Business History Group

Welcome to the Business History Group at Northumbria University. We comprise a collective of historians working on the history of business and work based in Newcastle Business School, the Department of Humanities and Northumbria Law School. We are committed to producing world-class research and teaching on the history of business and work and partnering with a range of organisations in the private, public and third sectors to uncover histories of business and labour and demonstrate their importance to understandings of their roles in the economy and society both locally and globally.

Amongst the areas of international inter-disciplinary research undertaken by members of the collective are: Banking and FinTech; business-government relations; entrepreneurship and family business; corporate governance and ownership (public, private and third sector); deindustrialisation; ethics and corporate social responsibility; employee and industrial relations; international business; industrial and regional policy; managerial identity; organisational and workplace culture and relations; and strategy.

We have strong links to other global centres of expertise in these fields in the Americas, Australia, and Europe, in particular. Our researchers have held grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) amongst others (see projects for some recent and ongoing examples).

We also work closely with archives and museums, businesses and trade bodies, trade unions and third sector organisations on various projects. We are currently developing a number of taught options at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and boast a growing number of PhD students.

Membership

Dr Jennifer Aston
Professor Bernardo Batiz-Lazo
Dr Sean Bottomley
Dr Emily Buchnea
Nicholas Burton
Professor David Charles
Professor Ian Fitzgerald
Dr Felicia Gottmann
Dr Ian Jones
Professor Andrew Perchard
Professor Aly Salama
Dr Diana Volonakis
Professor Tony Webster
Professor John Wilson
Dr Nicholas Wong

Postgraduate researchers:

Ellie Charalambous
Thomas Fischer
Oliver Gunning
Daniel Riddell
Mark Stoddart

Projects

Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities, ‘Money in transformation: actors, processes and social effects of financial innovation’ (Professor Bernardo Batiz-Lazo with Professor Carles Maixe and Professor Matilde Masso, La Coruña) (2020–2023)

British Academy/ Leverhulme Trust, ‘Steam-power and the British industrial revolution, 1800–1870. The case of Suffolk’ (SRG2021\210419) (Dr Sean Bottomley) (2021–23)

UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, ‘Migration, Adaptation, Innovation 1500-1800’ (MR/T043091/) (Dr Felicia Gottmann) (2021–25)

AHRC (UKRI), ‘On Behalf of the People: Work, Community and Class in the British Coal Industry, 1947–1994’ (AH/P007244/1) (Professor Andrew Perchard with Professor Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton) (2017–21)

British Academy/ Leverhulme Trust, ‘Business-Government Relations and the Rise of a Family Business Dynasty: The Reynolds Metals Company’ (SRG2021/210391) (Professor Andrew Perchard) (2021–23)

SSHRC, ‘Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time’ (Professor Andrew Perchard; Consortium led by Professor Steven High, Concordia University, with 24 co-investigators and partners in Western Europe and North America) (2020–27)

BHG Seminar Series

The collective run a highly successful seminar series. The co-convenors for this series are Dr Ian Jones and Ellie Charalambous. If you’re interested to find out more about the series, please email Ian Jones at ian.g.jones@northumbria.ac.uk.

Members of the BHG are also founders and organisers of the online Business History Collective seminar series, the Financial History Network, Money in Transformation, and ReWOMEN.