Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

A conference taking place on campus this week will initiate a three-year collaboration between Sussex and Yale University in the USA.

The School of History, Art History and Philosophy (HAHP) has negotiated a new collaboration with the Department of History at Yale.

The new venture involves a series of conferences, workshops and exchanges involving staff and research students. Each year, Sussex will send two HAHP students to Connecticut and receive in return a post-doctoral researcher, creating the nucleus of a shared intellectual community.

The goal of the project is to promote a new generation of scholars to address problems of long-term change in the world before 1800, in an effort to understand the foundations of our most important political, economic and cultural institutions.

The first event in this new initiative is a conference at Sussex this Thursday and Friday (27 and 28 May), discussing Yale's Professor Steven Pincus's acclaimed new book 1688: The first modern revolution, which locates England's Glorious Revolution in the history of modern revolutions.

Dr Pamela Schirmeister, Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Yale, said: "Yale is delighted to be collaborating with Sussex on this important initiative that marks the beginning of a transatlantic conversation about the study of transatlantic developments.

"It is of tremendous benefit to both universities for the intellectual possibilities it opens and the exchange opportunities it provides."

Professor Matthew Cragoe, Head of the School of History, Art History and Philosophy, said: "As historical research turns its attention to global problems and perspectives, we are modelling the forms of international research collaboration of the future."