Oral History Unit and Collective

The Collective operates on the basis of project funding and continues to ensure Newcastle's international reputation as a leading provider of high quality oral history research and teaching.

The Oral History Unit & Collective at Newcastle University was launched in January 2018 with a four-year University strategic investment grant. Since then we operate on a funded project basis through winning competitive bids and directly contracted work.

We continue to collaborate across diverse academic disciplines on an equitable basis, from creative arts to medicine, and in partnership with researchers from across the world, as well as history groups and community historians. Our research and teaching explores the role of oral history in communicating the past in the present. The Collective's blog The Lug provides an online space to share news, events and reflections on our current research and teaching.

We also continue to operate a reading group, drop-ins and produce a newsletter and workshops.

 

Green Corridors Funding Success

The Oral History Collective is part of a new £3m AHRC-funded project connecting communities with nature, history, and culture to boost biodiversity and wellbeing across the North East, including research on the Tyne Derwent Way.

Rebalancing the Global Story of HIV Through Oral History

Dr Wendy Rickard, a member of the Oral History Collective, has secured a prestigious Daphne Jackson Fellowship, for her project, ‘Disrupted Narratives, Exposed Voices: A Global Analysis of HIV Oral History and its Public Dissemination’.

Oral Histories of Care: Caring Communities

Caring Communities: Rethinking Children’s Social Care, 1800–present is a seven-year project (UKRI) led by Dr Claudia Soares. It seeks to transform our understanding of care through oral histories, archival research, and creative methods.

Newcastle General Hospital (NGH) Community History Project

A pilot project is capturing oral histories from retired NGH nurses to engage the community in reimagining the future of the former hospital site as a Health Innovation Neighbourhood.

Introducing Oral History into Iraqi Higher Education Research and Teaching

Funded by the British Academy, Professors Alaa Alameri and Graham Smith co-authored Iraq’s first Arabic oral history guide, launching a new university module through a partnership between Mustansiriyah and Newcastle University.

Preserving Byker’s Vibrant Past with Oral History

Silvie Fisch’s work spotlights the untold grassroots history behind Newcastle’s iconic Byker Estate, highlighting the role of local activism in shaping its redevelopment and preserving its human narrative through oral history, exhibitions,

Environmental Oral History

Building on the Living Deltas Hub, Graham Smith and partners are expanding intergenerational oral history work to inform ageing and environmental policy in Africa and South Asia.

Be Part of the Collective

If you would like to be part of the Oral History Collective, the first step is to sign up to our monthly mailing list.

You may also like to come along to a drop-in or join our monthly online reading group, please email oralhistory@newcastle.ac.uk 

Or join the online community through our blog, The Lug.