Dr Heather Ellis
School of Education
Senior Lecturer in History of Education
Examinations and Assessment Lead
+44 114 222 3627
Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Heather is Co-I on the AHRC/ESRC-funded research project The School Meals Service: Past, Present, and Future? (Grant No ES/X000737/1, 2023-2025) and is Co-editor of the journal, History of Education.
Heather gained her PGCert in Academic Practice from Liverpool Hope º£½ÇÉçÇø in 2013 and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has taught a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in British and European History and History of Education.
Before starting at Sheffield, she taught at Oxford º£½ÇÉçÇø, Oxford Brookes º£½ÇÉçÇø, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Liverpool Hope º£½ÇÉçÇø. In Berlin, Heather was a Lecturer and Researcher in British History. At Liverpool Hope, she was Senior Lecturer in History of Education and was responsible for designing, organising and delivering all courses in the History of Education at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
She has supervised many successful MA theses in British, European and educational history. At Sheffield, she teaches on both the MA and EdD programmes (Higher Education strand) and would be happy to supervise PhD and EdD students looking to work in the history of knowledge, intellectual history and the history of higher education.
- Research interests
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Heather’s research interests lie chiefly in the field of intellectual history and the history of knowledge. At present, her research focuses on cultures of knowledge-making in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain. She is currently working on two projects in this area:
- The Classical Origins of Modern Science: Heather’s Vice-Chancellor’s Fellowship project examines the importance of ancient Greek and Roman texts, ideas, art and architecture in the emergence of modern science as a coherent body of knowledge in Britain in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will result in a monograph currently under contract with OUP.
- Mapping the Spatial and Conceptual Geographies of Britain’s Literary and Philosophical Societies, c. 1780-1914: This project aims to establish for the first time the number, geographical spread and intellectual networks of literary and philosophical societies in Britain, Ireland and North America between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explores their role as knowledge-making institutions and sites of higher education.
Recently completed projects include a monograph - - which examined the masculine self-fashioning of male scientists in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain. The research for this project was undertaken as part of a postdoctoral project at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017.
Before this, Heather worked on a number of projects in the history of universities and transnational scholarly networks. Her first monograph, based on her doctoral research, ,was published by Brill in 2012 and won the 2014 Kevin Brehony prize for the best first book by the History of Education Society UK.
- Publications
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Books
- . Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- . BRILL.
- . Oxford º£½ÇÉçÇø Press.
Edited books
- A Cultural History of Education in the Age of Empire. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Science, Technologies and Material Culture in the History of Education. London: Routledge.
- . BRILL.
- . Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- Masculinity and the Other: Historical Perspectives. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Journal articles
- . History of Education, 54(1), 1-2.
- The extraordinary rise and inexplicable decline of Lit & Phils. History today, 74(8), 76-85.
- . History of Education, 52(2-3), 147-153.
- . Historical Journal, 66(3), 593-618.
- . History of Education, 52(1), 1-2.
- . British Journal of Educational Studies, 71(1), 71-97.
- . Nordic Journal of Educational History, 9(2), 149-155.
- . Intellectual History Review, 32(3), 347-357.
- . Intellectual History Review, 32(3), 473-501.
- . History of Education, 46(2), 143-146.
- Motivation, Identity and Collaboration in the Scholarly Networks of the British Empire, 1830-1930. Jahrbuch für Universitätsgeschichte, 18, 125-142.
- . Journal of Global History, 11(3), 313-319.
- . History and Technology, 32(2), 120-136.
- . Cultural and Social History, 11(3), 367-384.
- . History of Education, 43(6), 777-792.
- . Journal of Victorian Culture, 19(4), 425-441.
- . The English Historical Review, 129(536), 238-240.
- . Punishment & Society, 15(5), 587-589.
- National, Nordic or European? Nineteenth-century university jubilees and Nordic cooperation. HISTORISK TIDSSKRIFT, 92(1), 133-135.
- . History of Education, 42(1), 23-44.
- . Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 4(1), 63-82.
- . Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 4(1), 1-5.
- Editor's Introduction: Juvenile Delinquency, Modernity and the State. Social Justice: a journal of crime, conflict and world order, 37(4), 1-10.
- Reconciling Classical and Christian Culture? Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations in Victorian Scholarship. New Voices in Classical Reception Studies, 7, 1-12.
- . History of Universities, 25(2), 143-172.
- What would Marcus Aurelius have done? Stoic Masculinity in Victorian Schooling?. Leeds Working Papers in Victorian Studies, 11, 79-89.
- . The English Historical Review, CXXIV(511), 1528-1530.
- . Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies, 3(2), 103-110.
- . Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies, 2(2), 119-124.
- . Critical Survey, 20(3).
- Huxley s ancestry. NATURE, 63, 127-127.
- Control, resistance and the senses: neurodivergent perspectives of the UK school meals service, a case study. Oral History Review.
- ‘Not in the college but city’: Networks of Higher Learning in Manchester before 1824. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library.
Chapters
- , Routledge Historical Resources - 19th Century British Society Routledge
- Literacies, CULTURAL HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN THE AGE OF EMPIRE, VOL. 5 (pp. 139-154).
- Introduction: Education in the Age of Empire, 1800-1920 In Ellis H (Ed.), A Cultural History of Education in the Age of Empire (pp. 1-16). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Education in the Age of Empire 1800-1920 Introduction, CULTURAL HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN THE AGE OF EMPIRE, VOL. 5 (pp. 1-15).
- , Springer International Handbooks of Education (pp. 741-757). Springer Singapore
- , Springer International Handbooks of Education (pp. 1-17). Springer Singapore
- , Politics, Professionals and Practitioners (pp. 57-71). Routledge
- In Jöns H, Meusberger P & Heffernan M (Ed.), Mobilities of Knowledge (pp. 141-155). Cham: Springer.
- In Chagnon M-E & Irish T (Ed.), The Academic World in the Era of the Great War (pp. 43-64). Palgrave Macmillan
- From the French Revolution to Tractarianism: Student Revolt and Generational Identity at the º£½ÇÉçÇø of Oxford, 1800-1845 In Dhondt P & Boran E (Ed.), Student Revolt, City, and Society in Europe (pp. 136-151). Abingdon: Routledge.
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 1-17). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 85-116). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831-1918 Conclusion, MASCULINITY AND SCIENCE IN BRITAIN, 1831-1918 (pp. 205-210).
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 179-203). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 117-148). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 149-178). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 19-47). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Masculinity and Science in Britain, 1831–1918 (pp. 49-84). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- In Sellars J (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition (pp. 319-330). London: Routledge.
- , Transnational Histories of Youth in the Twentieth Century (pp. 70-91). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Juvenile Delinquency and the Limits of Western Influence, 1850–2000 (pp. 1-16). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Anglo-German Scholarly Networks in the Long Nineteenth Century (pp. 21-38). BRILL
- , Anglo-German Scholarly Networks in the Long Nineteenth Century (pp. 176-194). BRILL
- , The Nation State and Beyond (pp. 127-148). Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- In Brockliss L & Sheldon N (Ed.) Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Mass Education and the Limits of State Building, c.1870–1930 (pp. 46-70). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , What is Masculinity? (pp. 263-282). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Corporal Punishment in the English Public School in the Nineteenth Century In Brockiss LWB & Montgomery H (Ed.), Childhood and Violence in the Western Tradition Oxford: Oxbow Books Limited.
- Introduction In Ellis HL & Meyer J (Ed.), Masculinity and the Other Historical Perspectives (pp. 1-19). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Newman and Arnold: Classics, Christianity and Manliness in Tractarian Oxford In Stray C (Ed.), Oxford Classics Teaching and Learning 1800-2000 (pp. 46-63). London: Duckworth.
Book reviews
- Manliness in Britain, 1760-1900: Bodies, Emotion, and Material Culture. VICTORIAN STUDIES, 64(3), 476-477.
- . The Journal of Modern History, 94(1), 192-193.
- . Metascience, 29(3), 461-463.
- . Isis, 111(2), 436-436.
- . History of Education, 48(1), 142-143.
- . Paedagogica Historica, 54(4), 523-524.
- . Journal of Modern History, 89(4), 936-937.
- . The Classical Review, 67(2), 557-559.
- . The Economic History Review, 68(3), 1080-1081.
- . History, 100(341), 469-471.
- . History of Education, 44(1), 115-117.
- , 1-2.
- . Women's History Review.
- . Nordic Journal of Educational History, 8(1).
Conference proceedings papers
- Whewell, Gender and Science. William Whewell: Victorian Polymath. Pittsburgh
- Enlightened Networks: Anglo-German Collaboration in Classical Scholarship. ANGLO-GERMAN SCHOLARLY NETWORKS IN THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY, Vol. 43 (pp 23-37)
Datasets
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Other
- . History of Education.
- . History of Education, 49(1), 1-3.
- . Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
- Refereeing for the following journals: Cultural and Social History, English Historical Review, Historical Journal, History of Education, History of Universities, Journal of Victorian Culture
- Member of the Executive Committee of the History of Education Society and member of the Editorial board for the Society’s journal, History of Education.
- Co-convenor of the BERA History SIG