Waseem Ahmed

Waseem’s research interests are in seventeenth century British political history broadly defined with his thesis investigating popular politics in 1650s England. This work is funded by UCL’s Research Opportunity Scholarship, in partnership with the Windsor Fellowship.

Waseem’s thesis investigates how non-elite men and women sought to reconcile themselves to the successive political regimes of the 1650s and involves scrutinising how people collaborated and demonstrated loyalty to the state through popular political processes and quotidian practices in their local communities. These quotidian practices include informing, petitioning, supporting pro-regime candidates in elections, co-operation of local government, support for the church and moral reform, and statements of loyalty in legal settings. His project draws from post-revisionist scholarship of the English Revolution as well as Ethan Shagan’s conceptualisation of ‘collaboration’ and Rachel Weil’s ideas on trust. By reconceptualising the experiences of ordinary people in the 1650s and studying how people sought to conform to new regimes, it will allow us to overcome a ‘deference/resistance paradigm’ that has dominated studies of the period which simultaneously: stifles the political agency of ordinary people, exaggerates popular hostility towards the state, and portrays the Restoration of Charles II as inevitable.

Waseem holds a BA in History (I:I) from the University of Birmingham where his undergraduate dissertation investigated divisions among Cromwellians during Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate. He then graduated with an MA (Distinction) in Early Modern History from University of Birmingham where his thesis analysed how members of the Cromwellian Protectorate were able to accommodate themselves to the Restoration government of Charles II.

PhD

Supervisor: Professor Jason Peacey (Primary Supervisor) and Dr Ed Legon (Secondary Supervisor)
Working title: Everyday Politics in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660
Expected completion date: 2025

Scholarships and Prizes

UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship to pursue PhD research (2021-2024)
UCL Student Choice Awards nominated for ‘Inspiring Teaching Delivery’ Award (2022-2023)
University of Birmingham Edna Pearson Studentship for Early Modern History MA (2020-2021)
University of Birmingham Masters Scholarship for Early Modern History MA (2020-2021)

Publications

‘The Long Road to the Restoration of Charles II’, A-Level History Modern History Review, (2025).
Book review of Imogen Peck, ‘Recollection in the Republics: Memories of the British Civil Wars, 1649-1659 (Oxford, 2021)’, Journal of British Studies, 62:4 (2023).
Book review of Jonathan Healey, ‘The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England (London, 2023), Counterfire, (2023).
Thought piece of Stewart Fergusson, ‘Coventry's Godly Magistrate: Robert Beake (1620-1708) soldier, mayor and MP’, University of Birmingham Centre for West Midlands History Blog, (2023)
‘Wenceslaus Hollar’s engraving of Strafford’s Execution’, and ‘Statue of Oliver Cromwell as Hercules’ in Andre Hopper (ed.), Civil Wars in 100 Objects (Birmingham, 2023).
Shakespeare's Richard II - Myth or Reality? The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Blog, 06/08/2018
Shakespeare’s Richard III - Myth or Reality? The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Blog, 30/07/2018

Under contract:

W. Ahmed and J. Rees (eds.), Christopher Hill and the English Revolution: The World Turned Upside Down Revisited. Includes ‘Introduction’ and ‘Loyalty, radicals and revolutionary politics in Christopher Hill’s English Republic’. Boydell and Brewer.

Conference Papers and Seminars

Negotiating Loyalty in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660, Tudor-Stuart Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, March 2025
Informing for profit or serving the public in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660, 'Profit-Taking' in History and Present: Obstinacy, domination and participation workshop, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, September 2024
Commemorating the Levellers: A View from Burford, Memories of the British Revolutions Conference, Newcastle University, September 2024
The popular political practice of informing in revolutionary England, 1649-1660, Social History Society, Durham University, July 2024
The Politics of Survival: Monarchical Cromwellians and the use of apology tracts at the Restoration, Bangor Conference on the Restoration: Reconciliation and its failures in the Stuart world, 1658-1715, Bangor University, July 2024
Denouncing for the state in revolutionary England, 1649-1660, Denunciation-Creating a culture of fear conference, Tartu, Estonia, June 2024
Negotiating Loyalty in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660, The Early Modern and Mediterranean Worlds Workshop (1200-1800), Chicago University, April 2024
Contested Loyalties in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660: The case of Thomas Violet’, St Andrews Early Modern Workshop, University of St Andrews, April 2024
Loyalty and reconciliation in the English Republics, 1649-1660: The case of Thomas Violet, North American Conference on British Studies, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, November 2023
The language of loyalty in the English Republics, 1649-1660, Early Modern England, Wales and the Atlantic: Postgraduate Symposium, Aberystwyth University, August 2023
Loyalty and informing practices in Revolutionary England 1649-1660, Medieval, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Seminar, University College London, April 2023
The Experience of Accommodation: ‘Monarchical Cromwellians and the Restoration of Charles II’, Politics and People Conference, Durham University, April 2022
Conceptualising Loyalty in the English Republic, Northern Early Modern Network, Online, April 2022
Elevated Pitches session, IHR History Lab, Online, December 2020

Public Engagement

The history of Levellers Day, Levellers Day 2025, Burford, May 2025
Interview on 17th century history three part series: Background and life as a research student, English Republics, Tips for A-Level students accompanied with a detailed recommended reading list with commentary, Mr Gunn History YouTube Channel, Online, February 2023
Everyday Politics in Revolutionary England, 1649-1660, an overview, UCL Institute of Americas, February 2023
Interviews and Applications for PhDs, In2Research widening access workshop, Online, February 2023
Developing an effective relationship with your supervisor, IHR History Lab, Online, October 2022
What is The MHR?, British Society for History of Science, Online April 2022

Teaching

2024-2025, Early Modern Worlds (4AAH0003), KCL, Department of History (1st year undergraduates, 2 weekly seminar classes for 20 week)
2024 UCL, Institute of Americas, Encountering the Americas: Key Themes and Concepts (AMER0038) (1st year undergraduates, Cover for 2 weekly seminar classes for four weeks)
Tudor and Stuart Britain: 1500-1700 (HIST0189), UCL Department for History, 2023/2024 (1st and 2nd year undergraduates, seminar lead for 3 classes for 5 weeks).
Encountering the Americas: Key Themes and Concepts (AMER0038) 2022/2023 (1st Year undergraduates, 2 weekly seminar classes and 1 lecture)

Other professional activities

Organising committee, Levellers Day (September 2024-Present)
Editorial Board, Bibliography of British and Irish History (June 2024-Present)April 2024-Present, Council Member, The Cromwell Association
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (July 2023-Present)
Chair, Institute of Historical Research History Lab (September 2022-September 2023)
Member, Institute of Historical Research Advisory Council (September 2022-Setember 2023)
Judge, The Olivette Otele Prize, Institute of Historical Research (September 2022-September 2023)
Editorial Board, Midland History (Novemeber 2022-Present)
Research assistant for Professor Steven Pincus (Chicago University) (February-April 2023)
Co-Conference convenor, Christopher Hill and the English Revolution: 50 years after The World Turned Upside Down, Institute of Historical Research (4th February 2023).
Co-Conference convenor, Institute of Historical Research History Lab Histories in Crisis (September 2021-September 2022)
Lead Editor, The Midlands Historical Review (June 2021-September 2022)
Assistant Editor, The Midlands Historical Review (February 2021-June 2021)
Speech at virtual undergraduate Graduation Ceremony, University of Birmingham (2020)
Personal Skills Award (Advanced), University of Birmingham (2018-2019)
Member of Royal Historical Society (Postgraduate), Cromwell Association, International John Bunyan Society