and west.
History entered the recent 2008 national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and received a very high rating. Most of the History research publications submitted to the RAE were deemed to be of at least international quality, with many found to be of world-leading calibre.
The assessors also felt that there was a good research structure, with a focus on and good support for research activities, and that the research and publication undertaken by the academic staff in History was further reflected in a highly impressive body of postgraduate research students, with excellent mechanisms in place for their support. The assessors also noted that History had good external research links, both with the local environment and with other higher education and non-academic bodies.
