Workshop: Second Projects

A roundtable and discussion sponsored by History UK.

About the workshop

Second projects should be, and can be, an exciting stage in an academic career. However, they can also be daunting, challenging and confusing, particularly in the context of a higher education climate which is under increasing pressure from a number of sources. The structures that supported people during doctoral research might well have changed or disappeared. A second project might not be one’s own project but working on someone else’s initial idea. It might well involve writing funding bids which require fitting one’s research to the requirements of those holding the purse strings. Second projects need to be juggled alongside many different professional challenges, including but not limited to fixed-term contracts, job applications, moves between institutions, and institutional and departmental pressures.

In this session, three invited speakers will discuss their experiences of second projects, leading into a broader discussion with the audience. Our definition of ‘second project’ is deliberately broad, to encompass the range of work that academics undertake today, and we welcome participation from colleagues at all career stages.

Speakers

• Professor Laura King, Professor of Collaborative History, University of Leeds
• Dr Laura O’Brien, Associate Professor in Modern European History, Northumbria University
• Dr Laura Tisdall, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History, Newcastle University

How to attend

Please register for the event in Leeds by signing up here.

Please contact the event organiser, Dr Sara Barker.

More information

This event is the second in a series of three second projects organised by Dr Sara Barker and Professor Tracey Loughran (University of Essex).

The first took place in December 2025 in London.

The final event will be an online session. Further details and registration will be circulated at a later date.