Personal statement

My research interests are in the history of work and occupational health where I’ve played a significant role over the past three decades in applying an oral history methodology. My work thus lies at the intersection of the sub-disciplines of labour and health history. My recent publications reflect this, including a co-authored book, Miners’ Lung (Ashgate, 2007), my monograph Working Lives: Work in Britain since 1945 (Palgrave 2013), the co-authored book Men in Reserve: British Civilian Masculinity in the Second World War (Manchester University Press, 2017) and latest monograph, Jobs and Bodies: An Oral History of Health and Safety in Britain (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024) and co-authored book (with Yvonne McFadden), Memory, Mining and Heritage (Carn Publishing, 2024). Generous financial support from external funders has contributed to these research outputs, including the AHRC, the Wellcome Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, Historic Enviroment Scotland, the NHLF and the Hudson Trust. I am currently working on projects on the transnational gendered health impacts of industrialisation and deindustrialisation (as Co-investigator in a major Canadian SSHRC research project: Deindustrialization and the Politics of our Time, 2021-27); and recently completed work on 'The Lost Villages: Deindustrialisation in East Ayrshire' (Principal Investigator: Externally funded £174,000, 2021-23).

In my role as Director (2005-2021) and Co-Director (1995-2005; since 2021) of the Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) I have overseen its development into an internationally renowned interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange centre for oral history. I am passionate about oral history and have played a leading role in getting oral history situated as one of the four research strengths of the History subject area at the University of Strathclyde, in teaching through our undergraduate and postgraduate oral history pathways, in providing advanced oral history training through the SGSAH/SS and in supervising dissertation, Masters and PhD theses deploying oral history methodologies.

I strongly believe that academic research should have a significant public impact and that there should be deep engagement with the public and wider stakeholders. I have tried to do this in my own research where my oral history approach to occupational respiratory disease and disability has had a significant effect on understanding the diverse and complex impacts of contracting such diseases upon identities, health and well-being, including in relation to the ongoing asbestos-related disease epidemic. I held an AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship with Glasgow Museums in 2010-11 and have developed close links with museums, archives, community groups and some businesses, which has significantly impacted on their practices, including their understanding of the importance of memory heritage and the role of the voice in reconstructing past lived experience. I submitted a public impact case study to REF2014 and another: 'Memory in Public History' to REF2021 (rated at internal audit at 4* and in REF2021 as amongst the top 10 in the UK). The latter incorporates a new MOOC (FutureLearn) I worked on (with Kirstie Blair) delivered over 2019-2021 on coal miners' working lives (in collaboration with coal mining museums). Over 4,650 learners have taken the MOOC to date.

I have extensive experience of postgraduate supervision and welcome enquiries from prospective Masters and doctoral students interested in any aspects of the history of work, occupational health and safety, and deindustrialisation and its health and environmental impacts – especially those interested in deploying oral history methodology.