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Dr Derwin Gregory

Deputy Dean and Head of the School of Applied Humanities

Dr Derwin Gregory, Associate Professor of Conflict Archaeology, studied Geography at the University of Cambridge before working as a European Funding Officer for a local authority. In this role, Derwin travelled across the North Sea region working with local business to create international networks of mentors. Derwin then returned to academia to study a Masters in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bristol, before joining Historic England as part of a training scheme delivered in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Archaeologists. On completion of the scheme, Derwin undertook a PhD in the Department of History at the University of East Anglia on the infrastructure of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.

Following his viva, Derwin joined the University of East Anglia as a Partnership and Development Officer working with local authorities to research the history of the throw away society. Derwin was then appointed as a Lecturer in Modern History and was responsible for running a project on the archaeology of the United States Army Air Force during the Second World War. Working with members of armed forces community, the project supported the wellbeing of veterans, and worked with local businesses to promote the East Anglia as a tourism destination to the American market. Derwin Joined Lincoln Bishop University as Programme Leader for Archaeology in September 2020, before being appointed as Head of the School of Applied Humanities in January 2026.

Contact Dr Derwin Gregory

Field Archaeology: People, Place and Practice
Archaeological Field School
Conflict Archaeology in Global Context
Dissertation
Independent Study Project

Dr Derwin Gregory is currently running a project exploring the heritage and archaeology of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in East Anglia during the Second World War.

Derwin is also exploring the link between wellbeing and material culture in the armed forces.

Monographs

2022, The Global Infrastructure of the Special Operations Executive, Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Global-Infrastructure-of-the-Special-Operations-Executive/Gregory/p/book/9781138749900

Monograph Chapters

Forthcoming, 'The use of schools within Lincoln as ‘Rest Centres’ during the Second World War', in Sites of Learning: A history of education in the city of Lincoln, Survey of Lincoln.
2023, 'Lincoln’s emergency mortuary during the Second World War', in Lincoln’s cemeteries, Survey of Lincoln.

Journal Articles

2025, 'Home Away from Home? Life on British Tactical Bases in Afghanistan', The RUSI Journal, Vol. 170 no. 2, pp. 76-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2025.2477709

2023, ‘A box in the desert: using open access satellite imagery to map the 151st Infantry Brigade’s field defences on the Gazala Line, 1942’, International Journal of Historical Archaeology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-023-00712-8

2020, [co-authored with Carola Wayne], ‘“I do feel good because my stomach is full of good hotcakes”: Comfort food, home, and the USAAF in East Anglia during the Second World War’, History, Vol. 105 no. 368, pp. 806-824. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.13081

2020, ‘A “Baby GDA”: Norwich’s Airspace during the Second World War’, Landscapes, Vol. 19 no. 2, pp. 150-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662035.2020.1740542

2019, ‘Vernacular memorialisation in the military: Personal acts of remembrance at RAF Thorpe Abbotts, England’, Journal of Conflict Archaeology, Vol. 14 no. 2-3, pp. 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/15740773.2020.1726124

2017, [co-authored with Tom Licence], ‘Historic global commodity networks: The research potential of rubbish dumps for the study of rural household market access during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’, Rural History, Vol. 28 no. 2, pp. 161-175. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956793317000127

2016, ‘Communicating with the European Resistance: An assessment of the Special Operations Executive’s wireless facilities in the UK during the Second World War’, Post Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 50 no. 2, pp. 289-304. https://doi.org/10.1080/00794236.2016.1200325

Reports

2012, [co-authored with Mark Edgeworth], ‘Sundon Park, Lower Sundon, Bedfordshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment’, English Heritage RDRS 54/2012.

2011, [co-authored with Wayne Cocroft], ‘Barnham, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk: RAF Barnham, Special Storage Site. Documentary Analysis of Sources in TNA’, English Heritage RDRS 48/2011.

2010, ‘RAF Stanbridge: A Desk Based Assessment’, English Heritage RDRS 45/2011.

2010, [co-authored with Sarah Newsome], ‘Cooling Radio Station: An Archaeological Investigation of a Short-Wave Receiving Station’, English Heritage RDRS 110/2010.

2023+ Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA).
2023-24 Monograph editor, Society of Post-Medieval Archaeology.
2022+ Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS).
2021+ Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
2019-23 Assistant editor, journal of Post-Medieval Archaeology.
2010+ Practitioner of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (PCIfA).

2024 Society for Lincolnshire’s History and Archaeology’s Flora Murray Award, in partnership with Wings to the Past.
2023 Nominated for the Council for British Archaeology Marsh Charitable Trust Community Project of the Year, in partnership with Wings to the Past.
2020 University of East Anglia, finalist for Outstanding Social or Cultural Impact, Innovation and Impact Award.
2018 University of East Anglia, winner Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Accelerator Account, Innovation and Impact Award.
2018 University of East Anglia, Project Engagement Award.
2016 University of East Anglia, Project Engagement Award.

2024 £1,941.00: Lincoln Record Society. To run a weekend ‘Historical Games Jam’ for local schools.
2023 £427,314.34: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Renew and upgrade facilities for creative and cultural research (2023). Equipment and infrastructure grant to upgrade the archaeology facilities at Lincoln Bishop and to purchase state-of-the-art equipment.
2021 £22,945.22: Imperial War Museum (IWM): 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund (2021-4). Funding to run art therapy sessions for veterans, and to host an exhibition of their work, alongside commissioned artwork, on concepts of homes amongst British troops deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Derwin is currently accepting new PhD students in both archaeology and military history, including topics on: