About

As Head of the Discipline of Humanities, I am responsible for managing programmes in History, English, Creative and Professional Writing, Publishing, American Studies, and Popular Music in Society. Before coming to Derby in 2010, I researched and taught History at the University of Cambridge, the German Historical Institute London, and the Global Policy Institute.

My main interests are in the history of Britain’s and Western Europe’s relationship with other parts of the world, particular East and Southeast Asia. Keen on exploring links between history, memory, politics and international relations, my teaching and research focus on issues of globalization and imperialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Research interests

My research predominantly focuses on European encounters with East and Southeast Asia. In the past I have explored European attitudes towards Tibet and the Himalayas between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century, and my book Tibet in the Western Imagination was published in 2012.

Following on from this, I am interested in the history of European imperialism, and particularly in the history of capital punishment in European colonies. I am currently conducting research on capital punishment in Britain’s remaining colonial territories in the second half of the twentieth century.

I am also interested in the history of Western attitudes towards China’s political system and the question whether China will become a democratic state.

Recent publications

Monograph

• Neuhaus, Tom, Tibet in the Western Imagination (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

Journal Articles

• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘“To Live With People Whom One Cannot Understand”: Transnational History and the Moravian mission to Ladakh, 1853-1914’, Transnational Subjects, 1:1 (2011)
• Harrington, Austin; Neuhaus, Tom; Whimster, Sam, ‘Editorial’, Max Weber Studies, 11:1 (2011)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘No Nazi Party: youth rebels in the Third Reich’, History Today, 55: 11 (2005), 52-57

Chapters in Edited Collections

• Neuhaus, Tom, '"Learning to Walk": Qing constitutional reform and Britain's imperial pedagogy', in Fitzpatrick, Matthew & Monteath, Peter (eds.), Colonialism, China and the Chinese (London: Routledge, 2020)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘Cosmopolitan Highlanders: Region and Nation in Anglo-German Encounters in the Himalayas, 1903-1945’, in Rüger, Jan & Wachsmann, Nikolaus (eds.), Rewriting German History: New Perspectives on Modern Germany (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘Emil Schlagintweit und die Tibetforschung im 19. Jahrhundert’, in Brescius, Moritz von; Kaiser, Friederike; Kleidt, Stephanie, Über den Himalaja: Die Expedition der Brüder Schlagintweit nach Indien und Zentralasien 1854-1858 (Köln: Böhlau, 2015)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘Lost Horizons: British Travellers to Tibet in the Twentieth Century’, in Farr, Martin & Guegan, Xavier (eds.), The British Abroad since the Eighteenth Century, Vol.1: Travellers and Tourists (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘How can a war be holy? Attitudes towards Eastern spirituality’, in Williams, John A. (ed.), Re-visiting Weimar Culture (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
• Neuhaus, Tom, ‘Of yetis and men: British representations of Tibet and the Himalayas, 1929-1953’, in Crone, Rosalind et al (eds.), New perspectives in British Cultural History (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)

Membership of professional bodies

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Professional interests

During my time at Derby I have developed an interest in forging closer links with organisations in the creative and cultural industries, and particularly in the heritage sector, both in Britain and internationally. I am keen to build opportunities and enable our students to collaborate with organisations in order to lead specific projects and deal with the challenges facing the heritage sector.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Modern History, University of Essex
• MPhil Historical Studies, University of Cambridge
• PhD on British and German representations of Tibet and the Himalayas, University of Cambridge

Recent conferences

• 'Politics and Emotion in Sino-British Relations, 1901-1958', International Convention of Asia Scholars, Leiden (NL), July 2019
• 'History, Employability and Civic Engagement: opportunities and challenges', with Dr Cath Feely, Liverpool John Moores University, July 2019
• ”The New China is a Happy China”: British Politics and the Emergence of the PRC, 1949-1957’, Flinders University, Adelaide, January 2018
• ‘Presenting the Past: Enhancing Achievement and Ambition amongst second-year undergraduate History students’, Bielefeld Conference on Teaching History in Higher Education, University of Bielefeld, Germany, May 2016
• Chair of panel ‘Alternative Futures and Alternative Societies: International Travel and Worries at Home Amongst British Tourists in the Long Nineteenth Century’, Social History Society Annual Conference, Northumbria University, April 2014
• ‘The Victory of Loyalty: German mountaineering in the Himalayas, 1933-1939’, German History Society Annual Conference, University Edinburgh, September 2012
• 'Lost Horizons: British and German representations of Tibet', given at the Research Seminar of the Department of History, University of Essex (February 2011)
• 'Shangri-La and Yetis: The Appeal of Tibet and the Himalayas for British Travelers in the Twentieth Century', given at the conference 'From the Grand Tour to Mass Tourism', University of Newcastle, April 2010

Experience in industry

Research posts

• Global Policy Institute: Max Weber Letter Database. 2008-2010
• Clare College, Cambridge: Research Associate. 2008-2010
• German Historical Institute: Post-doctoral Research Assistant. 2007-2008

In the media

I was a 'talking head' for 'Raiders of the Lost Past', aired on UKTV Yesterday / Discovery Channel (2013), talking about the 1938/9 German expedition to Tibet.

International experience

I co-ordinate our Humanities student exchange programmes with institutions in the United States and Canada, which are a great opportunity for our students to spend some time studying abroad, and I am always keen to establish new links and opportunities. 

Teaching responsibilities

I teach across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in History, including the MA Public History and Heritage, covering modern international history. Modules I teach on cover topics such as China's relationship with the rest of the world, globalisation and the legacies of imperialism, and current debates in global heritage. I also supervise dissertations at undergraduate and postgraduate level.