About
My research focus is interdisciplinary. I work on the history, culture and politics of the nuclear age, with particular focus on justice, archives and heritage in relation to the British nuclear testing programme. I increasingly work as a public historian with interests in creative research, collaborative practice, and the use of AI in community-led initiatives.
Most recently I have collaborated with the Centre for People's Justice, LABRATS CIC and journalist Susie Boniface on the recently declassified Merlin database. Supported by Research England Policy Development funds, the nuclear justice project was able to catalogue Merlin database with the help of volunteer students.
Between 2023 and 2025 I was Co-Investigator on 'An Oral History of British Nuclear Test Veterans', funded by the Office for Veteran Affairs, UK Cabinet Office. The project was led by Dr Christopher Hill (University of South Wales), and supported by National Life Stories from the British Library. The project aimed to increase awareness of the role of nuclear test participation in the course of veterans' lives. The project website 'Voices of British Nuclear Test Veterans' will contain educational resources, a project film, and an open access archive on British Library Sounds. An additional IAA grant enabled me to organise a School Citizen Assembly with Liverpool World Centre, and co-create a comic with artist Gareth Sleightholme.
British Nuclear Culture (Bloomsbury, 2016), offered a new interpretation of the British nuclear century by tracing the tensions between 'official' and 'unofficial' narratives.
I am also currently working on a number of edited collections, and a case study on proposed Uranium mining on Orkney in the 1970s. Longer term projects include an exploration of life in 1980s nuclear Britain. I was General Editor of an innovative Open Access e-textbook project, Using Primary Sources (LUP, 2017), funded by JISC. This was a collaborative effort between nearly thirty historians, University of Liverpool Library colleagues, and Liverpool University Press.
I currently supervise PhD student Megan Thomas (ESRC CASE studentship, collaboration with English Heritage) who is researching York ROC bunker and archives. I have supervised (as first and second supervisor) 7 PhDs to completion, including AHRC-funded PhD students Dr Emily Gibbs who worked on the history of emotions in relation to nuclear Britain, and Dr Harry Roberts who wrote a thesis on nuclear identities in rural Britain.