About

Historian | Researcher | Lecturer | Consultant

About me

I am a social and cultural historian of modern Britain, with a particular interest in the histories of young people and youth culture; family history; public & community history; histories of women, gender & sexuality; and oral history. I am currently based at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE), where I am an Associate Professor in Modern History.

Outside of academia, I can usually be found spending time with my two dogs, overseeing the next DIY project, or expanding my tattoo collection.

Bio

I received my PhD in History from the University of Leeds in 2015. My thesis examined the leisure lives of young working-class men and women at the turn of the twentieth century, research that later informed my first book, Dangerous Amusements.

Before my PhD, I graduated from the University of Glasgow in July 2008 with a degree in History and Politics. During my time in Glasgow, I was lucky to spend time working with the Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) on the ‘Find a Solution’ Project, exploring the feasibility of recording historical resources and archives on women across Scotland.

After a break from university, I moved to York in 2009 to begin an MA in History and Politics. After graduating, I spent a year living and teaching English in the south of Thailand, before returning to the UK to start my PhD.

A picture from one of my Thai students.

Shortly after finishing my PhD in 2015, I received a highly-competitive Fulbright scholarship, which allowed me to spend the 2015-16 academic year at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, USA as the Fulbright-Robertson Visiting Professor in British History. During this year I started work on my first book, and taught a range of classes on British social history. Fulton is a relatively small town, so I also took every opportunity to travel around the Midwest – visiting neighbouring states including Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well as trips to the west and east coast.

St. Louis Gateway Arch

I continue to work with the US-UK Fulbright Commission as a peer-reviewer and interviewer to help support the next generation of researchers. I’m always happy to talk to students and researchers interested in applying for a scholarship – especially those from first-generation backgrounds or who don’t have institutional support.

Heading back to the UK, I joined the History department at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) as a Senior Lecturer in 2016 – where I have worked ever since. I teach across all three years of the History undergraduate degree, with modules largely focused around nineteenth and twentieth century British history. This includes the researched-focused modules I lead on histories of youth & youth culture, and of gender & sexuality.

While at UWE, I have held a number of academic leadership roles, including programme leader for the History undergraduate degree from 2019-2021, and Associate Head of School, with responsibility of the Creative Writing, History and Linguistics degree programmes, from 2021-2023. Between 2023-2024 I was the Associate Director of the Regional History Centre.

Graduation, July 2023