Research group: Leisure, consumption and material culture

About our research

Our research focuses on the ways in which leisure and consumption shape people’s lives and identities.

We investigate what material culture tells us about the social and cultural practices of past societies, from the Neolithic era to the 1960s.

The research we do has three themes:

community heritage and archaeology
sports history
histories of material culture and consumption

Our projects include:

exploring the Bryn Celli Ddu Neolithic burial chamber in Anglesey
social change in late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Britain and Ireland
heritage and wellbeing in India and Nigeria
the history of netball
the gendering of physical activity in boys and girls magazines
youth broadcasting in the 1930s and 1940s
teenage magazines after the Second World War
shopping in Victorian department stores
consumption and the country house

As well as conducting innovative projects, we also supervise a diverse range of research by our postgraduate students. You can find details of PhD or masters opportunities on our study with us page. Details of our members’ research interests and specialisms can be found on their staff profiles.

We also publish details about projects our current PhD students are working on, as well as information about our history research community.

We work with local, national and international history and heritage organisations and public bodies to share our findings.

Our members edit two journals:

Our research themes

Community heritage and archaeology

In our archaeological research, we use material culture – things, places and organic remains – to study human societies from the distant past to the recent present.

We make use of a suite of approaches, from engaging volunteers in archaeological digs to 3D digital modelling and radiocarbon dating.

A central theme of our work is the interpretation, presentation and politics of the past, which means we are active in critical heritage studies and public debates about heritage.

We work with government and international bodies to explore what accessibility, interpretation, sustainability and wellbeing mean for heritage sites and practices.

Sports history

We explore the international cultural and social impact of sport and leisure activities in different time periods.

In particular, we focus on the development of sports coaching and training in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the emergence of women’s sports.

A big part of our work is building networks with international scholars and helping the public to engage with our research, including through collaborative platforms such as Playing Pasts.

Histories of material culture and consumption

Our work seeks to further understanding of consumption practices and spaces - from broadcasting and publishing to shopping and home furnishing.

In particular, we examine:

the relationship between material culture, lifestyle and identity – for example in royal courts in Lorraine, France and England
how domestic settings were shaped by taste and aesthetics, practical concerns for bodily comfort and a desire to construct home as a place with emotional resonance
the development of print and broadcast media for young people

Selected projects

Comfort and the country house

Examining how the idea and importance of comfort in its many forms can be seen to develop in aristocratic homes during the eighteenth century.
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Project TIME

Exploring the history of major social change in third and fourth millennia Ireland and Britain.
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