Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Referees
Selected Publications
Research Funding
Impact and External Collaboration
Research Supervision
Recent Teaching
Administration and Governance
Esteem Indicators
Timeline
Generic
Dean Blackburn

Dean Blackburn

Swanwick,Derbyshire

Summary

I have worked as a professional researcher for fifteen years. Since 2013, I have been a Lecturer in Political History at the University of Nottingham. My work has been published in internationally recognised journals, and I have led funded-projects across a range of fields. I am looking to apply my skills to new challenges in the charitable sector.

Overview

18
18
years of professional experience
8
8
years of post-secondary education

Work history

Lecturer in Modern Britain

University of Nottingham
2013.01 - 2026.06

Teaching Associate

Newcastle University
2012.01 - 2013.01

AHRC-Funded Doctoral Student

University of Bristol
2008.01 - 2012.01

Education

PhD -

University of Bristol
2008.09 - 2012.12

M.Res - History

Newcastle University
2007.09 - 2008.09

BA History -

Newcastle University
2004.09 - 2007.07

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education - undefined

University of Nottingham

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - undefined

University of Bristol

Skills

  • Publication experience
  • Critical inquiry
  • Ethical compliance
  • Research network building
  • Data collection
  • Report-writing

Referees

Dr David Gehring                     david.gehring@nottingham.ac.uk

Professor Maiken Umbach     maiken.umbach@nottingham.ac.uk

Selected Publications

  • Books
  • Penguin Books and Political Change: Britain’s Meritocratic Moment, 1936-1987 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020).
  • The New Nature of the Right (Manchester University Press, 2025).
  • Articles and Chapters
  • ‘One the Wrong Side of History? The Declinist Theme in Conservative Party Historiography’, The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Britain (2025). In production.
  • ‘“The Ideological Tree is Always Green”: Norberto Bobbio and the Future of Ideology Studies’, Journal of Political Ideologies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (2022), pp. 247-360.
  • ‘Harold Macmillan, Margaret Thatcher and the Politics of Negation’, French Journal for British Studies (2023).
  • ‘In the Shadows: Conservative Epistemology and Ideological Value’, Political Studies Review, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2022), pp. 433-447.
  • ‘Reassessing Britain's 'Post-war Consensus': The Politics of Reason, 1945-79’, British Politics, Vol. 13 (2018), pp. 194-213.
  • ‘Still the Stranger at the Feast? Ideology and the Study of Twentieth-Century British Politics’, Journal of Political Ideologies, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2017) 116-130.
  • ‘For We Shall Prejudice Nothing’: Middle Way Conservatism and the Defence of Inequality, 1945–1979’, Political Studies, Vol. 64, No. 1 (2015), pp. 156-172.
  • ‘Penguin Books and the 'marketplace for ideas', in L. Black, H. Pemberton, P. Thane (eds.), Reassessing 1970s Britain (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013), pp. 224-251.

Research Funding

  • British Academy Small Grant (2022-23)
  • Project Title: ‘Time and Chance: The Politics of Temporality in Contemporary Britain’
  • Value: £3700
  • AHRC Grant (2024)
  • Project Title: ‘When Am I? Identities and Temporality in Cross-Disciplinary Perspective
  • Value: £2000

Impact and External Collaboration

  • Lead researcher for a REF 2021 Impact Case Study (‘Using MOOCs to Transform Public History & Empower Global Citizenship’). This ICS followed from a major collaboration with the British Library.
  • Co-organisation of an inter-disciplinary conference with the University of Birmingham (2016).
  • Author of blogs and essays for BBC History Online, LSE Politics and Policy and Manchester University Press.

Research Supervision

  • Doctoral Student Completion Date Supervisory role
  • Dr Matthew Kidd December 2017 50%
  • Dr David Civil January 2021 50%
  • Dr Joseph Himsworth April 2022 50%
  • Dr William Noble May 2024 30%
  • Alexander Riggs July 2024 50%
  • Luke Thrumble September 2025 30%
  • Rebecca Hickman September 2023 30%
  • Evey Boffey September 2026 50%

Recent Teaching

  • Undergraduate Modules
  • The Politics of Thatcherism, 1975-2001 (Y3 ‘special subject’)
  • History and Politics (a joint honours skills module for Y2 students)
  • Socialism in an Age of Affluence: The Labour Party in Post-war Britain (Y2 ‘option’)
  • Roads to Modernity (Y1 core module)
  • The Contemporary World (Y1 core module)
  • Learning History (Y1 core module)
  • Postgraduate Modules
  • Past Futures: Reimagining the Twentieth Century (core module for the MA History course)
  • Exploring English Identities (MA option)
  • Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)
  • ‘Learning from the Past’ (FutureLearn). As well as co-directing this MOOC, I also provide learning materials and interact with learners from across the world.

Administration and Governance

  • Director of Postgraduate Teaching for Humanities (University of Nottingham, 2020-2023)
  • Responsibilities:
  • Quality assurance.
  • Revision of programme specifications.
  • Curriculum management.
  • Recruitment strategy.
  • Director of Joint Honours for Humanities (University of Nottingham, 2016-2020)
  • TEF documentation.
  • Director of the Centre for Research into Ideas and the Study of Political Ideologies
  • Event organisation.
  • External relations.
  • Contributions to research culture.

Esteem Indicators

  • Invited member of the AHRC’s ‘Genres of Political Writing’ network.
  • Shortlisted for the Delong Book Prize 2021.
  • Reviewer for Cambridge University Press, Bloomsbury Academic, Journal of Political Ideologies, Political Studies, Journal of Modern European History and Journal of Labour History.
  • A perfect score of 25 in a student evaluation of teaching exercise (2018).
  • Recipient of an exceptional performance bonus via the University of Nottingham’s staff reward scheme (2023).

Timeline

Lecturer in Modern Britain

University of Nottingham
2013.01 - 2026.06

Teaching Associate

Newcastle University
2012.01 - 2013.01

PhD -

University of Bristol
2008.09 - 2012.12

AHRC-Funded Doctoral Student

University of Bristol
2008.01 - 2012.01

M.Res - History

Newcastle University
2007.09 - 2008.09

BA History -

Newcastle University
2004.09 - 2007.07

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education - undefined

University of Nottingham

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education - undefined

University of Bristol
Dean Blackburn