History and Well-Being: a Historian's Perspective

'History and Well-Being: a Historian's Perspective'

Professor David Stack (University of Reading)

Royal Historical Society public lecture at Sheffield Hallam University, 5.45pm, Wednesday 18 February 2026, followed by a reception.

Sheffield Hallam University,

Peak Lecture Theatre, Owen Building, Level 5,

City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB

, showing the Owen Building

Part of the Society's visit to historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield on 18 February 2026. Please note this event will be followed by a reception and chance to meet the Society's President, Professor Lucy Noakes, and members of the Royal Historical Society's Council.

The term ‘well-being’ first appeared in English in the early sixteenth century and has become ubiquitous in the first quarter of the twenty-first.

For many its widespread use highlights an acute crisis: according to the World Health Organization, around 1 in 8 of the world’s population are living with a mental disorder, most commonly anxiety, depression, and loneliness. For others, more sceptical of the term, its ubiquity is either a symptom of a society gone soft or, more perspicaciously, of a tendency to individualize and pathologize problems which are, at root, social and collective.

How should historians respond to these differing views of well-being? What does history have to tell us about the term and its use? Does the study of history contribute to or detract from well-being? Is our profession part of the problem? How can historians engage positively with the well-being agenda?

This lecture argues that history can and should make a unique contribution, both to the concept and the practice of well-being. The study of history can deepen our understanding of the structural forces that shape well-being, and, by self-consciously integrating a well-being agenda into our research and teaching, we can simultaneously enhance the well-being of ourselves and our students and demonstrate the relevance of history to one of the most important public policy debates of our time.

This is a public lecture which forms part of the Society's visit to historians at the at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield on 18 February 2026.

All are very welcome to attend the lecture which will take place at 5.45pm and is followed by a reception at 7pm.

is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Reading. He specialises in nineteenth century scientific and economic thought. His interest in wellbeing developed both from his research on John Stuart Mill and his experiences as an educator.

David is the author of ‘Promoting Well-being through History Teaching’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (2024) and co-author, with Dr Dina Rezk, of the forthcoming Wellbeing and History: reflections on the past, present and future (CUP, 2027).

On 18 February 2026, members of the Society's Council will be visiting historians at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield to learn more about their work and to discuss topics of interest and concern.

The Society's visit to Sheffield is one of several such events taking place in late 2025 and early 2026. Other recent visits have included to the University of Aberdeen (September, 2025), the University of Suffolk (October 2025), and a joint visit to historians at the UCL Institute of Education and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, to consider being a historian in a non-History department (December 2025).

Later in 2026, the Society will visit historians at Aberystwyth University, the University of Strathclyde and the University of the West of England.

Each visit includes a public guest lecture, with further details of these events - open to all - from the Society's Events pages.

HEADER IMAGE: Sunset Sky, John Frederick Kensett American,1872, Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, New York, public domain.

The is a learned society with charitable status, working to support historians and history. It receives no government funding and relies on income from membership subscriptions, sales of selected publications and voluntary donations.

If you would like to make a small donation to the Royal History Society, to support this and future events, please visit our page. Thank you.

If you are interested in joining the Royal Historical Society, please see the page of our website. The Society welcomes applications from all kinds of historians and those interested in history. Its membership options include Fellowship, Associate Fellowship, Membership and Postgraduate Membership for MA and PhD students.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street, Sheffield City Centre, United Kingdom

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