Research

Author

Professor Vladislav Zubok

Research Committee Chair

For the Department of International History at the LSE, cutting-edge historical research lies at the centre of our activity, underpinning our international reputation as one of the leading centres for the study of history in the UK, contributing to the quality of our teaching, and providing the source of our impact and public engagement. Faculty members are all active researchers who publish in the top journals in their field and produce books for major academic presses; in the last national research assessment, over half of this output was rated as either world-leading or internationally excellent. Throughout the year faculty convene specialist seminars, speak at international conferences, and contribute their expert knowledge on radio, television and in social media. Our strengths extend across numerous areas of the discipline, ranging in time from the early-modern period to the Cold War and contemporary world history, and in geographical scope across Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, India, China, Indonesia, and North and South America.

Faculty members are linked at the LSE with IDEAS (covering International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy), and the Latin America and Caribeean Centre. The Department also maintains strong links with the German Historical Institute — each year it hosts an eminent German historian as a German Historical Institute Visiting Professor. The Department and LSE IDEAS have a number of international partners with whom they collaborate in terms of joint research workshops and student and staff exchanges. The closest partner is the History Department at Columbia University in New York, but links also exist with the European University Institute, George Washington University, Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Peking University, Sciences Po in Paris, and Roma Tre in Rome.

Reflecting the wide range of interests at the staff level, the Department has a strong PhD programme with students tackling a broad range of topics from the early-modern period to the contemporary. The doctoral students are provided with research methodology training and benefit from the rich research environment provided both at the School and internationally by the Department. In addition, the students organise their own methodology workshop at the start of each academic year and their own research seminar which runs every fortnight.

Located in the centre of London, the Department is in an ideal setting for engaging in historical research, enjoying easy access to some of the most significant sets of historical resources in the world, from the collections of the British Library to government documents and papers in the National Archives at Kew. The LSE library is home to its own archives and a book collection of international significance, as well as providing a large range of online resources.

Professor Vladislav Zubok, Research Committee Chair

We received the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) on 12 May 2022. Our assessment showed that 68% of outputs (i.e. publications) were world-leading (4*) in terms of originality, significance, and rigour at LSE History (International History and Economic History). The upper quartile average of outputs in the UK sector was 43%. Likewise, 75% of research environment activities were evaluated as world-leading (4*) in terms of vitality and sustainability, with an upper quartile average of 63% across the UK sector. These results were made on the basis of the combination of quality of publications and number of staff submitted, and a measure of research power. Find more information on LSE's impressive performance on the School’s 2021 REF report.

NB: All seminars to be held from 14:00 to 15:30, in-person on LSE’s campus. Attendance is open to IH staff, graduate students, and alumni regardless of specialism. Abstracts must be uploaded to the Microsoft Forms link by 12 December 2025.

Theme I: “Cross-Cultural Ideas and Identities” (Wed. 21 January 2026)

We invite papers exploring the processes, mechanisms, and agents through which different cultures and societies have interacted with each other across history. ‘Interactions’ are broadly conceived to encompass exchanges and influences, as well as tensions or antagonisms. We particularly invite papers that interrogate the power dynamics, ‘bottom-up’ forces, and polycentric nature of such interactions — which have often been obscured in cultural history scholarship.

Theme II: “Transnational and Diplomatic Histories” (Wed. 18 February 2026)

We invite papers on diplomatic and transnational history, broadly conceived. We welcome papers touching on themes such as statecraft, grand strategy, and cross-border relations between institutions. Research may focus on either state or non-state actors. Papers are encouraged to draw on primary source materials.

Theme III: “Radical Social Movements” (Wed. 25 March 2026)

We invite papers that examine radical politics and organising, particularly those engaging with or representing marginalised communities. Contributions that draw connections between local and global movements are especially encouraged. Possible topics may include race, gender, and class liberation, subcultures and countercultures, Indigenous rights, questions of collective identity formation in secessionist movements, or the role of language in mobilisation and resistance.

Theme IV: “Global Histories of Science and Nature” (Wed. 29 April 2026)

We invite papers addressing interactions between human society and the natural environment, as well as the production of ecological knowledge in a global context. Submissions which explore environmental imaginaries, or investigate the collision of nature with notions of empire, progress, and modernity, are particularly welcome. Topics might draw from histories of resource extraction, climate and disease, nature in the borderlands, or global circuits of materials and technologies.

Theme V: “Constructing Europe” (Wed. 27 May 2026)

We invite papers on aspects of European cooperation and integration, broadly conceived. We encourage proposals that use newly available primary sources and/or innovative approaches. Submissions on ideas and imaginaries about Europe, Europe's entanglements with the wider global context, the role of civil society in cooperation/integration, or perspectives of small states are particularly welcome.

Theme VI: “International Urban Histories” (Wed. 17 June 2026)

We invite papers about the international and global connections of cities and their hinterlands. These connections could take the form of peoples, goods, and ideas moving between urban worlds across the globe, or manifest themselves in specific local urban environments. Innovative explorations of the intersection between international and urban histories are most welcome.

The Department of International History at LSE, the Department of International Relations at LSE, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston co-organise the joint LSE-Tufts Seminar in Contemporary International History (HY510).