I work on early modern British and Scandinavian history. I’m a DPhil student in History at Magdalen College, University of Oxford and a Department Head for the Museums of Coastal Heritage and Reconstruction in Finnmark, Norway.
Oxford faculty website: https://history.web.ox.ac.uk/people/leif-hammer
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6082-7750
Research Topic
Reconstructing eighteenth-century scholarly mentalities: a comparative study of the University of Oxford and the University of Copenhagen
Supervisors: Professor Avi Lifschitz & Professor Laurence Brockliss
About my work
My main research area is eighteenth-century university history. My interests range from the Enlightenment (in England, Scotland, and Denmark-Norway) to vagrancy and with trials in early modern Scandinavia.
My doctoral work is a cultural history of scholarly communities at the universities of Oxford and Copenhagen, c. 1714-1820. I seek to compare and discuss how the similar and different factors and contexts, internal and external, affected the scholarly communities’ cultures and vice versa. By doing so, I explore how eighteenth-century scholarly identities were created and performed, constructed, and perceived, and how they tied in with global networks of learning, such as the republic of letters.
I am funded by the Aker Scholarship Foundation.
Activities
I attended the History of Knowledge Doctoral Summer School at Lund University (worth 5 ECTS) in August 2024.
I am one of the co-founders and co-convenors of the Oxford Scandinavian Studies Network, an interdisciplinary forum open to anyone working on or interested in Scandinavia. Our goal is to strengthen interest in Scandinavia as a region and to promote exciting new scholarship. We have secured competitive funding from TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) two years in a row!
Member of the Eighteenth-Century Research Forum (Copenhagen University).
Other research interests:
- early modern Scandinavia, esp. Denmark-Norway
- early modern British Isles, esp. England
- Enlightenment culture, networks, and literature
- early modern scholars and networks
- history of universities
- history of knowledge
- cultural history, esp. mentalités
- history of emotions
Grants, Prizes and Awards:
Postgraduate Conference Bursary, BSECS 2025
HIFOs reisestipend, 2024
Thorleif Dahls legat for historisk forskning, 2023
Postgraduate Conference Bursary, History of Education Society, 2023
Robson-Scott Travelling Scholarship, School of Advanced Study, London, 2023
Robert Gildea International Travel Fund, Faculty of History, Oxford, 2022
Deans’ List, University of St Andrews, 2020
Professor Kolsrud’s Endowment, Troms County Government 2019
Education:
MLitt in Early Modern History (Distinction), University of St Andrews
BA in History, NTNU the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Professional Societies:
Renaissance Society of America, USA (2025-present)
Oxford Bibliographical Society, UK (2024-present)
History of Education Society, UK (2023-present)
BSECS British Eighteenth Century Society (2023-present)
RHS Royal Historical Society (elected postgraduate member, 2022-present)
HIFO Den norske historiske forening (the Norwegian History Association) (2021-present)
Professional Service:
I have served on hiring committees for professorships and acted in non-profit organisations as well as university politics and academics’ professional associaitons.
In the media:
Sagat 17/07/25: Ny museumssjef vil få det sjøsamiske mer frem i lyset
Finnmarken 11/06/21: Leif Bjarne (25) skal ta doktorgraden ved legendarisk universitet
Under Dusken 16/11/17: Rektor: — Viktig at studentene holder øye med oss
Universitetsavisa 10/11/17: Overleverte rektor opprop mot flytting
Universitetsavisa 10/11/17: Stiller krav til NTNUs plan for campus på Gløshaugen
Under Dusken 7/11/17: Dette er kravene for samlet campus