Dr Hill is Assistant Professor of Military History in the Department of History and specialises in the military and strategic history of the Soviet Union. Dr Hill's Arctic interests are primarily in the militarization of the Soviet north in the period 1917-1945, including the construction of the Baltic-White Sea Canal and development of the Northern Sea Route both for both obviously military and civilian purposes. He has written on the development of the Soviet Northern Fleet immediately prior to and during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, including the impact of Allied aid on Soviet naval power in the region, and is currently editing a volume, working with Russian scholars, on the Soviet naval war in the Arctic 1941-1945. He is developing links with the Pomor State University in Arkhangel'sk, which he visited in April 2005.