Dr. Joshua Rushton

Biography

Joshua Rushton is a lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Manchester, where he joined the History Department in 2024. He completed his BA in History and MA in Renaissance Studies at the University of Warwick, and was awarded his PhD by the University of Leeds in 2023. His doctoral project, funded by the AHRC, examined the relationship between urban devotional life, Catholic Reform, and sacred immanence in the city of Venice. Currently, he holds a Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Leeds, where he is revising his thesis into a monograph tentatively titled 'Encountering the Sacred in Early Modern Venice, 1500-1750'. In 2026, he will undertake a three-year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship focusing on the project 'Catholic Renewal and Environmental Change in the Early Modern World'. Joshua's research interests include early modern religious changes, early modern Catholicism, cultural shifts, European Reformations, and environmental humanities. He is committed to engaging students and incorporating pedagogical innovation in history teaching, utilizing primary sources from the Manchester Museum and the John Rylands Research Institute Library.

Research Interests

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