I am a historian of the 20th century, working mainly on Britain. I was awarded my PhD in Urban History from the University of Leicester in 2013. Before taking up my current 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). 

Over the last few years my research has developed in two different strands:

1) Urban culture, especially 1880-1940, and themes such as: civic culture and citizenship; big industrial cities (particularly Manchester and Chicago); local education and school architecture; the relationship between state, society, and the individual; and civic festivals.

2) The place of the past, particularly in the 20th century, with themes such as: historical re-enactment; popular understandings of civic history; and shared ideas of history between the US and Britain.

I am currently writing a monograph with the working title After the Shock City: Urban Culture and the Making of the Modern Citizen (under contract with the Royal Historical Society 'Studies in History' series, Boydell and Brewer), which should appear in 2018 or 2019. This book investigates the theory and reality of civic belonging and governance from the late nineteenth to mid twentieth century, across a range of diverse areas: philosophy; festivals; historical pageants; youth culture; and public housing.

From June 2018-June 2021 I will be the principal investigator on an AHRC-funded project: ‘Voyaging through History: The Meanings of the Mayflower, 1620-2020’. Dr Martha Vandrei (Exeter) is the Co-Investigator, and we are partnered with the British Library + Southampton Mayflower Theatre. This project seeks to trace the 'afterlife' of the voyage across the last four hundred years in Britain by looking at its portrayal in art and literature, as well as civic commemorations. A website with more information will be launched soon; in the meantime, if you are interested, please do get in touch.

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-12pm 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.