Research
CMS is recognized internationally to have pioneered interdisciplinary research. Our current research situates expertise on the European Middle Ages within a wider Afro-Eurasian framework, and extends from the Humanities into Sciences. Key dimensions include:
- Long established core strengths in social and textual (from documents to poetry) history, Vikings, gender and sexuality, religion and dissent, multilingualism, stained glass, materiality, conservation and bioarchaeology.
- Opening up the diversity and geographical and chronological scale of the Middle Ages, and the networks that connected communities across an Afro-Eurasian space (with new strengths in Islamic Cultures).
- Exploring the local and international interconnectedness of the North of England.
- Collaborating with colleagues in scientific disciplines to understand the inheritance and sophistication of medieval scientific learning.
- Preserving and interpreting the medieval cultures of communities from Arabia to Scandinavia, and from Jerusalem to York
- Expertise in visualization and immersive reality.
Members of the CMS have conceived and run major national and international research projects. Our experience in collaborative research has attracted over £17.5 million in research funding over the last seven years.
The strengths of CMS’s research are also evident in our publications and impact, which contributed to our parent departments’ outstanding performances in the last Research Excellence Framework.
Our commitment to knowledge exchange and public engagement is evident in our many partnerships with local, national and international organisations.