What is your role within research?

I’m a Professor of Economic and Social History, and research is a key part of my job. My most recent monograph, Knowledge, Information and Business Education in the British Atlantic World, 1620-1760 is in production with Oxford University Press. This is one of the results of two research grants that I’ve held in recent years: an AHRC Leadership Fellowship and a British Academic Mid-Career Fellowship.

I am involved in the research culture at Keele in other ways: I am the Group Lead of the Faculty Strategic Research Group for Outputs, and Keele’s pathway representative for Economic and Social History for the ESRC DTP. I hold external roles too – I am co-editor of the Royal Historical Society’s Camden Series and I sit on the Academic Board of the Liverpool Centre for Port and Maritime History and the Steering Committee of HistoryUK.

Can you tell us a bit about your role at Keele? What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m not sure that there is a typical day! In addition to my research roles, I hold Education roles at both School and Faculty level: I am Director of Education for the School of Humanities, and I Chair the Faculty Student Experience and Engagement Group. During teaching terms, I teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and I supervise PhD students. The work that I do on a day-to-day basis varies hugely, but I enjoy the challenge of balancing pressures from different areas.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

The variety. I like that days are different and challenges change from week to week. I enjoy being involved in strategy and policy in both research and education, which gives me a rounded view of different aspects of Institutional policy and experience of different types of roles. One of the parts of my job that gives me the most satisfaction is supporting colleagues by providing mentoring and peer review for their publications, grant applications, and career progression. Throughout my career I have always benefited from the support of others, and it’s nice to be in a position to be able to pay that support forward.

What is your background? How did you first get involved in research?

Being an academic was not something I aspired to. I started an undergraduate degree in History at the University of St Andrews in 2002, and towards the end of that degree I was applying for a range of jobs and higher education opportunities, including graduate programmes with the NHS, Mars, and the Prison Service, as well as Law conversion courses. I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do! One of my final year tutors suggested that I should apply for funding to do a Masters degree. I was awarded that funding and made a deal with myself that if I got a First for my undergraduate degree then I’d pursue it.

During my Masters I was lucky enough to win PhD funding and so decided I had nothing to lose by continuing (and I still didn’t know what I wanted to do). I completed my PhD, also at the University of St Andrews, in 2010, and then held postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London and at the University of Manchester, and in between those roles worked as a Research Associate at Manchester.

I was appointed to a Lectureship at Keele in 2014, and was promoted to a Professorship earlier in 2024.

Is your role at Keele your first involvement in research, or do you have previous experience in other roles?

I had experience in research as a PhD student and in previous postdoctoral posts. Keele was my first permanent academic appointment.

Please tell us about research projects you are involved with.

In the last few years I have held two external grants: an AHRC Leadership Fellowship from 2018-22 (originally 2018-19, but interrupted by two maternity leaves and Covid), and a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for 2022-23. These opportunities have been instrumental in enabling me to pursue my research agenda and to complete a major project on information and education in early modern business.

I’m now embarking on a brand new research project in a slightly different research area, so I’m going back to the beginning and learning new things, which is both exciting and daunting! I also enjoy working with external partners and discussing my research with audiences outside academia. I was involved in the establishment of a partnership between Keele and Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in 2022, and I am an advisor on a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant held by Adderley Community in Shropshire (2022-2025).

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