Aims of the research program

The aims of the research program are:

• To create datasets that allow us to reconstruct, as fully as the surviving source material allows the occupational structure and population geography of Britain over as long a period as possible (currently c.1379-2011) and in as spatially disaggregated a form as possible.
• To enrich the dataset mix by adding high spatial resolution dastasets on other variables to match those on occupational structure and population geography and to build a spatio-temporal research data infrastructure for general use for pre modern British economic and social history and where possible to extend this down to the present so at to maximise the scholarly re-use potential of the data infrastructure across multiple disciplines.
• To use these datasets ourselves to pursue a series of fundamental research agendas in both British and global economic history: one of which is to provide a better understanding of the transformation of predominantly agrarian societies into industrial economies.
• To encourage and help other scholars to undertake parallel exercises for other countries and to undertake comparative work ourselves. This is being done primarily through three research networks: INCHOS (International Network for the Comparative History of Occupational Structure); AFCHOS (African Comparative History of Occupational Structure); and ENCHPOPGOS (European Network for the Comparative History of Population Geography and Occupational Structure) projects.
• To facilitate the work of other scholars making use of our datasets for diverse scholarly purposes