Contact
Biography
I am a historian of 18th to 20th century Britain. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 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.
Previous, and in some instances ongoing, research examines how and why rural communities developed in the nineteenth century, I have pursued research addressing the experience of agricultural workers, the relationship between town and country, and knowledge networks. My first monograph, Communities in Contrast, was published in 2019.
I am also 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 Adult Education and Higher Education. I curated the Life on the Land exhibition in 2016 and launched the University's History Festival in 2017.
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 a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 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 organise the Department's History Festival and am currently the Impact Lead for the Department. I am also the Widening Participation and Outreach Lead for the Department.
I have a number of national curriculum leadership roles. I am the Education Officer for History UK. I am the Chair of History Lab Plus, an organisation that provides support and training for Early Career Historians. I am a member of the Executive Committee of the British Agricultural History Society.
I was nominated in the categories of Best Dissertation Supervisor and Best Personal Tutor in the UoN Staff Oscars in 2021. 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.
Expertise Summary
My expertise is in British history (18th to 20th century), with particular emphasis on rural health histories, rural communities, agricultural workers, the relationship between town and country, and knowledge networks.
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 have been awarded the PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I have previously convened a year two option (Consumers and Citizens: Society and Culture in Eighteenth Century England), a year three option (V13283 The Many Faces of Reform: British Politics 1790-1850) and my third year special subject (V13553 Rural Life in Victorian England) at the University of Nottingham. I also regularly contribute to HIST 1001 Learning History.
In 2022-23 I will be:
* Teaching on the following undergraduate modules: - Year 1 - HIST 1006 From Reformation to Revolution: An Introduction to Early Modern History
- Year 2 - HIST 2046 Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930
- Year 3 - HIST 3091 A Green and (Un) Pleasant Land: Society, Culture and the Evolution of the British Countryside, 1800-1918
* Convening the following undergraduate modules: - HIST 1006 From Reformation to Revolution: An Introduction to Early Modern History
- HIST 2046 Poverty, Disease and Disability: Britain, 1795-1930
- HIST 3091 A Green and (Un) Pleasant Land: Society, Culture and the Evolution of the British Countryside, 1800-1918
* Convening and teaching on the following postgraduate module: - HIST 4019 Exploring English Identity
* Supervising undergraduate dissertations
* Supervising PhD research
I am an advocate of widening participation (WP) and outreach and community engagement. I am currently the WP and Outreach Co-Lead and contribute to a range of WP sessions, lead a secondary schools collaboration with history undergraduates, and 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.
I undertake pedagogical research relating to student engagement, creative and alternative assessment, public history and heritage in the curriculum, community engagement projects, and employability.