Jacob Harris

I am a social historian of twentieth-century Britain and Europe. I completed my BA (2020) and MA (2021) degrees at UEA, during which I earned the following prizes: Kristopher Harper Prize for History 2017/18; Prize for Distinguished Performance in Year 2 Assessment 2018/19; The Medici Prize 2019/20; and the Prize for Distinguished Performance in Year 3 Assessment 2019/20. Since then, I have been fortunate to maintain my affiliation with UEA as a Visiting Researcher.

My primary research interest is historic automobility. I seek to understand the meanings, emotions and lived experiences that were mediated through the automobile in the past. My research deals with numerous key themes in British and European social history, highlighting that the automobile was (and remains) more than just a mechanical technology. I am also interested in post-war social and cultural change, particularly during the 'affluent society' of the 1950s and 1960s. My most recent paper won the Journal of Transport History's John Scholes Prize, and in 2022 I accepted an invitation to share my research and experiences of publishing as an Early Career Researcher with undergraduates at Indiana State University.