Professor Shaw received his BA in history and philosophy from McGill University and his DPhil in history from Oxford University.
He is the author of The Creation of a Community (1993) and Necessary Conjunctions: The Social Self in Medieval England (2005). He co-edited The Return of Science: Evolution, History and Theory (2002) with Philip Pomper. His current research interests include historical agency and the nature of the self in the Middle Ages. He is writing a book on elite travelers and the circulation of ideas in later medieval Europe.