Prof Simon Ball
- Position: Professor of International History and Politics
- Areas of expertise: Second World War; Cold War; British politics; secret intelligence; assassination
- Email: S.J.Ball@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 1094
Profile
I was appointed to the University’s Chair of International History & Politics in 2012. Previously I was Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Glasgow.
Responsibilities
- Academic Integrity Lead, School of History
Research interests
Interests
My research has concentrated on five interrelated themes: the Cold War; the Second World War; British politics, assassination in international politics; and secret intelligence in the twentieth century. I have edited War in History. I sit on the editorial boards of Intelligence & National Security and Diplomacy & Statecraft.
Publications
I am the author of a number of books including:
- Secret History: Writing the Rise of Britain’s Intelligence Services (Montreal: MQUP, 2020).
- Alamein (Oxford: OUP, 2016, reprinted The Folio Society, 2022).
- The Bitter Sea: The Struggle for Mastery in the Mediterranean, 1935–1949 (London: Harper Press, 2009).
- The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends, and the World They Made (London: HarperCollins, 2004).
- The Cold War: An International History 1947–1991 (London: Arnold & New York: OUP, 1998, reprinted Bloomsbury USA, 2009).
- The Bomber in British Strategy: Doctrine, Strategy and Britain’s World Role, 1945–1960 (Boulder, Co. and Oxford: Westview, 1995, reprinted Routledge, 2022).
External Collaboration
I work regularly with organisations outside academe. I was the author of an Impact Case Study for the 2022 Research Excellence Framework.
Secrets of Spies: Assassination
https://history.companyofheroes.com/el-alamein/battle-of-el-alamein-ww2/
https://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en/
https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/f2d2927a-76b4-4563-b208-b220149df531?page=1
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>
Qualifications
- MA (Oxon.)
- PhD (Cantab.)
Professional memberships
- FRHistS
Student education
International History and Politics
Since 1967 the holder of the Chair of International History and Politics has been the senior faculty member for a specialised undergraduate degree programme. International History and Politics (IHP) remains a highly successful history degree at Leeds.
PhD Supervision
I have supervised over twenty doctorates to successful completion. I was the inaugural History Panel Chair of the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Training Partnership of the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.
Research groups and institutes
- War Studies
- Empires and Aftermath
- Politics, Diplomacy, and International History