Dr Nicholas Groat
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
AHRC Research and Innovation Associate
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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Originally hailing from Sussex, I completed my studies at the University of Sheffield and Leiden University. During my degrees, I interned at the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record, spent time as a Visiting Researcher at the Österreichische Archäologische Institut, and worked in the alcohol industry at Locksley Distilling as part of my WRoCAH-funded doctoral research. Through 2023 and 2024, I held Research Assistant and Associate posts in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield on a variety of archaeology and heritage-centric projects, before taking my current position as an AHRC Research and Innovation Associate in Place, Craft and Alcohol in Historical Perspective.
I have worked on archaeological sites and studied collections from Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Pakistan, and been involved in projects on prehistoric, Roman, and medieval sites across the UK. I am currently a team member and researcher on the ongoing Hinterlands of Medieval Chalkida and Sinop Kale Excavations projects. My experimental portfolio includes demonstrations across Sheffield as part of the public engagement Roots of Iron Project and Archaeology in the City initiative, research on the Experimental Project Huize Horsterwold, and extensive experimental metallurgical projects at the University of Sheffield. I have previously coordinated research groups at the University of Sheffield and within the WRoCAH consortium, and I continue to act as a Research and External Engagement Facilitator for Locksley Distilling.
- Qualifications
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- 2023 - PhD - University of Sheffield
- 2017 - MSc - Leiden University
- 2016 - BSc - University of Sheffield
- Research interests
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My research primarily addresses the sociocultural impact of technological systems, craft activities, and production practices. I adopt interdisciplinary approaches to such themes, combining methods traditionally suited to material analysis and the archaeological sciences with insights from modern craft practitioners, oral history documentation, and data visualisation techniques. Alongside reappraisals of archival and legacy data, I have previously studied cases related to ceramic manufacturing, metallurgy, alcohol production, and distillation, contributing to dialogues on resource exploitation, settlement patterns, and community formation. My historical interests cover aspects of Bronze-Iron Age, Classical, and Hellenistic archaeology in Europe, Western Asia, and South-Central Asia, with a particular focus on social and community interaction across the ancient Greek world.
An increasingly large portion of my research engages with critical approaches to heritage and the influence of archaeology upon contemporary society. My work has interrogated the appropriation and commodification of the past, extending to discussions on wider processes such as cultural identity, placemaking, and social stratification. Here, I am interested in exploring what long-term perspectives on change can contribute to addressing modern societal, environmental, and regional challenges. Allied to my industry experience in Sheffield’s independent sector, much of this recent work has involved close collaboration with external partners through Knowledge Exchange partnerships and public engagement initiatives, including local food and drink industries, artists, musicians, museums, and archives. Accordingly, my research interests touch on several broad themes:
- Technology and social change
- Contextualising ceramics, metallurgy, and alcohol production
- Food and drink production communities
- Late Bronze Age - Hellenistic archaeology in Europe and Western Asia
- Influence of archaeology and heritage on contemporary society