In this, the second blogpost of three in this series (part 1 can be found here), Lewis Wade responds to the second ECR in 2025 post and the question: what can more senior colleagues, institutions, and organisations such as SSFH do to help ECRs?
My fellow ECRs have made many excellent points about what senior colleagues need to be doing to support the junior scholars around them, especially PhD students. I won’t rehash those points here.
Instead, I’ll tackle this question from a slightly different angle.
Let me be blunt: senior colleagues, institutions and organisations need to act in accordance with the mentality that French history in Britain is on the verge of extinction, because it is. Based on the nature of the job market today, the majority of ECRs in French history are, realistically, looking for permanent positions in European (or possibly global) history or in a particular subdiscipline of history (e.g. political history, economic history, social history, and so on). This puts them in fierce competition with historians studying other countries, all of whom face the same challenges. If ECRs in French history do not manage to secure permanent positions, the entire French history community will suffer: without the ideas and perspective of ECRs, senior scholars will only be able to have conversations with each other, and there will be no new generation of scholars to take up their ideas and push them in new directions. Put another way, senior scholars who do not wish to see their books merely gathering dust in libraries twenty years from now need to be doing whatever they can to support ECRs on the job market.
Thankfully, I think many senior scholars in French history are deeply aware of this reality and are already doing a great deal of work to support ECRs. When permanent positions are advertised, French historians across multiple academic systems show great generosity in forwarding the details to me, looking over my job materials and writing references. This support helps in so many ways: it ensures I’m abreast of all possible opportunities, it reassures me that senior scholars have faith in me and my research, and it builds a foundation of confidence in myself that I’m putting my best foot forward with my applications. Indeed, such support was invaluable to me for ‘hanging in there’ during an especially gruelling year on the job market this year. I hope senior scholars reading this appreciate how much ECRs value this support and the difference it makes in the long run.
Senior scholars are also able to mobilise resources through organisations. In the British and Irish case, the Society for the Study of French History has worked hard in recent years to raise the profile of ECRs in French history. The SSFH-MUP Book Development Fellowship has been introduced to support ECRs in publishing their first book, while the SSFH First Book Prize has been introduced to recognise and celebrate the first books of ECRs in French history. The Book Development Fellowship intervenes at an especially challenging time for ECRs: with the PhD concluded, and a postdoctoral position perhaps or perhaps not secured, turning the doctoral thesis into the first book is an important step towards a permanent position. It is a step with many potential perils, however, whether that be finding the right publisher, writing a proposal, understanding how the thesis differs from a monograph, or responding to peer review reports. (My book was rejected by four different publishers before being accepted by Boydell & Brewer. In hindsight, I realise this wasn’t because the book was unworthy of those publishers, but because there were lots of factors at play outside my control and knowledge – fit with the publisher, balance with the rest of the catalogue, and so on. Also, a thesis-to-book proposal on French marine insurance was always going to be a tough sell!) The fellowship helps ECRs in this position by offering them monetary support (£1000), as well as concrete support for navigating this process with Manchester University Press. In brief, this is an excellent initiative that will provide a stepping stone for ECRs towards a permanent position.
Once first books are published, however, the process does not end there. First books don’t always receive the scholarly attention they deserve, especially if those books are very expensive. Senior scholars can help with this by promoting the books of ECRs, whether that be on Bluesky or through other means. The SSFH First Book Prize is also bringing invaluable attention to ECRs’ first books. As the inaugural recipient of the prize, I know firsthand the value of this attention and support: with the job market being so fiercely competitive, academic prizes – especially those awarded by organisations with the prestige of the SSFH – can help ECRs stand out from the crowd. Any ECR in French history publishing their first book should submit it for consideration for the prize: only a PDF copy of the book is required. A decade down the line, we will hopefully find ECRs who have won/been shortlisted for the prize in permanent positions across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In short, I think the French history community is doing a lot of things right. There are no silver bullets in a market like this, but the SSFH’s ongoing support for ECRs nevertheless offers an excellent example for others to follow. This isn’t an invitation for senior scholars and the SSFH to pat themselves on the back and leave it at that; rather, it is an encouragement to them to recognise that their efforts can and do make a difference, and this should strengthen their resolve to support ECRs wherever they can. As my fellow ECRs have made clear, you will sadly find examples of poor support in many places, so there is much more work to be done. Without the right support, the French history community in Britain will simply cease to be.
It is not only senior scholars and organisations that need to support ECRs, though: we need to support each other. This will be the focus of my final blogpost.
Lewis Wade is an incoming Humboldt Research Fellow at the University of Bamberg.
