Culture and communication
Working on all periods from prehistory to the present, and on places across the globe, our researchers explore every kind of cultural activity, product and practice from poetry to pollution, alongside every aspect of communications from syntax to cyberspace.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) research
From covid analysis to air quality, our researchers are investigating the immediate impact of the virus as well as the longer-term implications for society.
Research topics
Focus area
The built environment
We live in a world that has been shaped by human activity. Our researchers explore the past, present and future of the built environments we inhabit.
Researchers at York have explored the historical, cultural and societal significance of the buildings and human-made spaces into which we are born, live, work, relax, worship and grow old in. Their work shows how the shape and form of the built environment constrains and affects the way we live.
Featured research
Related departments
Our culture and communication research crosses academic boundaries. Find out more about the departments and related research groups involved in this work:
- Archaeology
- Biology
- Economics and Related Studies
- Education
- Electronic Engineering
- English and Related Literature
- Environment and Geography
- Health Sciences
- History
- History of Art
- Language and Linguistic Science
- Law
- Management
- Music
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
Related research groups
- Centre for Applied Human Rights
- Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture
- Centre for Digital Heritage
- Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
- Centre for Global Health Histories
- Centre for Health Economics
- Centre for Housing Policy
- Centre for Human Palaeoecology and Evolutionary Origins (PALAEO)
- Centre for Medieval Literature
- Centre for Medieval Studies
- Centre for Modern Studies
- Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
- Centre for Research in Language Learning and Use
- Centre for URBan Research (CURB)
- Centre for Women’s Studies
- Humanities Research Centre
- Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past
- Morrell Centre for Toleration
- Music, Science and Technology Research Cluster (MSTRC)
- Psychology in Education Research Centre (PERC)
- Rethinking Civil Society: History, Theory, Critique
- Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU)
- York Centre for the Americas
- York Cross-disciplinary Centre for Systems Analysis
- York Environmental Sustainability Institute
Research Champions
Mark Jenner is a reader in the Department of History. He works on the social and cultural history of early modern England and on the social history of medicine c.1500-c.1800. His primary research interests focus on ideas of dirt and pollution.
Keith Allen is senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy. His research focuses primarily on colour and perception, and he is interested in related issues in early modern philosophy and the phenomenological tradition.
Research Champion Leaflet: Culture and Communication (PDF 
, 159kb)