The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has been awarded a highly regarded Athena Swan Silver Award, becoming only the second faculty of its kind in the UK to receive this distinction. This milestone acknowledges the significant progress made in advancing gender equality across all departments and highlights a firm commitment to continued improvement through to 2030.

Congratulations to Graham Barrett whose book Text and Textuality in Early Medieval Iberia has won 2025 La Corónica International Book Award.

Twenty-six academic papers, all devoted to exploring the political uses of humour were presented in the conference showing how humour can be used as a deeply human form of resistance.

Professor of History Justin Willis explains the ongoing conflict in Sudan, and explores what could happen next.

Congratulations to Rachel E. Johnson, who has just published her book Voice, Silence and Gender in South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle: The Shadow of a Young Woman.

History department is leading one of the three Inventing Futures research programmes funded by a generous alumni donation for the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS).

Chris Bahl's book Mobile Manuscripts. Arabic Learning across the Early Modern Western Indian Ocean has been published by Cambridge University Press.

Harriet Strahl, a PhD student in our History department, has shed new light on the emotional and societal repercussions of the 1120 White Ship disaster.

Benedetta Carnaghi (BA Newton International Fellow) and Helen Roche (Associate Professor in Modern European Cultural History) are organising a conference in the Department of History on ‘Laughter as a Political Coping Mechanism: Interdisciplinary Approaches’.

Dr Radha Kapuria’s book has *received a Special Mention* by a book award that recognises non-fiction work on the history of India.

Thanks to a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Associate Professor Alex Barber will create awareness around an undercelebrated month.

On 27 and 28 November, former British diplomat Ian Proud, who served in Thailand, Afghanistan and Russia, held a variety of events for students from Durham University's History Department and School of Modern Languages and Cultures.