Dean Blackburn

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.

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

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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%

• 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.

• 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.

• 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).