Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in the field of
- Oral history
- Working class community
- Deindustrialisation
- Gender history
- Twentieth century Belfast/Northern Ireland's social history
Public outreach & key achievements
- Founder of Quote Hub (collective of Queen’s based oral historians) with a remit for public outreach and engagement. For me see - https://quote.qub.ac.uk/
- Involved in a variety of public history partnerships. These include membership of academic
advisory panels that revamped the Ulster Museum’s History Gallery and its Troubles Gallery.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkEn9CkfMfo - In January 2021 Sean co-authored the report on Mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries in Northern Ireland. Commissioned by the Department of Health, the report led to a major set piece debate at Stormont and dominated the media for several days after its publication. As a consequence, a public inquiry on the issue is now in the offing with recommendations on its format submitted in October 2021.
Research students
| PhD Title | 'The original Derry Girls: the women of the shirt factories of Derry' |
| PhD Title | 'Women in the workplace, Belfast 1945-1998: an oral history' |
| PhD Title | 'Gender identities and family dynamics in post-industrial communities: a comparative study of Northern Ireland and West-Central Scotland' |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD Title | 'Ethnic minority communities in twentieth century Belfast' |
| Current Position | Post-doctoral research fellow at University of Manchester |
| PhD Title | 'Memory, conflict and class: the experience and legacy of deindustrialisation in Belfast and North East England since 1970 |
| Current Position | Irish Research Council Post-doctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin. |
Discover More
- School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics
- Quote Hub Centre for Public History.