I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Higher Education Academy and I am one of the editors of the journal Cultural and Social History. 

Research

My research explores the social history of the Cold War in Britain. 

My most recent research project used oral history to explore the social history of British military bases in Germany, forming the basis of my second book, Cold War Frontier. This project, funded initially by the British Academy Small Grants Programme (Leverhulme Trust) and by an AHRC Leadership Fellowship (2019-21), conducted interviews with a wide range of former base residents. These interviews have also formed the basis of articles on evacuation planning, boredom in the Cold War and military children and families (see research outputs tab). 

My first book, The Korean War in Britain: Citizenship, Selfhood and Forgetting (Manchester University Press, 2018), examined the social and cultural impact of the Korean War (1950-1953) on Britain. Assessing the impact of the war from 1950 to the early twenty-first century, the book uncovered the different ways in which British people responded to the Korean War and how it came to be known as the ‘Forgotten War’ of the twentieth century. 

Life-writing and oral history feature prominently in my work, and I have organised the Bristol Oral Histories Research Cluster with Professor John Foot (Italian Studies) and the 'Reimagining the Diary' project (with Dr Lucy Kelly, the Brigstow Institute and creative media company Stand + Stare). 

Teaching 

I teach across all levels of the BA, MA and PhD courses here at Bristol. My teaching has included units on Britain’s Cold War, the global aftermath of the Second World War, war and society in the twentieth-century Britain and Europe, oral history, the 'voice' in social history and public history. 

Research Supervision

I greatly enjoy supervising PhD and MPhil students exploring a range of topics and approaches, from oral history to the social history of the military. 

My past doctoral research students include: 

• Dr Theresa McKeon, 'Public Services, Private Values: The Society of the Merchant Venturers of Bristol and the Changing World of Welfare Service Provision in England, 1975-2017', 2020.  
• Dr Thomas Larkin, '“Truly I am Changed”: American traders in nineteenth-century Hong Kong', 2021. Winner of the Faculty of Arts Doctoral Prize. 
• Dr Amy Gower, 'Schoolgirls, Identity and Agency in England, 1970-2004', 2022. University of Reading/SWWDTP.
• Dr Steve Westlake, 'An "Oxfam of the Mind"? Humanitarianism, Human Rights and Overseas Development at the BBC World Service, 1965-1999', 2022. 
• Dr Gary Willis, 'Fields into Factories' the Contested Growth of Military-Industrial Capacity and its impact on Britain's landscapes across the long Second World War, 2023. 
• Dr Ellis Keeber, Limelight Soldiering? The Cold War and the Exerpience of British Military Personnel in Berlin, 1945-1971, 2024. AHRC/IWM. 

I welcome applications from prospective postgraduate history students interested in researching modern British or European social history, Cold War history, and the social history of warfare in the twentieth century. I also welcome projects using oral history or life-writing methodologies. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via email if you would like to discuss your research plans.