Molly Fowles, Graduate Surveyor

After graduating with BA in English Literature and History joint honours, I completed a summer placement with a Chartered Surveyors and Property Consultants company, which resulted in me being offered a Graduate Training role in their Valuation and Professional Practise team. I am now working towards chartership to become a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors by completing my APC (Assessment of Professional Competence). The company was keen to diversify and move away from their usual candidates (graduates with RICS accredited degrees), finding that students with backgrounds in the arts were more well-rounded individuals with skill sets useful to the industry. I have found that my communication abilities - with an emphasis on interpersonal skills and being able to read a room - are extremely beneficial in much of the day to day tasks of a surveyor, a skill that was fortified as an English Literature and History student through seminar discussions and debates.

Travis D Frain OBE BCA, Lecturer in Policing, Advisor & Former CTYAG National Chair, Counter Terrorism Policing HQ

I completed my undergraduate degree in 2019 and, unsure of where I wanted to go with my career, I enrolled with Lancaster on the MA International and Military History, which I completed in 2020. I knew I wanted to work in counterterrorism but was unaware of how best to apply the knowledge and skills I'd gained from studying History at BA Level. This MA programme allowed me to flesh out my interest for the area and study in far more detail the subjects that interested me, and I was able to combine my fledgling experience on contemporary national security matters, with a historical bank of knowledge that has assisted me in my day-to-day work life ever since! I am very grateful to Lancaster for the range of teaching that I was provided with on this course, and I would absolutely recommend this MA to anyone seeking to explore conflict and warfare throughout the past few thousand years of human history.

Heidi Nagaitis, Media and Thought Leadership, Siemens UK

A history degree at Lancaster gave me the opportunity to study a topic I was passionate about whilst honing key skills for the jobs market. Despite the wide range of time periods and subject matter, there is a consistent focus on crafting a compelling argument that is well researched and delivers a clear point of view. This is a core skill I've used throughout my career in communications and marketing. Initially working agency-side and now in-house as Thought Leadership lead UK/EU at a large energy company, my role focuses on developing consistent and compelling messages for a wide range of audiences through executive speechwriting, media activity, content creation and campaign development.

The company I now work for covers multiple energy technologies, all with their own policy, social and economic standpoints. This means that in my current day-to-day I'm talking about many different topics with both an expert and a more novice audience. The varied approach at degree-level helped me to develop this ability to retain complex information and quickly assess how to use it in the right way. In my role I work with a number of history graduates, who are recognised for their analytical thinking, skilled content development and their journalistic ability to interrogate a source. I would have no hesitation in recommending the course at Lancaster - it was a solid foundation from which to build my career.

Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere, MA Politics Student, Lancaster University

I graduated in the summer of 2023 with a First Class degree in History and Politics. The opportunity to explore the developments of the Global South and racial inequalities across the globe has defined many aspects of my past and present steps as a student. Above all, my degree taught me the 'personal is political'. Critical engagement with the communities I find myself in can produce real change — for myself and others. During my undergraduate degree, I was a member of the 'Why Is My Curriculum White?' campaign and the Race Equality Charter Committee at the University. Action and learning have always gone hand in hand for me and the self-growth that I have observed led me to stay and study a Master’s degree in Politics. I relish research about decolonisation and embrace sharing lessons I have learned. The MA programme allows me to specialise further in the field of Black British studies I first examined in my undergraduate dissertation. Contemporary significance of themes from that piece of work have paved the way to delivery of speeches, Widening Participation Projects and a Summer Internship over the last six months. The future is looking bright.

Sandra Liwanowska, PhD Student, University of Cambridge

As an international student stepping foot in England for the first time, Lancaster's History Department quickly emerged as the perfect academic home. What truly sets it apart is the diversity of historical topics available for students. The Department hosts a remarkable array of globally renowned experts, covering interests from the medieval era to the global south, digital humanities, the 20th century, and the history of science and medicine. There's something to spark curiosity in everyone, often in the most unexpected ways. Attending a particularly thrilling first-year lecture on Isaac Newton, I never expected to become enamoured with the history of early modern science. And yet, my degree in History at Lancaster paved the way to where I am today – a Master’s student at Cambridge with a secured PhD place for next year. Lancaster truly has a transformative effect in this regard! Consistently, the History staff stands ready to offer unwavering support and guidance, facilitating students in pursuit of their dreams. In summary, the History Department at Lancaster University represents a vibrant community, a nurturing environment, and a gateway to limitless opportunities. For that, I’ll always be thankful.

Elisha Foster, Curatorial Coordinator, National Football Museum

I completed my BA in History in 2020 and my MA in History in 2021. I chose to stay at Lancaster for my MA because of the bespoke nature of the course. The ability to tailor my course to focus on heritage and early modern elements was particularly appealing. Studying at Lancaster afforded me a number of opportunities that have been invaluable to me in pursuing a career in museums. I now work at The National Football Museum within the Collections team as a Curatorial Coordinator. My role is split between the museum in Manchester and its archive in Preston, and it’s great to be able to use skills and experience from both of my degrees every day. My role is a varied one, ranging from dealing with loans to and from other institutions, new acquisitions, and supporting exhibitions, to general collections management duties like environmental monitoring and object movement control. I also get to work with lots of volunteers and placement students, as well as researchers who use our archive on a weekly basis. A personal highlight so far has been going out to the FIFA museum in Switzerland to courier a pair of football boots for an exhibition last summer. Studying at Lancaster really developed my intellectual curiosity, which is a must have when working with collections.

Henry Whitington, Archive Assistant, Army Flying Museum

I completed my History BA in 2020 and my International and Military History MA in 2021. I chose to study this programme for a number of reasons. Firstly, I studied History at an undergraduate level at Lancaster and found the department to be fantastic. The staff are all friendly and engaging and the topics taught at undergraduate level were fascinating. I therefore wanted to continue my studies in a department which I knew cared about my education and wanted me to succeed. Secondly, I knew I wanted to start a career in the heritage sector and the International and Military History MA allowed me to take modules which were focused on heritage.

Jessica Naisbett, HEO Caseworker for the DBS

I completed my BA in History and Politics and graduated with first-class honours in July 2023. I loved my time at Lancaster and enjoyed choosing from a broad range of modules. After graduating, I partook in a summer internship organised by Lancaster University where I worked with Lakeland Arts to research cultural explorations of climate change. I gained significant experience by creating three reports which analysed the relationship between the public perception of environmental issues and how this is influenced by exhibitions at museums. After completing the internship, I set off on a six-month backpacking trip around Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia, which was a hugely valuable experience for me. On this trip, I was lucky enough to visit many historical sites which I learnt about during my degree. Now that I have returned home, I have started a career in the Civil Service. My role as a HEO Caseworker for the Disclosure and Barring Service enables me to use many of the investigative and analytical skills that I developed throughout my degree.

Estella Shaw, Communications and Visitor Engagement Assistant, The Foundling Museum

I completed my History BA (with First Class honours) in 2020 and my History MA (Heritage Pathway) in 2021. I loved studying at Lancaster, and my MA year was my favourite by far! Leaving university with a qualification associated with heritage really helped me get my foot in the door when I started to search for jobs in the extremely competitive museum sector. After I graduated, I managed to find a part time Visitor Engagement position at The Foundling Museum, in London, in which my main focus was accessibility and inclusion. After that, I was offered a full-time position that combined Visitor Engagement with Museum Communications. I’m putting the writing and research skills I learned in my MA to use daily, uncovering historical content for social media and communicating with the public and press to promote the museum’s work.

Lydia Thompson, Quality Assurance Tester, Sports Interactive

I earned a First-Class BA Honours degree in History in 2022. During my studies I combined my passions for history and gaming to develop a game that explored the history of the plague in early modern Italy. Since completing my degree, and writing my dissertation on the 16th/17th-century priest Matteo Ricci’s translations and interpretations of Confucius, I have started a career in the gaming industry as a Quality Assurance Tester at Sports Interactive, the world’s leading developer of football management simulations. The research skills and perspective gained from my degree have allowed me to passionately invest myself into my work across multiple platforms, and I often find my history knowledge comes in handy when investigating and explaining the many challenges in the world of sport today!

Andrew Williams, MPhil History Student, UWI Mona, Jamaica

In 2021, I graduated from Lancaster University with a BA (Hons) in History and Politics. During my final-year, I found my passion lay in research after participating in Lancaster Black History Group's 'Slavery Family Trees' project as a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences intern. Subsequently, I took up a one-year position as a Collections Assistant at Victoria Gallery & Museum, part of the University of Liverpool. In this role, I researched the history and provenance of the University's diverse collections, encompassing art, heritage, archaeology and the library. In 2022, I applied for and was awarded a Study Abroad Studentship from the Leverhulme Trust, which has funded an MPhil in History at the University of the West Indies, Mona, located in Jamaica. My thesis research focuses on the economic history of Jamaica in the eighteenth century.