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In My Student Experience, our Success Connectors speak to subject heads within the School of the Media, Arts and Humanities (MAH) to find out more about their experiences as a student, their opinions on the School, and their advice for students studying in MAH.

This week, our connectors speak to Iain McDaniel, Head of History.

Iain McDaniel 

Iain McDaniel is a Senior Lecturer In Intellectual History and the Head of the History Department. He is a historian of European political thought, with a focus on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

How has Sussex changed in the time you’ve been here?

I’ve been at Sussex since 2013, and the History department is smaller now than when I joined, which has changed the texture of the department. However, we’ve also become part of a much bigger school, Media, Arts and Humanities – it was only really last year that we had the first full year of acting as one school. It’s much easier now to make connections with people in, say, English or Film, so it’s nice that we share a great deal more between departments than we used to. And though I’m not a student, so I couldn’t say for sure, my sense is that there’s a lot more activities dedicated to students, a lot more ways to get involved, and a lot more attention to the student experience. Building up into a bigger unit meant we could have more collective energy to do those kinds of things.

What do you think makes a successful MAH student?

A successful student is one who is prepared to do that little bit extra. That doesn’t have to mean putting in more hours, just doing more than necessary to immerse yourself in your topics. It’s good to go beyond Canvas – a successful student may go to the library and take out books next to the ones they’re being recommended. More specifically to history, a successful student should immerse themselves in the historiography and know what people said about their topic in the past. They should also be aware of what’s going on in the contemporary world, as a lot of the course is about exploring connections between the past and the present.

Tell us a fact about yourself people might not know

I have been a disco DJ for about twenty years. I collect all kinds of records, particularly disco records from the 1970s, especially from places like France, Italy, Spain, etc. I play them in pubs around Brighton, and I used to DJ in London and Germany too.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Some form of special heating power: I do a lot of sea swimming, but I get really cold, so I would want a power that enables me to stay warmer for longer.