From May to October 1945 he served with the military government in Lübeck, where he had to supervise and edit the local newspaper.
In 1949, Dickens was appointed professor of history at the University of Hull, later becoming deputy principal and dean of the Faculty of Arts, 1950–53, and pro-vice-chancellor, 1959–62.
Dickens was also active in other bodies, including being president of the Ecclesiastical History Society, 1966–68;[3] a member of the Advisory Council on Public Records, 1968–76; an advisor to the Council on the Export of Works of Art, 1968–76; secretary, chairman and general secretary of the British National Committee of Historical Sciences, 1967–79; foreign secretary of the British Academy, 1969–79; and vice-president of the British Record Society, 1978–80.
[1] His book on the English Reformation was, for many years the standard text on the subject, relying as it did on detailed examination of parish records.
Papers of Professor Dickens are held by Senate House Library, University of London, and are available to be consulted there.