Birkbeck welcomes Sir Richard J. Evans as Visiting Professor
The distinguished historian will join the College in October, where he will deliver masterclasses and lectures, and participate in public history events.
Professor Sir Richard J. Evans is set to join Birkbeck’s Department of History, Classics and Archaeology as a Visiting Professor this October.
Professor Evans is one of the country’s foremost historians, well-known both within and outside of academia for his research on nineteenth and twentieth-century Europe, and his expertise on modern Germany in particular.
He is the author of more than 20 books, which over the years have seen him win the Wolfson History Prize, the British Academy Leverhulme Prize and Medal, the Medlicott Medal of the Historical Association, the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History and the Medal for Arts and Sciences of the City of Hamburg. His most recent publication is The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914 (Penguin, 2016) and his biography of Eric Hobsbawm, historian and former President of Birkbeck, will be published early in 2019.
Professor Evans holds honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford and London. In 2012 he was knighted for services to scholarship. He was Regius Professor of History at Cambridge and President of Wolfson College, Cambridge until his retirement in 2014, and currently serves as Provost of Gresham College, London.
Professor Jan Rüger, Head of the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, said: “In many ways, Professor Evans is coming back home to Birkbeck. He is a Fellow of the College and was previously its Acting Master, as well as Professor of History and Head of Department. Re-joining Birkbeck in this new capacity speaks volumes about his commitment to our unique mission. We look forward to welcoming him back this autumn. Students and colleagues alike will be able to benefit from his masterclasses, lectures and public history events.”
Professor Evans said: “I am delighted to be rejoining Birkbeck after two decades at Cambridge, and look forward to engaging once again with some of the UK's liveliest and most stimulating students.”