I am an urban historian of the 20th century, working mainly on Britain, with an additional comparative focus on the USA. My interests include: civic culture and citizenship; big industrial cities (particularly Manchester and Chicago); local education and school architecture; the relationship between state, society, and the individual; civic festivals and pageantry; and the regeneration of post-industrial urban areas.

I am currently writing a monograph with the working title After the Shock City: Manchester, Chicago, and the Making of the Modern Citizen, 1918-1939 (under contract with the Royal Historical Society 'Studies in History' series, Boydell and Brewer).

Before taking up this post, I was an Early Career Lecturer at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (2015-2016), and a Research Associate at King's College London (2013-2015). I was awarded my PhD in Urban History from the University of Leicester in 2013. 

You can find me on Twitter and on academia.edu (where I host most of my blogs and other web features).

My office hours are 11am-1pm on Wednesday (during term time)

I teach on the following courses:

HIS1002: Exploring History II - The Place of the Past in Britain, c. 1900-1950

HIS1005: History and Society

HIS2018: The Making of Contemporary Britain: 1914 to the present

HIS3077: Dissertation

HIS3128: Sin Cities? Everyday Life in the Modern Metropolis

MHY7035: Debates in History

MH7079: From Blitz to Blair: Exploring post war Britain

I can supervise undergraduate and postgraduate theses on modern British history and modern urban history (c. 1880-1960), especially on topics such as belonging and community, festivals and celebrations, historical re-enactment and pageantry, education and citizenship, and local government and governance.