In this blog, Lucy McCormick explores how anti-suffragists weaponised emotion in relation to politicised spaces in mid-Victorian Britain...
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IHR Internships
The IHR offers paid internships each year.
Our internships support new researchers in developing their skills with a view to broadening their experience and making new and lasting contacts within and beyond the historical research community.
2025 Internships (now closed)
Background
This internship will give you the opportunity to update the subject categories used to search, retrieve and organise the 2,500+ book reviews available on our Reviews in History website. As an intern, you will also be encouraged and supported to write and publish blog posts about your work.
About Reviews in History
Reviews in History is an online book review journal, published by the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research. We publish reviews and reappraisals of significant work in all fields of historical interest, covering books, articles, exhibitions, films and many more. Our readership includes academics, students, public historians, and others, with an interest in history.
The 2,500+ reviews written since the journal’s launch are a fully and freely accessible online resource and provide a valuable source for research, reading lists and literature reviews. Reviews can be searched using key words or by isolating the categories assigned to them at the time of publication. These categories cover:
- Time period
- Geographical location
- Type of history/subject area
- Type of item being reviewed
Over time, our ways of thinking about history and approaching historical work has changed, and we felt it appropriate to review and update the categories we use to organize the reviews and make them searchable. We hope this will help us represent new work in the field, be more inclusive and accurate in our terminology, and improve searchability for an ever-evolving user base.
We have identified a set of new categories to apply to the resource, and changes to be made to existing categories. These changes will be implemented for all new reviews published, but also need to be applied to the body of past reviews.
What the Internship Offers
This is an exciting opportunity to get involved with an internationally recognised history book review journal and online research resource. The work will give you an overview of changes in the field of history, and a chance to reflect on the latest academic developments in your research and/or teaching field.
As an intern, you will gain insight into changing historical approaches and practices over the past 30 years and experience of working in digital publishing. You will build digital cataloguing skills and develop your writing practice.
Specific tasks will include:
- Assessing existing reviews to determine how best to apply updated category terms
- Applying updated category terms to the existing resource of 2,500+ book reviews
- Using your expertise to feed into this project, informing improvements
- Noting trends and changes in the terms used and applied over the period from 1996
- Writing a series of blogs reflecting on your internship and documenting the changes you are observing and implementing
Location and Timing
The internship can mostly be held remotely, although we do encourage at least one in-person visit to the IHR to meet our research community and make full use of our available resources.
The internship should ideally be held during the period from June 2025 to the end of September 2025. This internship will not require full-time commitment during this time, and there is flexibility around how the intern would like to organise their project (for example, alongside part-time work or studying commitments). This will be agreed with the project supervisor at the start.
Applications for this internship are now closed.
Background
This BBIH Internship will help to create a new online help pack to increase awareness of how students, academics and researchers can use BBIH to study, teach and research the histories of one or more of the following:
- Environmental history
- Health (e.g. mental health and dis/ability)
About the Bibliography of British and Irish History
BBIH is an essential tool for the study, research, and teaching of British and Irish history. It is the largest and most comprehensive resource available to what has been written about British and Irish history, from the early 1900s to the present. Spanning a period from 55 BCE to the present day, the Bibliography covers both the domestic and global histories of the British Isles, including the colonial, imperial and indigenous histories of the former empire and Commonwealth.
BBIH is an essential resource for study, research, and teaching, providing up-to-date information (and links) on over 660,000 history books, articles, chapters, edited collections, and some PhD theses. New records are added in three annual updates, with c.10,000 new publications added each year. These records are searchable by a wide range of facets including title, author, chronology, date and form of publication, historical topic, and geographical region.
The Bibliography is a research project of the UK’s Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and our publisher Brepols.
What the internship offers
This is an exciting opportunity to get involved with an internationally recognised resource for historical scholarship, whilst staying informed of the latest academic developments in your research and/or teaching field.
As an intern you will gain a range of practical editorial knowledge and develop your promotional and writing skills through the following internship activities. This includes, although is not limited to:
- Creating tutorial video(s) on using BBIH to research one or more of the areas identified above.
- Review of subject specific BBIH classification terms, recommending suggested changes and additions.
- BBIH editorial work focusing on one or more of the areas identified above.
- Blog post for On History.
- BBIH social media planning for the IHR’s social channels.
Location and timing
The internship can mostly be held remotely, although we do encourage at least one in-person visit to the IHR to meet our research community and make full use of our available resources.
The internship should ideally be held during the period from June 2025 to the end of September 2025. The internship will not require full-time commitment during this time, and there is flexibility around how the intern would like to organise their project (for example, alongside part-time work or studying commitments). This will be agreed with the project supervisor at the start.
Applications for this internship are now closed.
Eligibility
2025 internship appointments have been made and applications are closed for 2025. Please check back and Subscribe to the IHR Bulletin | Institute of Historical Research for news on future opportunities.
We encourage anyone with an interest in history to apply to our internships. We aim to be as inclusive as possible and define ‘historian’ broadly. We are keen therefore to receive applications from persons based in a range of different disciplines and professional contexts. In your application, you should evidence your interest in the internship you are applying for and illustrate how this opportunity will help to you build your skills and support your career development.
Bursary & Timing
Each internship will be supported with a total bursary award of £1500. Objectives and milestones (including the midway review) will be agreed with your project supervisor at the start. The internship will not require full-time commitment, and there is flexibility around dates and how each intern would like to organise the time they spend on their project. This should be agreed with your project supervisor in advance. You can carry out your internship remotely but we do recommend that, where possible, you plan at least one visit to the IHR.
Contact us
Each year we offer tailored projects intended to enhance professional and intellectual development. Please get in touch to learn more about internship opportunities at the Institute of Historical Research. Please click here for SAS-wide research activities.
Contact: Dr Eve Hayes de Kalaf
General enquiries: [email protected]
Office hours: Monday-Friday (09:00-16:30)
Feedback from our 2024 Interns
"I had a fantastic experience and feel so grateful for the opportunity. I learned so much about the BBIH and feel better-informed in my own research now. Having met so many of the librarians, editors, directors, and interns at the IHR, I learned a great deal about the myriad of operations which somehow fall under one roof! I felt welcomed into the IHR community and will certainly pursue future opportunities to maintain these connections. If you are considering an academic career or are interested in the digital humanities, I could not recommend it highly enough." - Lucy McCormick, Bibliography of British and Irish History Intern
"My immediate supervisor (Dr Ruth Slatter) was always responsive, appreciative, and supportive and I never felt that I couldn’t/shouldn’t contact her with queries or issues. Her feedback was always considered and constructive and I learnt a lot through the process of working with her to improve and complete a blog post. Throughout the internship I felt that she wanted it to be a beneficial experience for me, and she made a real effort to ensure I felt involved in and informed about the project as a whole." - Anne-Marie Harvatt, VCH Digitisation Intern
"To anyone thinking of applying to an IHR internship, I would say go for it! I had an excellent experience, everyone was very helpful and always very interested to tell me more about what they do and what research they're interested in. Not only did I get to make lots of great connections but I found out about lots of other interesting research which made me more motivated to get back to mine. The internships will provide some really interesting work and some great practical skills for moving forward in your career. I would wholeheartedly say to go for it with applying." - Katherine Chapman, History Day Intern
