Dr Hannah Dawson

Hannah took a double first in History from the University of Cambridge. She went on to do her MPhil and PhD there, working on early-modern theories of language, and their relationship to natural, moral and political philosophy, especially in the work of John Locke. She was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship at Queens' College, Cambridge, and taught at the University of Edinburgh, and then New College of the Humanities, before arriving at King’s. She received a major British Academy Research Development Award for her Clarendon Edition of Locke’s Disputations on the law nature, and held the inaugural Balzan-Skinner Lectureship at the University of Cambridge to work on the normativity of nature in early-modern thought. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• History of political thought and intellectual history

• History of gender and feminism

• History of theories of language

• Hobbes

• Locke

Hannah would be pleased to supervise PhDs in the history of political thought and intellectual history, especially within or connected to the early-modern period.

Expertise and public engagement

Hannah is a frequent contributor to live and broadcast media. Recent appearances include The Last Days of Charles I (Channel 5), Liberalism(BBC Radio 4), How The Light Gets In Festival, Chalke Valley History Festival, Guardian Live, and a TEDx talk. She is passionate about public engagement, giving talks and leading discussion for, for example, The Institute of Ideas and The School of Life, and at numerous schools around the country. She also publishes in the mainstream press, including the TLS, Prospect, and the Literary Review.