Dr Tracey Loughran appointed Deputy Dean (Research) for Humanities

Dr Tracey Loughran from our Department of History has been appointed Deputy Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Humanities.

In this role Dr Loughran will provide research leadership within the Faculty, strengthen the research culture, and ensure that her colleagues are fully supported to pursue the research that matters to them and to the world around them.

Dr Loughran, who recently received Wellcome Trust funding for a major research project on women’s health in the postwar period, is looking forward to exploring the work of all of the departments within the Faculty:

“As the historian Stefan Collini argues, work in the humanities is bound up with the most fundamental aspects of being human - it involves questions about what it is to live a life, and about how those questions should be asked. 

“I am really looking forward to finding out more about how humanities scholars at Essex tackle those questions from diverse standpoints - philosophy, history, art history, literature, film studies, theatre studies, journalism, law - and to opening my own mind to new ways of thinking about these fundamental questions.”

Dr Loughran joined Essex earlier this year, having previously worked at the University of Manchester and Cardiff University. She is a historian of 20th century Britain, with particular interests in the interaction of ideas and experiences of body, mind and self.

As she gets started in her new role, Dr Loughran wants to help bring researchers together. 

“My first aim is to get to grips with all the research activity that is already happening here. That will be a massive task! I'm then planning to set up some interdisciplinary research events. I've always believed that the most unexpected and productive conversations happen just by getting people in the same room, talking about things that they believe in. Everything starts there.”

Professor Andrew Le Sueur, Executive Dean for the Humanities, said: “I’m greatly looking forward to working with Tracey. I know she will bring an innovative approach to her leadership role in supporting research activity across our departments.”