History at Glasgow has been ranked 4th in the UK for research excellence and impact. The world-leading quality of our historical research has been confirmed in the results of the Research Excellence Framework assessment (REF2014).
We are ranked in the top 20 in the 2020 Complete University Guide.
We have advanced knowledge of specialisms including:
- American history and culture
- social and gender history
- history of medicine; and
- the history of business and banking.
Other areas of research excellence are:
- medieval Europe
- medieval Scotland, Ireland and the British Isles [leading the Paradox of Medieval Scotland project, jointly with the University of Edinburgh and Kings College London]
- war studies
- early modern culture, beliefs and ideas
We have long-standing student and staff exchanges with universities in the United States, Australia and Europe. All permanent staff are active researchers and we have a very active programme of research seminars, lectures and collaborations.
The University of Glasgow has taught history since 1897, when the Chair in History was founded. Chairs in Scottish History and Literature and in Medieval History followed.
History has a range of funded research projects, with support from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Wellcome Trust.