In 2026, we resume our Visiting Scholars programme in January with a visit from Matt Cook, a distinguished social and cultural historian from the University of Oxford. In previous years, the IHC has hosted academics specialising in areas such as international politics and the history of science. To further promote different historiographical approaches, this year we invited one of the most renowned historians working on gender and sexuality, two topics of growing importance at the institute.

Matt Cook is the Jonathan Cooper Chair of the History of Sexuality at Mansfield College, University of Oxford. His work has focused on queer and LGBT+ topics, including landmark books such as London and the Culture of Homosexuality (2003), Queer Domesticities (2014) and Writing Queer History (2024), as well as numerous texts on urban history, HIV/AIDS and queer cultures. Since 2002, he has been on the editorial board of the History Workshop Journal, one of the leading international journals in social history.

The aim of the IHC Visiting Scholars programme is to provide a short programme of research and advanced training activities integrated into the institute’s Platform of Advanced Studies. Matt Cook will give a public lecture at Casa do Comum on 22 January — Entangled Tales, Liveable Lives: Making Queer History Since the 1960s — on some of the methods, archives and challenges of the social and cultural history of specific communities, focusing on queer history, LGBTQIA+, and sexual and gender dissidence in the contemporary era. On 23 January, he will lead a doctoral workshop on the history of emotions, which will take place at the National Library of Portugal (reserved for IHC doctoral students).

Matt Cook’s photo: © University of Oxford