Dr Ewan Gibbs

  • Lecturer in Global Inequalities (Economic & Social History)

email: Ewan.Gibbs@glasgow.ac.uk

617 Gilbert Scott Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-7241

Biography

I am a historian of energy, industry, work and protest with established expertise in oral history methods and archival research. My interests include heritage and memorialisation and uses of history in emotive and politically charged contexts such as the current debate over how to build a fairer and greener economy.

I joined the University of Glasgow in 2020 where I contribute to teaching on both the Global Economy and GLOCAL masters programmes as well as the undergraduate Economic and Social History degree. I am presently developing projects based around understanding energy transitions, decarbonisation and connections between fuel sources, arguments for Scottish independence and economic justice. My monograph, Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland, was published by the University of London Press as part of the Institute of Historical Research and the Royal Historical Society's ‘New Historical Perspectives’ series in 2021. It is available to read on an open access basis. I also recently published a journal article on 'Scotland's faltering green industrial revolution', which critiques successes in renewable electricity generation and failures to achieve the antiicpated industrial benefits this transformation promised.

My research has consistently focussed on the link between long-term economic developments and changes in politics and culture. I was awarded an MA (first class honours) in Economic and Social History from the University of Glasgow before completing a masters in Global Economy (with distinction) and then obtaining a doctorate. My PhD studied deindustrialization and working-class politics in the Scottish coalfields, including an emphasis on collective memory and the long-term consequences of colliery closures. Subsequently, I have developed interests in multinational subsidiaries and energy policy. Through these projects, I have gained expertise in archival research by using the records of government, industry, and the trade union movement as well as ad-hoc physical and digital collections compiled by social movements and campaigning organisations. I also have an established track record of using oral history interviews to understand the enduring significance accorded to working lives and industrial closures as well as to analyse the construction of 'usable pasts' by heritage activists.

More recently, I have applied these skills to researching the connection between energy politics and arguments for Scottish independence. Between 2020 and 2022, I completed a project that involves interviewing key informants connected with the evolving case for Scottish independence since the 1960s alongside archival research on political parties, policymaking and relevant trade unions and social movements. Now I am working towards a larger research agenda on decarbonisation through studying workplace, community and policy perspectives on Britain's evolving energy economys ince the 1950s. As a British Academy-Wolfson Fellow, I am engaged in a multi-scalar assessment of how global changes in energy markets and UK-wide shifts in policy affected nations, regions and localities in discrete ways, investigating major changes in energy infrastructure associated with conventional and nuclear power stations, oil refineries and renewable energy. This project assesses what we can learn from these major recent historical expeirences as we face a renewed push towards decarbonisation and acheiving a 'just transition' in the 2020s and 2030s. 

 

Research interests

  • 'Just transition' and decarbonisation 
  • Energy generation and policy
  • Labour and working-class history
  • Industrial politics
  • Inward investment and divestment
  • Deindustrialization
  • Protest and activism
  • Oral history
  • Heritage and commemoration
  • Scottish nationalism
  • Radical left and Communist politics

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014
Number of items: 36.

2024

Ross, L. and Gibbs, E. (2024) The making of anti-nuclear Scotland: activism, coalition building, energy politics and nationhood, c.1954-2008. Contemporary British History, (doi: 10.1080/13619462.2023.2293745) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. , McCartney, G. and Phillips, J. (2024) The fundamentals of public ownership: learning from UK historical experience and recent Scottish policy. Political Quarterly, (doi: 10.1111/1467-923X.13348) (Early Online Publication)

2023

Mullen, S. and Gibbs, E. (2023) Scotland, Atlantic Slavery and the Scottish National Party: from colonised to coloniser in the political imagination. Nations and Nationalism, 29(3), pp. 922-938. (doi: 10.1111/nana.12925)

Gibbs, E. (2023) Review of periodical literature for 2021: (vi) post 1945. Economic History Review, 76(1), pp. 378-387. (doi: 10.1111/ehr.13234)

2022

Gibbs, E. (2022) Michael ‘Mick’ McGahey: Miner, communist and trade union leader. Twentieth Century Communism, 2022(23), pp. 4-34.

Gibbs, E. , Henderson, S. and Bianchi, V. (2022) Intergenerational learning and place-making in a deindustrialized locality: “Tracks of the Past” in Lanarkshire, Scotland. International Labor and Working-Class History, 102, pp. 157-180. (doi: 10.1017/s0147547922000011)

Morrison, J. and Gibbs, E. (2022) Women's Political Leadership in Scotland: Successes and Failures. [Website]

Gibbs, E. (2022) Foreign direct investment policy, multinationals, and subsidiary entrepreneurship success and failure in post-war Scotland. Business History, (doi: 10.1080/00076791.2022.2052852) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. and Kerr, E. (2022) Mobilizing solidarity in factory occupations: activist responses to multinational plant closures. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 43(2), pp. 612-633. (doi: 10.1177/0143831X20931928)

Gibbs, E. and Scothorne, R. (2022) Radical Scotland. In: Gall, G. (ed.) A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society. Pluto Press. ISBN 9780745345062

Gibbs, E. (2022) How has deindustrialisation shaped debates about Scottish independence? Economics Observatory, 10 Feb.

Gibbs, E. (2022) Review of periodical literature for 2020: (vi) since 1945. Economic History Review, 75(1), pp. 275-287. (doi: 10.1111/ehr.13154)

Gibbs, E. and Henderson-Bone, S. (2022) Teaching industrial history after deindustrialisation: ‘Tracks of the Past’ in the Scottish coalfields. In: Simmons, R. and Simpson, K. (eds.) Education, Work and Social Change in Britain’s Former Coalfield Communities: The Ghost of Coal. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 149-171. ISBN 9783031107917 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-10792-4_8)

2021

Morrison, J. and Gibbs, E. (2021) Feminist institutionalism and women’s political leadership in devolution era Scotland. British Politics, (doi: 10.1057/s41293-021-00197-1) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. (2021) ‘It’s not a lot of boring old gits sitting about remembering the good old days’: The heritage and legacy of the 1987 Caterpillar factory occupation in Uddingston, Scotland. Labour History Review, 86(1), pp. 117-143. (doi: 10.3828/lhr.2021.6)

Gibbs, E. (2021) Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland. Series: New historical perspectives. University of London Press: London. ISBN 9781912702541 (doi: 10.14296/321.9781912702589)

Gibbs, E. (2021) Scotland’s faltering green industrial revolution. Political Quarterly, 92(1), pp. 57-65. (doi: 10.1111/1467-923X.12962)

Gibbs, E. (2021) Ecosse : un passé industriel toujours présent. Les Mondes du Travail, 27, pp. 159-172.

2020

Clark, A. and Gibbs, E. (2020) Voices of social dislocation, lost work and economic restructuring: narratives from marginalised localities in the ‘New Scotland’. Memory Studies, 13(1), pp. 39-59. (doi: 10.1177/1750698017741931)

Gibbs, E. (2020) Remembering Scottish Communism. Scottish Labour History, 55, pp. 83-106.

Gibbs, E. and Scothorne, R. (2020) Accusers of capitalism: masculinity and populism on the Scottish radical left in the late twentieth century. Social History, 45(2), pp. 218-245. (doi: 10.1080/03071022.2020.1732129)

2019

Gibbs, E. and Phillips, J. (2019) Remembering Auchengeich: the largest fatal accident in Scottish coal in the nationalised era. Scottish Labour History, 54, pp. 47-57.

Gibbs, E. (2019) Socialism in a cold climate: the radical left since 1999. In: Hassan, G. (ed.) The Story of the Scottish Parliament: the First Two Decades Explained. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9781474454896

2018

Gibbs, E. and Phillips, J. (2018) Who owns a factory?: Caterpillar tractors in Uddingston, 1956-1987. Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 39, pp. 111-137. (doi: 10.3828/hsir.2018.39.4)

Condratto, S. and Gibbs, E. (2018) After industrial citizenship: adapting to precarious employment in the Lanarkshire coalfield, Scotland, and Sudbury hardrock mining, Canada. Labour / Le Travail, 81, pp. 213-239. (doi: 10.1353/llt.2018.0007)

Gibbs, E. (2018) The moral economy of the Scottish coalfields: managing deindustrialization under nationalization c.1947–1983. Enterprise and Society, 19(1), pp. 124-152. (doi: 10.1017/eso.2017.25)

Gibbs, E. and Henderson, S. (2018) ‘Tracks’ of the Past: How Can a Place-responsive Pedagogy Support New Understandings of Industrial Heritage and Major Economic Change Using a Curriculum for Excellence? Scottish Educational Research Association Annual Conference 2018: Critical Understanding of Education Systems: What Matters Internationally?, Glasgow, Scotland, 21-23 Nov 2018.

Henderson, S. and Gibbs, E. (2018) ‘Tracks’ of the Past: How Can a Place-responsive Pedagogy Support New Understandings of Industrial Heritage and Major Economic Change Using a Curriculum for Excellence? 20th Children’s Identity and Citizenship European Association Conference in Warsaw : Citizenship & Identity in a ‘Post-Truth’ World, Warsaw, Poland, 10-12 May 2018.

2017

Scothorne, R. and Gibbs, E. (2017) Origins of the present crisis?: the emergence of 'left-wing' Scottish nationalism, 1956-81. In: Smith, E. and Worley, M. (eds.) Waiting for the Revolution: The British Far Left from 1956. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 163-181. ISBN 9781526113658 (doi: 10.7228/manchester/9781526113658.003.0010)

Gibbs, E. (2017) Who’s ‘normal’? Class, culture and Labour politics in a fragmented Britain. Renewal: a Journal of Social Democracy, 25(1), pp. 86-91.

2016

Gibbs, E. (2016) Undermining Industrial Citizenship: Deindustrialization and the Rise of Precarious Employment in the Lanarkshire Coalfield, Scotland and Sudbury Hard Rock Mining, Canada. In: International Labour Process Conference 2016: Working Revolutions, Revolutionising Work, Berlin, Germany, 04-06 Apr 2016,

Gibbs, E. (2016) Confronting Deindustrialisation: Economic Change and Cultural Identities in the Scottish Coalfields. The Economic History Society Annual Conference 2016, Cambridge, UK, 01-03 Apr 2016.

Gibbs, E. (2016) Historical tradition and community mobilisation: narratives of Red Clydeside in memories of the anti-poll tax movement in Scotland, 1988–1990. Labor History, 57(4), pp. 439-462. (doi: 10.1080/0023656x.2016.1184027)

Tomlinson, J. and Gibbs, E. (2016) Planning the new industrial nation: Scotland 1931-1979. Contemporary British History, 30(4), pp. 584-606. (doi: 10.1080/13619462.2016.1209009)

2015

Gibbs, E. (2015) The Moral Economy of the Scottish Coalfields: Managing Deindustrialization under Nationalization c. 1947-1983. In: European Business History Association and Business History Conference 2015: Inequalities: Winners and Losers in Business, Miami, FL, USA, 24-27 Jun 2015,

2014

Gibbs, E. (2014) 'Civic Scotland' versus communities on Clydeside: poll tax non-payment, c.1987-1990. Scottish Labour History, 49, pp. 86-106.

This list was generated on Fri Apr 19 07:02:23 2024 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Conference or Workshop Item | Conference Proceedings | Website
Number of items: 36.

Articles

Ross, L. and Gibbs, E. (2024) The making of anti-nuclear Scotland: activism, coalition building, energy politics and nationhood, c.1954-2008. Contemporary British History, (doi: 10.1080/13619462.2023.2293745) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. , McCartney, G. and Phillips, J. (2024) The fundamentals of public ownership: learning from UK historical experience and recent Scottish policy. Political Quarterly, (doi: 10.1111/1467-923X.13348) (Early Online Publication)

Mullen, S. and Gibbs, E. (2023) Scotland, Atlantic Slavery and the Scottish National Party: from colonised to coloniser in the political imagination. Nations and Nationalism, 29(3), pp. 922-938. (doi: 10.1111/nana.12925)

Gibbs, E. (2023) Review of periodical literature for 2021: (vi) post 1945. Economic History Review, 76(1), pp. 378-387. (doi: 10.1111/ehr.13234)

Gibbs, E. (2022) Michael ‘Mick’ McGahey: Miner, communist and trade union leader. Twentieth Century Communism, 2022(23), pp. 4-34.

Gibbs, E. , Henderson, S. and Bianchi, V. (2022) Intergenerational learning and place-making in a deindustrialized locality: “Tracks of the Past” in Lanarkshire, Scotland. International Labor and Working-Class History, 102, pp. 157-180. (doi: 10.1017/s0147547922000011)

Gibbs, E. (2022) Foreign direct investment policy, multinationals, and subsidiary entrepreneurship success and failure in post-war Scotland. Business History, (doi: 10.1080/00076791.2022.2052852) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. and Kerr, E. (2022) Mobilizing solidarity in factory occupations: activist responses to multinational plant closures. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 43(2), pp. 612-633. (doi: 10.1177/0143831X20931928)

Gibbs, E. (2022) How has deindustrialisation shaped debates about Scottish independence? Economics Observatory, 10 Feb.

Gibbs, E. (2022) Review of periodical literature for 2020: (vi) since 1945. Economic History Review, 75(1), pp. 275-287. (doi: 10.1111/ehr.13154)

Morrison, J. and Gibbs, E. (2021) Feminist institutionalism and women’s political leadership in devolution era Scotland. British Politics, (doi: 10.1057/s41293-021-00197-1) (Early Online Publication)

Gibbs, E. (2021) ‘It’s not a lot of boring old gits sitting about remembering the good old days’: The heritage and legacy of the 1987 Caterpillar factory occupation in Uddingston, Scotland. Labour History Review, 86(1), pp. 117-143. (doi: 10.3828/lhr.2021.6)

Gibbs, E. (2021) Scotland’s faltering green industrial revolution. Political Quarterly, 92(1), pp. 57-65. (doi: 10.1111/1467-923X.12962)

Gibbs, E. (2021) Ecosse : un passé industriel toujours présent. Les Mondes du Travail, 27, pp. 159-172.

Clark, A. and Gibbs, E. (2020) Voices of social dislocation, lost work and economic restructuring: narratives from marginalised localities in the ‘New Scotland’. Memory Studies, 13(1), pp. 39-59. (doi: 10.1177/1750698017741931)

Gibbs, E. (2020) Remembering Scottish Communism. Scottish Labour History, 55, pp. 83-106.

Gibbs, E. and Scothorne, R. (2020) Accusers of capitalism: masculinity and populism on the Scottish radical left in the late twentieth century. Social History, 45(2), pp. 218-245. (doi: 10.1080/03071022.2020.1732129)

Gibbs, E. and Phillips, J. (2019) Remembering Auchengeich: the largest fatal accident in Scottish coal in the nationalised era. Scottish Labour History, 54, pp. 47-57.

Gibbs, E. and Phillips, J. (2018) Who owns a factory?: Caterpillar tractors in Uddingston, 1956-1987. Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 39, pp. 111-137. (doi: 10.3828/hsir.2018.39.4)

Condratto, S. and Gibbs, E. (2018) After industrial citizenship: adapting to precarious employment in the Lanarkshire coalfield, Scotland, and Sudbury hardrock mining, Canada. Labour / Le Travail, 81, pp. 213-239. (doi: 10.1353/llt.2018.0007)

Gibbs, E. (2018) The moral economy of the Scottish coalfields: managing deindustrialization under nationalization c.1947–1983. Enterprise and Society, 19(1), pp. 124-152. (doi: 10.1017/eso.2017.25)

Gibbs, E. (2017) Who’s ‘normal’? Class, culture and Labour politics in a fragmented Britain. Renewal: a Journal of Social Democracy, 25(1), pp. 86-91.

Gibbs, E. (2016) Historical tradition and community mobilisation: narratives of Red Clydeside in memories of the anti-poll tax movement in Scotland, 1988–1990. Labor History, 57(4), pp. 439-462. (doi: 10.1080/0023656x.2016.1184027)

Tomlinson, J. and Gibbs, E. (2016) Planning the new industrial nation: Scotland 1931-1979. Contemporary British History, 30(4), pp. 584-606. (doi: 10.1080/13619462.2016.1209009)

Gibbs, E. (2014) 'Civic Scotland' versus communities on Clydeside: poll tax non-payment, c.1987-1990. Scottish Labour History, 49, pp. 86-106.

Books

Gibbs, E. (2021) Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland. Series: New historical perspectives. University of London Press: London. ISBN 9781912702541 (doi: 10.14296/321.9781912702589)

Book Sections

Gibbs, E. and Scothorne, R. (2022) Radical Scotland. In: Gall, G. (ed.) A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society. Pluto Press. ISBN 9780745345062

Gibbs, E. and Henderson-Bone, S. (2022) Teaching industrial history after deindustrialisation: ‘Tracks of the Past’ in the Scottish coalfields. In: Simmons, R. and Simpson, K. (eds.) Education, Work and Social Change in Britain’s Former Coalfield Communities: The Ghost of Coal. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 149-171. ISBN 9783031107917 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-10792-4_8)

Gibbs, E. (2019) Socialism in a cold climate: the radical left since 1999. In: Hassan, G. (ed.) The Story of the Scottish Parliament: the First Two Decades Explained. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh. ISBN 9781474454896

Scothorne, R. and Gibbs, E. (2017) Origins of the present crisis?: the emergence of 'left-wing' Scottish nationalism, 1956-81. In: Smith, E. and Worley, M. (eds.) Waiting for the Revolution: The British Far Left from 1956. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 163-181. ISBN 9781526113658 (doi: 10.7228/manchester/9781526113658.003.0010)

Conference or Workshop Item

Gibbs, E. and Henderson, S. (2018) ‘Tracks’ of the Past: How Can a Place-responsive Pedagogy Support New Understandings of Industrial Heritage and Major Economic Change Using a Curriculum for Excellence? Scottish Educational Research Association Annual Conference 2018: Critical Understanding of Education Systems: What Matters Internationally?, Glasgow, Scotland, 21-23 Nov 2018.

Henderson, S. and Gibbs, E. (2018) ‘Tracks’ of the Past: How Can a Place-responsive Pedagogy Support New Understandings of Industrial Heritage and Major Economic Change Using a Curriculum for Excellence? 20th Children’s Identity and Citizenship European Association Conference in Warsaw : Citizenship & Identity in a ‘Post-Truth’ World, Warsaw, Poland, 10-12 May 2018.

Gibbs, E. (2016) Confronting Deindustrialisation: Economic Change and Cultural Identities in the Scottish Coalfields. The Economic History Society Annual Conference 2016, Cambridge, UK, 01-03 Apr 2016.

Conference Proceedings

Gibbs, E. (2016) Undermining Industrial Citizenship: Deindustrialization and the Rise of Precarious Employment in the Lanarkshire Coalfield, Scotland and Sudbury Hard Rock Mining, Canada. In: International Labour Process Conference 2016: Working Revolutions, Revolutionising Work, Berlin, Germany, 04-06 Apr 2016,

Gibbs, E. (2015) The Moral Economy of the Scottish Coalfields: Managing Deindustrialization under Nationalization c. 1947-1983. In: European Business History Association and Business History Conference 2015: Inequalities: Winners and Losers in Business, Miami, FL, USA, 24-27 Jun 2015,

Website

Morrison, J. and Gibbs, E. (2022) Women's Political Leadership in Scotland: Successes and Failures. [Website]

This list was generated on Fri Apr 19 07:02:23 2024 BST.

Grants

British Academic-Wolfson Fellowship Decarbonising the Economy and Society: Policy, Labour and Community in Energy Transitions (January 2022-January 2024)

Arts and Humanities Research Council (Co-Investigator) Mobilizing Community Assets to Tackle Health Disparities (November 2022-June 2023)

 Carnegie Research Incentive Grant (Principal Investigator) Energy Nationalisms: Fuel Economies and Scottish Independence since 1945 (May 2021-May 2022) 

Carnegie Research Incentive Grant (Co-Investiator) 'Tracks' of the Past: How can a Place-Responsive Pedagogy support new understanding of Industrial Heritage and Economic Change via CfE?’ (March 2018-March 2019)

RSE Small Grant award 2017 Energy Policy and Scottish Coalfield Politics (January 2017-December 2017)

Supervision

I am part of five supervision teams on funded doctoral projects studying a diverse range of topics related to economic and social life in a petrochmicals town, coalfield politicalidentities during and after deindustrialization, Scotland's community energy sector, working-class environmentalism and the Fair Trade movement in Scotland.

In the future, I would welcome applications from prospective postgraduate students in the following areas:

-Working-class politics and labour movements.

-Energy and industrial policy.

-Multinational investment and divestment. 

-Deindustrialization and its long-term impact.

-Changing labour markets.

-Collective memory and heritage in (de)industrial settings.

-Twentieth-century Scottish political history.

 

  • Coyle, Molly
    Inclusivity and the transition to sustainability: working-class, BAME and other intersectional perspectives on Just Transition
  • Shibe, Riyoko
    Energy, Industry and Society: Security and Justice in Grangemouth, Scotland, from the 1950s to the 2000s

Teaching

Course Contribution 

Economic and Social History 1A and 1B

Economic and Social History 2A and 2B

After the Golden Age

Researching Economic and Social History 1

Honours courses convening

Scotland since 1914

Oral History for Social Scientists

Contributions to masters courses

The Globalised Economy

Business in the Global Economy

Masters courses convening 

Inequalities in the Global Economy

 

Additional information

Research affiliations and contribution

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Centre for Business History in Scotland

Scottish Oral History Centre 

Centre for Energy Ethics

Council member Scottish Labour History SocietyFounder and contributor to Workers' Stories Project

Founder and contributor to Scottish Critical Heritage 

 

Selected Conference and Seminar Presentations and Public Engagement

‘Energy Workers and the Transformation of Britain, late 1940s to mid 1990s’, Frow Memorial Lecture, Working-Class Movement Library, Salford, 1 May 2024

‘Labour Agency and Industrial Conflict in Globalising Sectors: Historical Perspectives from Seafaring and Oil’, International Labour Process Conference, Göttingen, 3-5 April 2024

‘Electric Citizens: The Status, Rewards and Responsibilities of Manual Workers in Britain's Nationalised Electricity Industry’, Cambridge Modern Britain seminar, University of Cambridge 8 Feb 2024

‘Labour and Environment’, Glasgow Labour and Employment Workgroup, University of Glasgow, 15 December 2023

‘Work and Workers: Energy Justice’, Global Energy Cultures Forum, Company House, Doha (hosted by the University of Georgetown in Qatar and Msheireb Museums), 8 December 2023

‘John Maclean and Just Transition’ education class, Popular Education Network, Glasgow, 27 November 2023

‘Unjust Transitions’ roundtable, University of Glasgow, 27 November 2023

‘John Maclean in the 21st century’, Scottish Labour History Society John Maclean conference, John Smith House, Glasgow, 18 November 2023

‘Celebrating the Life and Legacies of John MacLean’, University of Glasgow, 17 November 2023

‘Deindustrialisation and Achieving a Just Transition in Scotland’ lecture for Centre for Human Ecology course, De/Growth: Human Ecology, Solidarity, Community, 14 November 2023

‘Deindustrialisation and the Economic case for Scottish Independence since the 1960s’, Queens University Belfast Economics Departmental Seminar, invited seminar paper, 27 October 2023

Memorial speech, Auchengeich Miners’ Memorial Service, Moodiesburn, 17 September 2023

Carbon City walking tour, Glasgow Doors Open Day programme, 16 September 2023

Carbon Walking Tour for the Scottish Trades Union Congress, 24 August 2023

 

‘Living and Working in Lanarkshire: History Report Update’, Health Catalyst Panel, Motherwell, 24 August 2023

‘Natural Progression’?: Transitions from Coal Mining to Electricity, Nuclear and Oil and Gas in Scotland, England and Wales’, Royal Geographical Society conference, Imperial College, London, 1 September 2023

 ‘The True Conservationists’: British Energy Trade Union Perspectives on Environmental Politics in the 1970s and the 1980s’, Ordinary Working-Class People network, University of Glasgow, 22 June 2023

 ‘Special or General Revenue? Spending North Sea Oil Revenues in the 1970s and 1980s’, Energy Ethics Conference, University of St Andrews, 7 June 2023

‘East Fife in Energy History’ talk for People’s History Group, Bayview Stadium, Methil, 20 May 2023

 ‘Clydeside’s Carbon Capital’ Walking Tour, Glasgow Trades Council May Day Festival 2023 , 6 May 2023

 ‘Legacies of Scotland’s Coal Mining Past’, public talk for Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow in conjunction with Elizbeth Price’s Kohl exhibition, 23 April 2023

 ‘Resource Nationalists and Environmentalists: The Energy Politics of Scottish Independence During and Since the 1970s’, invited talk for the Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action and the Queen’s University Belfast Business School, Queen’s University Belfast, 8 March 2023

'An Energy History of the 1972 Coal Miners' Strike', Lalfur Online Event and AGM 2022, 3 December 2022

'Listening to Coalfield Communities', Scottish Power Alpha Project webinar, 27 November 2022

'The Oil Machine' film showing and Q+A panel, Glasgow Film Theatre, 9 November 2022

Panellist at 'Nostalgia - a reassessment in the era of austerity', Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time project, online event, 10 October 2022

'Deindustrialization and the Economic case for Scottish Independence since the 1960s', The Individual and Contextual Effects of Economic Scarcity on Political Integration, University of Duisburg-Essen, 22 September 2022

'Energy Workers in Transition', paper at Affects of Energy Transition workshop, Univesity of Georgetown Qatar, Doha, 5 September 2022

Contributed to Scottish Government: Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan Summer Engagement Events Spring 1, University of Strathclyde, 14 July 2022

Glasgow: Clydeside's Carbon Capital walking tour held as part of Glasogw Trades Council's May Fest on 23 April and 7 May 2022.

Curated Workers' Stories May Day exhibition from 30 April to 2 May at the New Glasgow Society.

''It’s Not an Ideological Opposition to Splitting Atoms': Anti-Nuclear Politics and Scottish Nationalism since the 1960s', Economic History Society conference, Cambridge, 2 April 2022

Panellist at 'Scotland's Future event: Expert Q+A on Oil, Gas and Energy' held by Herald newspaper, 3 March 2022 

'Between Extractivism and Environmentalism: Scottish Nationalist Energy Perspectives During and Since the 1970s', Institute of Historical Research Britain at Home and Abroad since 1800 seminar series, 24 February 2022

Panellist at 'Hard Work, Ye Ken: The Past, Present, and Future of Scottish Labour History', National Library of Scotland, 30 November 2021

I led the Close of Play: Carbon Usage Walking Tour organised with the Glasgow School of Art on 27 November 2021

Discussion chair at screening of Cuba's Life Task at the Glasgow Havana Film Festival, Centre for Contemporary Arts, 19 November 2021

Compare at Workers' Stories Project exhibition, GalGael, Glasgow, 10 November 2021

'Energy and Labour' guest lecture on the 'New Approaches to Energy History' lecture series run by the University of Calgary and the University of Freiberg, 9 November 2021

Contributed slides for an exhibition on workers' struggles in global energy sectors for the SUTC and Friends of the Earth's Just Transition Hub at Govan Parish Church, 8 November 2021

'Glasgow, Clydeside's Carbon Capital', RCC Pop Up Exhibition, Glasgow, 6 November 2021

Organiser and pannellist at 'COP26 and just transitions - what can we learn from Cuba and Scotland', ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 3 November 2021

Contributor to New Book Roundtable at Energy Transitions and Planetary Futures, Energy Ethics 2021 conference, University of St Andrews, 27 October 2021 

'Understanding Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland', Institute of Scottish Historical Research seminar, University of St Andrews, 23 September 2021

'Oil and Scottish Nationhood', Green Tease: Energy Politics and Just Transition, 4 September 2021

Archiving Our Past for Today's Movement', Glasgow Housing Struggle Archive Workshop, 2 September 2021

'The Energy History of Fife', invited talk, Climate Camp, Cowdenbeath, 31 July 2021

Introductory speaker and contributor, Cities and Energy Transitions, British Academy roundtable, 28 July 2021

''The Economy Must Serve the People': Energy Resources in Scottish Nationalist Perspectives during the 1970s', Who Owned Scotland? conference, Economic and Social History Society of Scotland, 25 June 2021

‘Book launch: Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland’, Scottish Oral History Centre, 26 April 2021.

‘Scotland’s Faltering Green Industrial Revolution’, Energy Café, Centre for Energy Ethics, University of St Andrews’, 6 April 2021.

‘Long Waves in Energy History: Competing Fuel Policy Coalitions During Britain’s Long Movement out of Coal-Fired Electricity from the late 1940s to the early 1990s’, Business History Conference, 13 March 2021.

Speaker at ‘Shine a Light on Justice for Miners’, Unite Scotland meeting, 11 March 2021.

Speaker at ‘New Historical Perspectives Book Launch: Coal Country’, Institute of Historical Research, 25 February 2021.

Panellist and organiser at ‘Why do Workers Stories Matter’ held by Workers Stories Collective, 22 October 2020.

'Coal Country: Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland', University of Edinburgh Scottish History seminar, invited speaker, 30th January 2020

'Coal Country: Making Sense of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland', Yunus Centre seminar, invited speaker, 11th December 2019

'Coal Country: The Meaning and Memory of Deindustrialization in Postwar Scotland', Scottish Oral History Centre seminar, invited speaker, University of Strathclyde, 18th November 2019

The Caterpillar Workers Legacy Group: Remembering the Occupation, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 31st October 2019

Co-organised and panellist, 'Solidarity Beyond Boundaries' panel at Modern British Studies, University of Birmingham, 3rd-5th July 2019

Paper: ''The Unacceptable Face of Labour': Trade Union Solidarity and Division at Caterpillar Tractors, Uddingston c.1960s-1987'  

Panel chair and speaker ‘Democracy 101’ conference, UWS Paisley campus, 20th March 2019

Paper: ‘The Double Movement of Industrial Democracy in Scotland since 1918’

Host of dissemination event ‘Tracks of the Past: CfE and Place-Based Education’, UWS Lanarkshire campus, 27th February 2019

''Tracks of the Past': A Place-Based Education Industrial Heritage Project', British Academy Deindustrialisation, Heritage and Memory Network: First Workshop, University of Strathclyde, 28th September 2018

‘Conceptualising Coalfield Deindustrialization: The Territorial and Industrial Governance of Workplace Closure and Labour Market Transition’, invited speaker, Posthumous Conference, Utretcht, 25th May 2018

Introductory speaker and lead organiser, ‘Rethinking Radical Scotland: Cultural and Social Transformation Since 1968’, University of the West of Scotland Paisley Campus, 23rd May 2018

Co-organiser and panellist, ‘(In)visible Stories: An investigation into the status of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Scotland’ conference, University of the West of Scotland Ayr Campus, 14th May 2018

‘Tracks’ of the Past: How can place-responsive pedagogy support new understandings of Industrial Heritage and major Economic Change?’, Children’s Identity and Citizenship Education Europe Association conference 2018, Warsaw, 12th May 2018 (co-presented with Susan Henderson)

''The Chance Tae Move Anywhere in Britain': Scottish Coalfield Restructuring and Labour Migration c.1947-1974’, 'By the People for the People: The Nationalisation of Coal and Steel Revisited', First Conference of the Coal and Steelworkers’ Study Group, 7th December 2017

Media appearances and articles

 

''A national emergency': Grangemouth refinery closure sparks fears for the future', Scotsman

'How slavery fuels the flames between Scottish nationalism and unionism', Herald

'Grangemouth closure. A just transition litmus test', Herald

I appeared on BBC Radio Scotland and Reporting Scotland television news discussing the announcement of the closure of the oil refinery at Grangemouth on 22nd and 23rd November.

'Blood all over the grass', LRB

'Conditions not conspiracies: Why Workers Strike’' Bella Caledonia

'Experts urge diversity for Scotland in investment market', National

'Drilling for more oil will not make Britain secure', Prospect

'Why don’t more Scots work in wind power?', Future Economy Scotland

''Refusing To Be Poor Anymore?': British Trade Unionism in the 2020s?' Institut Montaigne

'Rethinking Place in British Labour History' History Workshop podcast   

'Strikes: What have trade unions ever done for me?' Media Storm podcast

'Oil and Water' Dissent magazine Spring 2023

'Scotland's oil funded Margaret Thatcher's transformation of Britain' The National

'Life on the Edge of Oil' Radio 4

'Britain Is Experiencing Its Biggest Strike Wave in a Generation' Jacobin

'Can Scotland be both colony and coloniser?' Herald

'How coal miners and factory workers helped found the environmental movement', Conversation

'A Miner's Life' History Scotland magazine November-December 2022.

Appeared in BBC Radio 4 programne, Future Proofing, 7th October 2022.

Wildcat Oil Strikes and the Energy Crisis, BeLabored

'Scotland's oil frustrations set for repeat over renewables profits' Herald

Quoted in the French magazine Society issue 176, March 2022, by Thomas Andrei in an article on wind energy on Harris.

'In 1972, Britain’s Miners Showed the Power of the Working Class' Jacobin

'Between Extractivism and Environmentalism: Scottish Nationalist Energy Politics During and Since the 1970s' Scotland and Carbon

'Scottish Nationalism's Trade Union Problem' Bella Caledonia 

'How has deindustrialisation shaped debates about Scottish independence?' Economics Observatory 

'Glasgow, Clydeside’s Carbon Capital' The Drouth

'Legacy of coal extraction will resonate long after fall of last chimney' The National

I appeared on Radio Scotland's Lunchtime Live to discuss the demolition of the Longannet power station chimney on 9th December 2021.

'The endless woes of Ferguson Marine' Prospect

'Last Orders' The Repair

I featured on the Black Black Oil documentary on the past and future of North Sea oil which was broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel on 9 November 2021

'Dear Carbon Place' Herald 

'Green Energy, Scotland and COP26' Mile End Institute Podcast

Interview with the Climate Emergency Newsroom

'Ending coal use blighted Scottish communities – a just transition to a green economy must support workers' The Conversation

'A fairer future for Scottish energy' The World Today

'Back to the Future: industrial history and community in the just transition' Local Zero

'Coal's long shadow', Scotland and Carbon

'North Sea oil deal under Margaret Thatcher fuelled apartheid', Times

'Putting energy at the centre of Scoltand's history', The Centre for Energy Ethics

Spotlight episode 14

'British politics still lives in the shadow of coal mines', Jacobin

'How Boris Johnson's smug coal mines quip fatally misunderstands history', National

'The long fall of King Coal' History Matters

'Why some Scottish nationalists believe a potent myth about North Sea oil' Herald

'Coal Country: The stories behind Fife’s lost mines and the flood of Longannet' Courier

'Looking back at the mining history of the Lothians and legacy of pit closures' Edinburgh Live

'The story of the Scottish coal industry's slow death' Sunday National 

'Writing working-class history: explorations in 'Coal Country'' On History

'The Calton Weavers, the 1820 Radical War and Scotland's first working-class martyrs' Glasgow Live

I contributed to a section on renewable energy and the 2017 'Battle for BiFab' in The Years That Changed Modern Scotland that was broadcast on the BBC Scotland channel on 26 January 2021.

'Scottish Independence – a Long View' Bella Caledonia

'We’re Still Living in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain' Jacobin

'Ewn Gibbs on Mick McGahey' Lives on the Left

'The last throes of the Red Clydeside traditions' The Scotsman

'The Unmaking of the British Working Class: A Highly Provisional Thesis' New Socialist

'Is Brexit worth Scotland's Independence?' The Atlantic

 'The 'Caley' and Scotland's 'Invisible' Workers' Conter

'Remembering Red Clydeside: whose memory is it anyway?' History Workshop

'Coal Culture Wars: (Mis)Understanding the Durham Miners' Gala' Scottish Critical Heritage

I appeared on BBC Reporting Scotland television news on 31st January 2019 discussing the centenary of 'the Battle of George Square' and the forty-hour strike in Glasgow which took place during January and February 1919. The interview was also used on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme the same day. Appeared on BBC Radio Wales' 'Sunday Supplement' programme on 3rd February 2019 to discuss the centenary and class politics in the 1910s.

'100 years on: the day they read the Riot Act as chaos engulfed Glasgow' Guardian

Scotland’s workforce: Where are most Scots employed in 2017? Scotsman

On 1st November 2016, I was interviewed by both BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Reporting Scotland in relation to calls for an inquiry into the policing of the 1984-5 miners' strike in Scotland. This followed the UK government's refusal to hold an inquiry into events at Orgreave on 18th June 1984 the previous day.

Book Reviews

Malcolm Slesser, The Politics of Environment: A Guide to Scottish Thought and Action, Bella Caledonia 

Murray Armstrong, The Fight for Scottish Democracy: Rebellion and Reform in 1820 by Murray Armstrong, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 51 (3) (2021), pp. 473-475

Kirsti Bohata, Alexandra Jones, Mike Mantin, Steven Thompson, Disability in industrial Britain: A cultural and literary history of impairment in the coal industry, 1880-1948, Reviews in History (review no. 2428) DOI: 10.14296/RiH/2014/2428