Contact
Biography
I am a historian of 19th and 20th century Britain. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Lord Dearing recipient and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of my varied contributions to the discipline and teaching and learning.
My current research explores rural health histories. It examines the historic relationship between rural communities, farming and mental health, highlighting how crises in the countryside are significant triggers to mental ill health. Key focal areas including lived experiences and the 'voice' of the countryside, media reporting and awareness raising, and policy responses. Published work includes a book chapter, 'Narrating and navigating patient experiences of farm work in English psychiatric institutions, 1845-1914' in A. Hanley and J. Meyer (eds) Patient Voices in Britain, 1840-1948 (Manchester University Press, 2021). In addition, I am writing my second monograph, Farming, Psychiatry and Rural Society: Asylum and Hospital Farms, England 1845-1955 (under contract with Routledge). The research also engages with current crises in the countryside, including delivering a policy briefing in response to COVID-19.
I am interested in the uses of history in the community including public history, engagement and impact; the relationship between cultural stimuli and mental health and wellbeing; and the role of place and space in education. I curated the Life on the Land exhibition in 2016, launched the University's History Festival in 2017 (which I continue to organise) and will be curating a new and exciting exhibition in conjunction with Manuscripts and Special Collections for 2025. I am the Impact and Knowledge Exchange Lead for the Department of History.
My teaching career of over twenty years has encompassed Adult Education as well as Higher Education. I joined the Department of History at the University of Nottingham in 2015.
I have developed alternative and creative assessments as part of my modules and advised the department on such assessments. I am also interested in student engagement through public history and public engagement initiatives.
I received the Lord Dearing Award for excellence in teaching and learning in 2023.
I was awarded Best Personal Tutor (Faculty of Arts) in 2021. I was previously awarded Highly Commended in the category of Best Personal Tutor in 2019.
I have a number of national leadership roles including Co-Convenor of History UK. I am also a member of the Executive Committee of the British Agricultural History Society.
Expertise Summary
My expertise is in British history (19th and 20th century), with particular emphasis on rural health histories, rural communities, agricultural workers, the relationship between town and country, and knowledge networks. I undertake and publish pedagogical research and am Co-Convenor of History UK.
Teaching Summary
My teaching is research led, in terms of content and/or pedagogy.
I have undertaken pedagogical research that informs my practice including work on student engagement, creative assessment, collaborative community engagement projects, employability, widening participation, and mental health and wellbeing. I received the Lord Dearing Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2023. I have also been awarded the PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I have previously convened Themes in Early Modern Europe (year one survey module), Consumers and Citizens: Society and Culture in Eighteenth Century England (year two option), The Many Faces of Reform: British Politics 1790-1850 (year three option) and Rural Life in Victorian England (year three special subject) and Exploring English Identity (MA module). I usually teach the final year special subject, HIST 3091: A Green and (Un) Pleasant Land? Society, Culture and the Evolution of the British Society, contribute to HIST 1001 Learning History and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.
In Autumn 2023, I will be convening and teaching on HIST 2046 - Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1790-1930 (year two option).
I will be on Study Leave during Spring 2024.
Supervising PhD research I am able to supervise students in aspects of health and disability histories, patient narratives of mental illness and psychiatric institutions, histories of the countryside, histories of poverty.
I am Co-Convenor of History UK, a national body representing and promoting History in UK Higher Education
I undertake pedagogical research relating to student engagement, creative and alternative assessment, public history and heritage in the curriculum, community engagement projects, and employability.
I have developed alternative and creative assessments as part of my modules and advised the department on such assessments. I am also interested in student engagement through public history and public engagement initiatives.
I am an advocate of widening participation (WP) and outreach and community engagement. I initiated and continue to lead the History Festival. I am a member of Steering Committee of the East Midlands Centre for Learning and Teaching in History.
Research Summary
My principal research interests are focussed on 19th to 20th century British history, including rural health histories, asylum and hospital farms, rural communities, agricultural workers, the… read more
Recent Publications
HOLLAND. S., 2022. 'Promoting and Accelerating the Progress of Agriculture': A Case Study of Agricultural Societies in the Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England. In: YVES SEGERS AND LEEN VAN MOLLE, ed., Agricultural Knowledge Networks in Rural Europe, 1700-2000 Boydell and Brewer.
HOLLAND, S, 2021. Narrating and navigating patient experiences of farm work in English psychiatric institutions, 1845–1914. In: A. HANLEY AND J. MEYER, ed., Patient Voices in Britain, 1840–1948
HOLLAND, S., 2017. Farm Service and Hiring Practices in Mid Nineteenth Century England: The Doncaster Region in Yorkshire. In: WHITTLE, J., ed., Servants in Rural Europe c. 1400-1900 Boydell. 183-202
Current Research
My principal research interests are focussed on 19th to 20th century British history, including rural health histories, asylum and hospital farms, rural communities, agricultural workers, the relationship between town and country, and knowledge networks.
I am currently working on rural health histories and asylum and hospital farms. This research forms the basis of my second monograph, Farming, Psychiatry and Rural Society: Asylum and Hospital Farms, England 1845-1955 (under contract with Routledge, due to be published in 2023), and explores the inter-relationship between farming, rural communities and mental health. The role of patient narratives and extracting these from 'official' institutional narratives is the subject of my book chapter: 'Narrating and Navigating Patient Experiences of Farm Work in English Psychiatric Institutions, 1845-1914' in A. Hanley and J. Meyer (eds), Patient Voices in Britain, 1840-1948 (Manchester University Press, 2021).
My first monograph, Communities in Contrast explores how and why rural communities developed in the mid nineteenth century, and demonstrates what a northern market town and its rural hinterland can tell us about village differentiation, exploring how and why rural communities developed in what was chiefly an industrial region and how the relationship between town and country affected rural communities.
Other research interests and publications examine the contrasting experience of agricultural workers including agricultural labourers and farm servants, the role of the hiring fair, housing conditions and wages, unrest and protest; the relationship between town and countryside; and knowledge networks.
I have also undertaken research exploring the relationship between cultural stimuli (including history, the arts and culture) and mental health and wellbeing, and between place and memory and learning experiences, which identified links between community history projects and positive mental health and well being, and the role of place and memory in education. I am currently exploring opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations through the Health Humanities Curriculum Development Group and with colleagues in the Schools of English and of Medicine (via successful Impact Accelerator Award funding for 'Performing CP: Ageing, Access and Healthcare' - Co-I).
I undertake pedagogical research relating to student engagement, creative and alternative assessment, public history and heritage in the curriculum, community engagement projects, and employability.