Honorary Fellows

The Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP) is proud to collaborate with leading public historians and to host early career researchers as Honorary Fellows.

Our Fellows contribute to the life of the Institute, developing events, supporting teaching and collaborating across our regional and national partnerships.

Greg Jenner FRHistS

Greg Jenner is a British public historian, author, and broadcaster with a particular interest in communicating history through humour. He is best known as the host and creator of the chart-topping, award-winning BBC historical comedy podcast You’re Dead To Me (over 130 million downloads), as well as the author of several funny history books for adults and children. He also worked for 11 years on the smash-hit BBC TV comedy series Horrible Histories. In 2025, Greg was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and Fellowship by the University of York’s Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past (IPUP) where he has taught for the past decade. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has a BA in Archaeology and History and an MA in Medieval Studies, both from the University of York.

James Baker

James Baker completed his PhD in History at the Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull between 2019 and 2024. Under the supervision of Dr Nicholas Evans and Dr Judith Spicksley, his thesis addressed bilateral efforts to reconcile injustices perpetrated against British-born care-experienced adults who were deported to Australia as children during the twentieth century. Prior to his PhD, James previously studied for both his BA and MA within the Department of History at York. He presented the findings of his doctoral research at events hosted by IPUP in 2022 and 2024. After taking a break from his career to care for family, James returned to the University of Hull for six months as a Research Assistant within their twinning partnership with Mariupol State University in Ukraine. In November 2025, he was appointed as a Project Facilitator and Outreach Worker with York Mind, supporting the Yorchoice project. During his IPUP Fellowship James will be developing publications from his thesis, as well as continuing to build research and teaching experience with IPUP.