Kerry Apps – History

My Career Journey: A snapshot of my career, projects, and research to date.

Education 👩🏻‍🎓

‘A World in a House by the Thames, c.1672-1698’

My ongoing PhD thesis is a collaborative doctoral award funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Focused on the surviving collections of Ham House, my project examines the significance of global material culture—non-European objects and commodities—within Restoration court culture. As part of this project, I have worked extensively with archival materials and physical objects, undergoing training in handling procedures. My project has contributed to successful bids for object conservation and will aid in future reinterpretation at the site level.

MPhil in Early Modern History, Cambridge

Based at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, my MPhil thesis, supervised by Dr Hank Gonzalez, examined the role of the capture of Indigenous and Luso-African peoples by the privateering fleet of the earl of Warwick in the early commodification of tobacco in the English Atlantic.

BA History, 1:1 (School of History Award in all three years), specialism in the English Atlantic world and early modern social history / PGCE in Secondary History

Career Experience 💼

Head of History

From 2017 to 2021, I served as the Head of History at a comprehensive school in South London. During my time as subject lead, we underwent an OFSTED inspection, achieving an outstanding judgment. As a team, we fostered increased access to history at GCSE, A-level, and beyond. This success was a result of strong teaching, long-term curriculum changes, and the development of a range of enrichment opportunities, including residential trips and partnerships with local historians. I was privileged to work in an environment where we strived for and achieved consistently outstanding outcomes for all.

Teacher of History

From 2014 to 2017, I taught history and led the redevelopment of resources for the early modern aspects of the revised GCSE and A-level. Fostering strong relationships with my students, they regularly achieved brilliant results, including a year in which my GCSE class secured 100% A*-C and 75% A*-B.

Historical and Educational Consultancy 👥

Guide Creator and Copywriter, BBC Bitesize

While teaching, I provided recommendations to the BBC regarding the design, structure, and content of their Bitesize offerings. This involved developing specific guides that focused on early modern history and migration.

Resource Creation, Beyond the Spectacle

Drawing on my experience as a teacher and my academic interest in early America I crafted a series of resources and schemes of work on Indigenous American presence in Britain for this University of Kent project.

Advisor, Teaching Indigenous Histories and Perspectives (TIHPS)

Drawing on both my experience as a teacher and my academic research into the English Atlantic world and Indigenous/First Nations histories, I have contributed to this funded project that unites Indigenous and UK scholars along with secondary school teachers. In my role, I acted as a bridge between academics and teachers, offering guidance on creating resources that combine ethical approaches to these histories with pedagogical effectiveness.

Internships and Fellowships 🏛️

Research Assistant, Translating the Language of Empire Project

During my PhD project, I undertook a three-month placement with a National Trust seed-funded research initiative investigating Indigenous American and First Nations connections to UK heritage spaces. As part of the project, and in collaboration with Indigenous scholars and communities, I researched and composed a 20,000-word report on the presence of five Indigenous American Abenaki men in Jacobean Devon. This work has contributed to the adaptation and interpretation at both the site and CMS levels and was shared at a series of internal and external talks and workshops.

Visiting Scholar, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

In 2023, I successfully obtained joint funding from the AHRC and the Peabody Essex Museum to undertake a visiting scholarship, working within the institution’s world-leading collection of Asian export art, which includes objects, fabrics, and furnishings exported from Asia for a European audience.

Outreach and Publications ✍🏽

Date TBC, ‘Creative Imitation: The Reception and Adaption of East Asian Lacquer at Restoration-era Ham House’, The Global Circulation of Lacquer, Brill (Date TBC)

Speaker, ‘Language of kuancai: Understanding Coromandel Screens through Conservation Science’, Post-Seminar Workshop, Bei Shan Tang Conservation Seminar, Hong Kong (July, 2025)

‘Review: Simon P. Newman, Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London’, Common Knowledge, Duke University Press (Jan, 2025)

Changing Histories for KS3: Expanding Worlds, c. 1600-1870, Hachette (March, 2025)

Changing Histories for KS3: Connected Worlds, c.1000-1600, Hachette (2023)

‘Lost Elizabethans: the Africans who Lived in England’, BBC History Extra (2022), co-authored with Sophie Merrix – Link

‘Inventing race? Year 8 use early modern primary sources to investigate the complex origins of racial thinking in the past’, Teaching History No. 183 (June 2021), pp. 8-29 – Link

‘Widening the early modern world to create a more connected Key Stage 3 curriculum’, Teaching History No. 176 (September 2019), pp. 48-57 – Link