Rob Waters

Dr Rob Waters is a Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at Queen Mary University of London's School of History. He holds a PhD in English from Queen Mary, following undergraduate and graduate studies in History at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on race, decolonization, and postcolonial Britain, with particular attention to Black Power movements, integration politics, and border histories. Waters has taught at Queen Mary, Birkbeck, New York University, and other institutions.

Education:

• B.A. and M.A. in History, University of Edinburgh
• Ph.D. in English, Queen Mary University of London

Research Interests: His work examines global race dynamics and decolonization's impact on Britain. Key projects include Thinking Black: Britain, 1964–1985 (UC Press, 2018), which explores Black radicalism and New Left politics, and Colonized by Humanity (Oxford, 2023), analyzing integration movements' entanglement with racial hierarchies. He is currently researching the historical rise of bordering practices in Britain.

Awards:

• Shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society's 2020 Whitfield Prize for Thinking Black

Advising & Grants: He supervises PhD students like Olivia Wyatt ("If You're Brown, You Can Stick Around"). His research has been supported by institutional grants and collaborations with global scholars.

Labs/Teams: Active in interdisciplinary networks studying race, migration, and transnational histories through Queen Mary's School of History platforms.