Research projects
Current projects
Academics based at the University of Sheffield lead a diverse range of projects engaging with aspects of the early modern world.
Conversation and community
Period: 1475–1675
Funding: Leverhulme [–2018]
Details: Explores English dialogue as a form of writing from the late medieval period to the seventeenth century, tracing its development and impact on a culture of political participation and emergent sense of citizenship.
Field: Literature, History
SCEMS contact: Cathy Shrank
Digital panopticon
Period: 1780–1925
Funding: AHRC [–2017]
Details: Joining up geneaological, biometric and criminal justice data to explore the global impact of Old Bailey sentencing.
Field: History, Digital Humanities
SCEMS contacts: Robert Shoemaker; Sharon Howard; Richard Ward
Website: digitalpanopticon.org
From servants to staff: the whole community in the Chatsworth household
Period: 1700–2000
Funding: AHRC [–2018]
Details: Using extensive archival materials from the Devonshire Collection and employing an innovative historical-linguistic approach to gain an understanding of the wider community who have lived and worked at Chatsworth. More on the University of Sheffield website.
Field: History, English, Linguistics
SCEMS contacts: Jane Hodson, Hannah Wallace, Lauren Butler, Fiona Clapperton
Intoxicating spaces
Period: c.1600–c.1850
Funding: HERA
Details: Focusing on four European cities between c.1600 and c.1850 – Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, and Stockholm – this two-year project (2019–21) explores the impact of new intoxicants on urban public spaces, the role of urban public spaces in assimilating them into European behaviours, and the often exploitative international systems through which they were produced, trafficked, and consumed.
Field: History
SCEMS contacts: Phil Withington, James Brown (project manager)
Website: intoxicatingspaces.org
Linguistic DNA
Period: 1500–1800
Funding: AHRC [–2018]
Details: Modelling conceptual change with digital methods and data from EEBO and ECCO.
Field: English, Linguistics, Digital Humanities
SCEMS contacts: Susan Fitzmaurice, Iona Hine, Seth Mehl
Website: linguisticdna.org
Music in the art of Renaissance Italy
Period: 1420–1540
Funding: Leverhulme [–2017]
Details: Making sense of the social and cultural history of music in Italy expressed in art, with a database of painted, manuscript and woodcut images.
Field: Music, Art History
SCEMS contacts: Tim Shephard, Sanna Raninen, Serenella Sessini, Laura Stefanescu, Patrick McMahon
Website: sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/mari-project/home
Shakespeare in schools
Period: 1590–1616
Funding: Engaged Curriculum (TUOS) [2016]
Details: Literature students support the teaching of Shakespeare at a local school.
Field: Shakespeare, Education
SCEMS contact: Tom Rutter (t.rutter@sheffield.ac.uk)
Projects hosted at other institutions
SCEMS members are also involved in the following projects:
The Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne (Oxford)
Period: 1615–1630
Funding: AHRC [-2016]
Details: Dr Rhatigan is editing the first of two volumes of sermons Donne preached at Lincoln’s Inn between 1616 and 1623; the complete OUP series will contain 16 volumes.
Field: Literature
SCEMS member: Emma Rhatigan
The Thomas Nashe Project (Newcastle)
Period: 1567–1601
Funding: AHRC [-2020]
Details: Producing scholarly edition of the works of Thomas Nashe (6 vols.), animating the study of Nashe through additional resources, and events such as performances of his entertainment.
Field: Literature
SCEMS member: Cathy Shrank
Website: research.ncl.ac.uk/thethomasnasheproject
Who were the nuns? (QMUL)
Period: 1600-1800
Funding: AHRC [-2013]
Details: A Prosopographical study of the English Convents in exile.
SCEMS member: Nicky Hallett
Website: wwtn.history.qmul.ac.uk