De Montfort University

Faculty Member, Historical and Social Studies

Lecturer in European History

About

I joined the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University in 2010, having obtained my PhD in November 2010 from the University of Manchester.

I specialise in the modern history of Europe, with a specific focus on Poland and Central Europe.  My wider research interests extend into the social and cultural history of war, nationalism, ethnic cleansing, migration, oral history and commemoration.

My completed PhD was entitled ‘Moving West: The Transfer of Kresy Poles to Post-Yalta Poland, Urban Reconstruction and Post-war Relief: 1944-8.’  The work looks at the forced movement of over one million Poles from their former Eastern lands (now Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania) to lands acquired by Poland in the aftermath of the Second World War.  It sheds new light on the mechanics of mass population transfers and the consequences of displacement in the aftermath of war, including the rebuilding of communities, relief work in times of crisis, and the memory of displacement itself.

During my PhD I received funding from a number of bodies including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, the Economic History Society, the Royal Historical Society and the University of Manchester.  I have given papers at the Annual conference of the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies in March 2009 and the Cities and Nationalism conference at the IHR in June 2010.

I would like to make contact with anyone interested in the research fields outlined above.  Please feel free to get in touch.

Contact Information