Dr Niall Oddy
Associate Lecturer
Biography
Professional biography
I am a historian of the literary and intellectual culture of early modern France with a keen interest in interdisciplinarity. I have taught widely across the humanities and joined the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in 2019. I previously worked at Durham University, where I lectured in learning and teaching in Higher Education, delivered training for postgraduate researchers, and led an undergraduate personal development programme. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Research interests
My research is concerned with cross-cultural encounters in early modern Europe, with a particular focus on exchange between France and the wider world. I have published articles on Franco-Ottoman relations, the history of the word 'Europe', and the place of the Europa myth in geographical discourse. My monograph Writing Europe in Renaissance France (Edinburgh University Press, 2024) examines how Europe was understood and represented in sixteenth and early-seventeenth century France. It argues that Europe as an idea evolved in productive dialogue with emerging national consciousness and demonstrates how different ideas of Europe were shaped by real and imagined journeys across the globe.
In 2022 I was awarded a Cosin's Library Fellowship at Durham University, which supported my research into the foreign language books in Cosin's Library, a late-seventeenth century public library established by John Cosin, Bishop of Durham.
My current research project - (Mis)Understanding Europe's East in the Age of Discovery - investigates early modern encounters between western and eastern Europe and the dissemination of knowledge about the continent's eastern borderlands.
Teaching interests
I have taught across the Open University's interdisciplinary Arts and Humanities curriculum, including A111 Discovering the arts and humanities, A112 Cultures, A113 Revolutions, A223 Early modern Europe, A233 Telling stories, A327 Europe 1914-1989 , and A328 Empires.
I am passionate about skills development for undergraduate and postgraduate students. I have conducted research projects on academic writing and skills development for postgraduate researchers. I am currently involved in a scholarship project investigating academic writing sessions for undergraduates.
Impact and engagement
I have written for public audiences about the history of the idea of Europe (Disagreements on what Europe means go back to the 16th century (theconversation.com)), literature and the environment (Literature and the Environment - OpenLearn - Open University), and early modern religion (niall oddy | Search Results | Contemporary religion in historical perspective). You can listen to me talking about early modern spa towns here: Spa Towns by OU Medieval and Early Modern Encounters.
I sit on the council of the Durham County Local History Society.
