EMPLOYMENT 

since 2021, Director, Cat’s Cradle Education and Organising (SCIO)

since 2022, Honorary Research Fellow, University of St Andrews

2022, Saltire Emerging Researcher, St Andrews/University of Limerick

since 2022, Pedagogy Tutor, Learning Cooperative

2019-2023, Freelance Education Worker, STUC, SUL, Unite the Union

since 2016 - Tutor and Bank Lecturer, University of St Andrews

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

2021    Saltire Emerging Researcher Award

2016    SGSAH Doctoral Award: Three-year PhD

2015    St Andrews University School of History MLitt Award

2015 University Hall St Andrews Graduate Association Scholarship

2012    Glasgow University: Greta C Tweedale Prize, for Excellence in the Higher Class of History

ACADEMIC INTERESTS

I work primarily in the history of political thought and research anti-Whig and anti-liberal traditions in Britain and France from 1770 to 1848. I research the history of the concept of political action and how it relates to governance, legitimacy, violence, law and clandestine activities. My current research concerns the intellectual relationships between Scottish and Irish radicals in the period following the failed United Irishmen revolutions, ideas about political tactics before Marx, and anti-Utopian socialism in the early 19th century.

The next stage of my research involves extending this study into the period from 1803 to 1832, examining how Irish and Scottish radicals interacted and exchanged tactics on issues such as the Combination Acts, struggles over land ownership and clearances, guild structures, the transatlantic slave trade and Catholic emancipation. Just as Burke branded the 1790s radicals ‘utopians’, men like Robert Owen became figureheads for the early 19th century movement and were accused of the same charge, this time from Marx and Engels.

TEACHING

University of St Andrews:

Tutor on Modern British History (1500-2020), Historiography Great Ideas

Lecture on the European Enlightenment, 18th Century Political Culture, History of Rights Theories

Recent Workers Education Courses

Palestine Cumbernauld Pamphlet-Making (Dundee)

Pan-African Cumbernauld Pamphlet-Making (Birmingham)

Pedagogy for Organisers

Pedagogy in Schools and Prisons (Maslaha)

Burkina Faso and Sahel Solidarity (The RYSE)

Internationalism Workshop 2023 (Glasgow Trades Council)

Public Speaking/Public Listening Workshop (Young Workers Project)

Sma Shots and Strike (Paisley Museum)

Union Identity and Consciousness (Solidarity Across Land Trades)

Trade Unions and Pedagogy (Romano Lav)

The Tactics of the 1797 Mutineers (Unite the Union)

Sabotage and ASOS (UCU St Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh)

Organising in Precarious Work (Better than Zero/Young Workers Project)

Residential Summer School 2019, 2021, 2022 (Young Workers Project)

History of Workers Collectives (YWP and Peoples’ Story Museum)

Games for Organising (Young Workers Project)

Ca Canny: Scotland’s Hidden Treasure (Sma Shot School)

Teacher Training for Organisers (Scottish Union Learning)

Cinema Worker Organising (Sma Shot School)

Call Centre Worker Organising (Sma Shot School)

Everyday Organising (Sma Shot School)

Pedagogy Tutor (The Learning Cooperative)

Marxism for Everybody (Ella Baker School)

Activist Training 2-day course (Rape Crisis Scotland)

Creative Organising (Scottish Artists Union)