About EDHG

Founded in 2019, the Emotionally Demanding Histories Group is the first network of international researchers whose work addresses traumatic, violent, or otherwise sensitive historical topics.

We've organized workshops and panels, given talks, hosted lectures, and held researcher check-in sessions.

Our Story

Like many of the best ideas, EDHG started over a coffee. As members of the same History PhD cohort at the University of Edinburgh, Emily Rose Hay and Claire E. Aubin noticed that their experiences as researchers differed significantly from those of their peers. What began as a meeting to vent about the emotional difficulties of their work very quickly led to a search for resources on the impact that violent or traumatic topics have on historians. When the search turned up nothing, Emily Rose and Claire decided to create their own network to help foster a sense of community amongst historical researchers of emotionally-demanding topics and bring awareness to the potentially traumagenic effects these topics have on those tasked with reading, writing, and teaching about them.

It has also served as a good excuse to meet for many more coffees.

EDHG Convenors

Emily Rose Hay

Founding Co-Convenor

PhD Candidate, History & Criminology

University of Edinburgh

Emily Rose's research examines changing press narratives of child/youth homicide in the UK in the latter half of the twentieth century. She is particularly interested in local media and situating historic grief within a community context. In addition to teaching at the University of Edinburgh, Emily Rose is an Associate Lecturer in Criminology at the Open University.

Claire E. Aubin

Founding Co-Convenor

PhD Candidate, Religious Studies & History

University of Edinburgh

Claire's research focuses on the comparative individual agency of Holocaust perpetrators throughout their experiences of post-war US immigration. Her academic work frequently explores concepts of perpetration, collaboration, community, and justice, as well as public perceptions of these issues. She is an ECR Member of the Royal Historical Society and teaches in the History department at the University of Edinburgh.