Professor Nigel Copsey specialises in histories of fascism and anti-fascism. He first joined Teesside University in 1993. Prior to this, his PhD was on right-wing extremism in contemporary France and Britain.

He is a Professor (Research) of Modern History.  He was Leverhulme International Fellow at the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism (Ontario Tech University, 2022). With Dr Graham Macklin, he edits the book series 'Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right'.

Professor Copsey has a long-standing research interest in right-wing extremism, fascism and anti-fascism.

His first monograph, Anti-Fascism in Britain (2000), examined the history of anti-fascism in Britain from the 1920s to the present day. A second revised and expanded edition of this book was published in both paperback and hardback by Routledge (2017).

In 2004 Professor Copsey published his second monograph: Contemporary British Fascism: the British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy. A second revised and expanded edition of this book was published in both paperback and hardback in 2008.

His other books are:

1. British Fascism, the Labour Movement and the State, co-edited with Dr David Renton, published in 2005;
2. Varieties of Anti-Fascism: Britain in the Inter-War Period, co-edited with Dr Andrzej Olechnowicz, published in 2010;
3. British National Party: Contemporary Perspectives, co-edited with Dr Graham Macklin, published in 2011;
4. Cultures of Post-War British Fascism, co-edited with Dr John Richardson, published in 2015;
5. Tomorrow Belongs to Us: The British Far Right since 1967, co-edited with Prof Matthew Worley, published in 2018.
6. Anti-fascism in the Nordic Countries: New Perspectives, Comparisons and Transnational Connections, co-edited with Dr Kasper Brasken and Prof Johan Lundin, published in 2019.  
7. Anti-fascism in a Global Perspective: Transnational Networks, Exile Communities, and Radical Internationalism, co-edited with Dr Kasper Brasken and Dr David Featherstone, published in 2020.

His next major project is Anti-Fascism: A Global History, (with Kasper Brasken), a co-authored monograph on key moments in the global history of anti-fascism from the 1920s to the present day.

Professor Copsey particularly welcomes potential PhD students in the field of anti-fascist movements.

External research collaborations include:

A Leverhulme International Fellowship at the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, Ontario Tech University (hosted by Dr Barbara Perry, UNESCO Chair).

A CREST-funded project on Militant Anti-Fascism (PI) (with Dr Sam Merrill, Umea University, Sweden CI).

A EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, Dialogue About Radicalisation and Equality (DARE). The DARE consortium, brought together academic and civil society organisations from 9 EU and 4 non-EU countries.

Professor Copsey is interested in consultancy work on far-right extremism and responses to it. He has written a commissioned report on the English Defence League and he was the lead-author of a report on anti-Muslim hate crime and the far right.

Professor Copsey's teaching interests are in Modern History, particularly Nazism, fascism and anti-fascism, and the Spanish Civil War.

Professor Copsey is a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Peer Review College and Panel College.

Professor Copsey is a member of the Executive Committee of COMFAS (The International Association For Comparative Fascist Studies), a scholarly assocation dedicated to the study of fascism in European and global contexts.