Image: Magnus Bergström, © Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
Image: Magnus Bergström, © Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
Our department is a dynamic research environment that combines many subjects within the humanities. The departmental researchers are active within archaeology, environmental archaeology, history, history of science and ideas, philosophy, religious studies and theology, as well as several interdisciplinary fields.
At the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, researchers and doctoral students work in an increasingly international environment. They participate in a number of projects which have, in different ways, distinguished themselves as prominent within technology and environmental studies, educational history, population history and gender studies. The department also hosts two national research infrastructures: The Environmental Archaeology Laboratory and the Strategic Environmental Archaeology Database (SEAD).
The department has several on-going seminar series within the various research areas and often hosts major academic conferences. We are actively working to strengthen our international knowledge exchange, primarily through guest lectures, conference participation, teaching exchange and international publications. In recent years we have also strengthened our collaboration with other faculties and universities thanks to externally financed projects.
See publications from our researchers.
Research projects within archaeology, philosophy, history, history of ideas, religious studies and theology.
Several scholars at the department work within interdisciplinary research groups.
Take part in our research seminars, workshops and conferences.
Archaeological research in Umeå focuses on prehistoric and historical time in Europe and the Nordic region.
The historical research deals with cultural and political processes as well as social and economic events.
The research subject combines perspectives from the fields of educational history and history didactics.
People's thoughts and ideas have a history that our researchers strive to analyse and understand.
Philosophy studies questions about the world and our existence, about norms, knowledge, reality, and language.
The research strives to increase our understanding of religion as a social and political phenomenon.
Theological research is important today. It can amongst other things help improve dialog between religions.