Professor Helen Parish to leave University for new role

Professor Helen Parish, Head of the School of Humanities, is to depart the University for a new role.

Helen, who is currently a Professor of History at Reading, is to join Worcester College, Oxford, as its Senior Tutor in January 2023, following almost 24 years at Reading.

Helen became a Lecturer in the Department of History in 1999 and was promoted to Professor in 2014. She spent two terms as Head of Department, commencing in 2005 and 2016.

Her teaching and research focuses on religion and belief in the period between 1300 and 1700, with a particular interest in the history of the European Reformations, as well as ideas about magic, witchcraft and the supernatural, and the connections between religion and natural history. She was Director of the University’s Early Modern Research Centre between 2014 and 2016.

She has been Head of the School of Humanities for four years.

The Head of School of Humanities role is currently being advertised for applicants.

Helen said: “I am very much looking forward to my new role, but will be sad to leave behind an academic community in which I have deep roots, and a group of colleagues who have been a constant and irreplaceable source of support, companionship and intellectual curiosity over the years.

“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as Head of School in Humanities, and I wish the School and the University every success in the future.”

Professor Mark Fellowes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Planning and Resource), said: “We thank Helen for her magnificent contribution to the University over the past two decades.

“Helen has been a dedicated, knowledgable and supportive colleague, who has given her time generously within the School of Humanities and to others across the wider University and beyond. We wish her all the best in her new role.”