New Humanities and Social Sciences Deputy VP for Queen Mary

Previously the Head of the School of History,  Daniel Todman is a historian of war and its remembrance, specialising in the history of Britain and the British Commonwealth and Empire during the two world wars. He joined Queen Mary University of London in 2003, having acquired a degree at LSE and completed a PhD at Cambridge. He then taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Professor Todman co-edited the best-selling diaries of Britain’s senior soldier of the Second World War, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrook (2001). He has subsequently written three books: he was named The Times Young Academic Author of the Year in 2005 for ‘The Great War: Myth and Memory’(2005), shortlisted for the Longman History Today Prize in 2017 for his ‘Britain's War: Into Battle, 1937-41’ (2016), and most recently won the Templar Medal Book Prize 2020 for his book ‘Britain’s War: A New World, 1942-1947’(2020).

Professor Todman has worked closely with a number of cultural institutions, including acting as a member of the academic advisory panel for the Imperial War Museum’s re-design of its First and Second World War galleries. He worked with BBC London on the AHRC-BBC collaboration ‘World War One at Home’, including programmes in which QMUL undergraduates presented their research into the impact of wartime deaths on the capital.

Queen Mary’s Vice-Principal for Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Frances Bowen said of the appointment: “Professor Todman brings to his new post an impressive track record in research, teaching, and leadership within the School of History, coupled with his dedication to fostering collaboration inside and outside the university. I am confident that Dan's experience, expertise and deep commitment to Humanities and Social Sciences will contribute significantly to the continued success of our faculty.