Susanne Quitmann wins the 2025 Prize of the German Historical Institute London - global dis:connect

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Susanne Quitmann wins the 2025 Prize of the German Historical Institute London

global dis:connect postdoctoral researcher Susanne Quitmann has been awarded the Prize of the German Historical Institute London 2025 for her dissertation “Reconceptualising Voice: An Exploratory Case Study of British Child Migrants (1869–1970)”, completed at LMU Munich. This recognition marks the third distinction for her dissertation, which has also received the Society for the History of Children and Youth Dissertation Award and the German Association for British Studies Dissertation Award.

In her thesis, Quitmann reconceptualises voice as an analytical tool to study marginalised people in history. Using the example of British child migrants sent to Canada and Australia between 1869 and 1970, she explores how they navigated and communicated their experiences and constructed new identities within highly asymmetrical power structures. Her approach broadens the understanding of “voice” beyond speech and writing, attending also to silences, music, and bodily performance as meaningful forms of expression.

The GHIL Prize is awarded annually for outstanding doctoral theses in German or British history, colonial history, or British–German relations. It carries a €1,000 award and is formally presented at the GHIL Annual Lecture.