A NEW professorship exploring the history of sexualities has been established at the University of Oxford.

The Jonathan Cooper chair of the History of Sexualities will lead and expand the study and teaching of LGBTQ+ history at Oxford.

The chair has been named in honour of Jonathan Cooper, a barrister and activist for LGBTQ+ rights, who died in September.

The professorship was established within the university’s history faculty, and will be based at Mansfield College.

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Helen Mountfield, principal of Mansfield College, said: “It is my firm aim that this will be the start of an exciting research cluster exploring the histories and contributions of LGBTQ+ people.

“As a historian, I am delighted to help widen the stories which are recorded and valued.

“As a lawyer, and a friend of Jonathan Cooper, I am proud that his enduring contribution to the history of LGBTQ+ emancipation will be recognised and celebrated by the post named in his memory.”

Professor Lyndal Roper, co-director of the Centre for Gender, Identity and Subjectivity at Oxford, added: “LGBTQ+ history is where some of the most vibrant historical research and writing is now happening and the creation of the Jonathan Cooper chair of the History of Sexualities is an important milestone for the field.

“The coming generation is questioning what gender means, and now is the time to establish this exciting new scholarship.”

The first professor of the History of Sexualities is expected to take up their post next year.

The £4.9 million funding came from Arcadia Fund co-founders Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.

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