Xiaohongshu
The International Centre for Historical Research in Education (ICHRE), based at UCL’s Institute of Education, is a centre for historical education research. As Education, Practice and Society Undergraduate Research Fellowship (EPSURF) students we worked with ICHRE on various academic tasks, particularly with Professor Mark Freeman, Dr Sam Blaxland and Dr Jennifer Bond. In this blog, we will be sharing our experiences for those who may be interested in taking part in ICHRE activities or future EPSURF programmes, alongside some insights into the work undertaken by ICHRE members.
The EPSURF tasks that we undertook included interviewing members of ICHRE, research using the archives of UCL’s student newspaper, Pi, attending the 2025 ICHRE conference, curating a display in the IOE exhibition cabinets, and assisting with historical research at the Shanghai Library.
As you might have noticed on the ICHRE website, there has been a new set of videos introducing its members. We interviewed several members of ICHRE about their research and experiences as historians and scholars. It was an absolute pleasure to hear them talking about their field of study and interests. This is a particularly meaningful and memorable task: we gained more insights into their lives and experiences, and also helped create a sense of community within the department.
We also curated a display of some work created by Year 1 students on the BA Education, Society and Culture who take the Worlds of UCL module. This was on display in the cabinets at the fourth floor entrance to the IOR, near the Library. The students were asked to make a group project in any creative and engaging form, presenting the history of UCL or IOE. When curating, we were amazed by how beautiful some of the designs were, such as a Lego model of the original IOE plan, the UCLopoly game and a guided walk Tour of the Grant Museum.
Yvonne (Yutong Xie)
The UCL Student newspaper Pi, founded in 1946, has documented students' lives in London from the post-war era to the present day. Professor Georgina Brewis and Dr Sam Blaxland, in their recent book Student London, used Pi as a primary source for examining students’ lives at UCL. There is something special about holding history in your hands. My task was to review Pi to locate the exact page numbers for the source cited in the book, which had been missed during the original research. I particularly enjoy working with archival materials as I can see the passage of time, not only in the contents of the newspapers, which illustrate progressive student movements, but also in other aspects, such as the change in title fonts and the shifting numbering system, which also serve as markers of their time.
As an EPSURF under the supervision of ICHRE, I attended and assisted with the 2025 ICHRE conferences, in which I had the opportunity to present my archival research on Amelia Fysh, a pioneer in Special Educational Needs education. Researchers from different universities and institutions came to present their work, which is a unique and insightful experience for undergraduates. I was able to engage with great researchers and peers in the field, which gave me a different perspective on the field, and I gained much valuable advice throughout the day.
Wenyou (Carrie) Yan: Shanghai archival research
In Shanghai Library, I assisted Dr Jennifer Bond in her research project about women in the Chinese Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Republican China in the early-mid 20th century. I conducted historical research including database searching of both primary and secondary materials of the women at the Library. It was my first time in the Shanghai Library, an impressive historical building, and I enjoyed the time spent in there. The primary materials were mainly newspaper or magazine reports in traditional Chinese characters written in vertical columns, with the reading order from top-to-bottom and right-to-left. I found this process interesting yet sometimes challenging to dig into, since they were also digitalised and can only be viewed on the computers in the Library.
Most of these women were pioneering figures in social work, education, and policymaking, as well as Christian activists. Many of them came from affluent families in the Republican time, some received girls’ education, and some went to study abroad. Being considered as the modern ‘new women’, they challenged traditional gender boundaries, and promoted women’s education and rights throughout their lives. I was deeply touched by them, as they did not simply pursue personal success, but also transformed their education into social changes