About
The University of Chicago’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of Britain, the Nicholson Center for British Studies has as its mission supporting and sustaining innovative new work in this broad and ever-changing field. We program events, support faculty and student research, and facilitate collaborations with scholars across the world.
Our affiliated scholars are based in departments across Humanities and Social Sciences, the Schools of Law and Divinity. Together they have generated some of the most influential challenges to the orthodoxies in the study of British and colonial history and culture in recent years. They ensure that British Studies at the University of Chicago continues to be a highly contested, rigorous, and dynamic field of enquiry.
Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Schaffner Distinguished Visiting Professor, speaking on “Inheriting the Nation: Fathers, Sons (and Daughters) and the Anxiety of Influence”, May 2022.
What we do
Fund student research fellowships for travel to the British Isles and Ireland
Award Nicholson prizes to students for research in British Studies
Host international scholars on campus and sponsor signature lectures in British Studies by Faculty and visiting scholars, including the annual Alison Winter Lecture
Co-sponsor national and international conferences and collaborations in British Studies and related areas
Support events on campus featuring the creative arts in Britain and its former colonies
Alison Winter
Alison Winter, Professor of History and Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science at the University of Chicago, was the Director of the Nicholson Center from 2013 until her death in 2016. To honor her memory and to continue her work, the Nicholson Center established a series of annual lectures.