Dr Chris Langley

Professional biography

I joined the OU in 2022 after teaching at Aberdeen, York and Newman University. I was Visiting Scholar at the University of St Andrews in 2014 and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh in 2018. I studied at Birmingham and Aberdeen. 

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Research interests

I am interested in early modern religious culture, especially in Scotland: I want to understand how people in the past experienced religion and how it fit into their lives.

My previous research has explored how the Civil Wars affected worship; how social care in seventeenth-century Scotland was shaped by religious and political change; and how clergy and their families experienced the Reformation and Civil Wars. My current research project explores the Scottish General Assemblies between 1638 and 1653.

I am the Co-Director of ‘Mapping the Scottish Reformation: A database of the Scottish clergy, 1560-1689’, with Professor Michelle D. Brock (W&L University).

Teaching interests

I have experience teaching a range of early modern history modules, from foundation to postgraduate level. 

I am the module chair of A329 'The making of Welsh history' and manage teams of Associate Lecturers on A112 'Cultures' and A223 'Early modern Europe: society and culture, 1500–1780'.

I welcome PhD proposals from those interested in the religious cultures of early modern Britain and Ireland.

Impact and engagement

I am interested in linked open data and how it can be used in the humanities. You can find out more about my current work here.

External collaborations

I am the Special Issues Editor for Scottish Historical Review. I sit on the council of the Scottish History Society and the History UK Steering Committee.

I serve as an External Examiner for the History programme at the University of Edinburgh. I was previously one of the External Examiners for History at Keele University.