Who got that job?

Geoff Hicks, lecturer in modern British history, University of East Anglia
Advertised: The Times Higher , December 9, 2005.

One dark and cold night in February 2000 Geoff Hicks realised that he hated his career at the Department for International Development.

Six years, a PhD and a temporary lectureship later, he has reached his career nirvana as a lecturer in modern British history at UEA.

"I am paid to do what I love. I work with interesting and intelligent people, I really enjoy the engagement with the students and I can do research," he said.

"This is the best place in the country for 19th-century history. The leading people in the field are here and it has just the right atmosphere to do serious historic research."

Dr Hicks is fascinated by 19th-century British politics and the foreign policies of minority governments at this time. This period is when nearly all the familiar ideas in foreign policy originate, with the consequences still being seen today in places such as Afghanistan and Iran.

"Everybody thinks that we already know about this period, but it has rather been left behind with the recent interest in the two world wars," Dr Hicks said. "I think we are starting to see the return of 'great power' politics as the Cold War era fades - where the threats are very different.

"Until 1990, we lived in the bipolar world of the Cold War. Then there was a sharp transition to our current situation. It is noticeable when teaching students that they have no concept of a bipolar world, and can't easily relate to it.

"The 19th-century situation is not so different, so studying it can reveal a lot about current foreign policy."