Congratulations to Dr. Aidan Forth, associate professor in the Department of Humanities, who is the recipient of MacEwan’s 2025 Distinguished Research Award.
Each year, the Distinguished Research Award recognizes one faculty member who conducts exceptional scholarly work that has demonstrated significant contributions to society and the scholarly community – locally, nationally or internationally.
“Dr. Forth is such a deserving recipient of this award,” said Dr. Craig Monk, provost and vice-president, Academic. “Having first established himself as a celebrated scholar at an American research institution, he resumed his program of work amongst our students, inspiring them with his passion for history.
“He remains exceptional in his efforts in disseminating his work to audiences on national and international stages through media engagements, peer-reviewed publications and scholarly presentations at academic conferences and prominent institutions.”
Dr. Forth’s teaching and research explore European empires as venues of violence and warfare; humanitarian intervention; and the rich cross-fertilization of cultures, identities and ideas that have shaped the modern world. His new research project examines the history of technological change. This work will be reflected in a book project titled Empire in Motion: Transport, Technology, and Global Connectivity, 1815-1914.
His prize-winning first book, Barbed-Wire Imperialism: Britain’s Empire of Camps, 1876-1903, reveals a global but hitherto unexplored network of refugee and concentration camps established by Britain in the late nineteenth century. Based on archival research on four different continents, Barbed-Wire Imperialism pioneered an interdisciplinary, comparative and transnational approach to trace a genealogy of the camp as an institution deeply embedded in the politics and culture of the Euro-American world. He expands the scope of this research in his most recent book Camps: A Global History, a classroom-oriented volume based on a decade of teaching and student engagement.
Some of Dr. Forth’s most recent awards include being the recipient of a SSHRC-SIG grant (2025-26), a Society of Mayflower Descendents Fellowship from the Newberry Library in Chicago (2025) and a Dibner Research Fellowship in the History of Science and Technology from the Huntington Library in Los Angeles (2025-26).
Dr. Forth plans to conduct research at archives in Europe during his forthcoming sabbatical, where he will be a sabbatical fellow at London’s Goodenough College.
He will receive the Distinguished Research Award as part of the university’s Spring Convocation ceremonies.