Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
My research interests are in the history of work and occupational health where I’ve played a significant role over the past two decades in applying an oral history methodology. My work thus lies at the intersection of the sub-disciplines of labour and medical history. My recent publications reflect this, including a co-authored book, Miners’ Lung (Ashgate, 2007), my monograph Working Lives: Work in Britain since 1945 (Palgrave 2013) and the co-authored book Men in Reserve: British Civilian Masculinity in the Second World War (Manchester University Press, 2016). Generous financial support from external funders has contributed to these research outputs, including the AHRC, the Wellcome Trust, the Nuffield Foundation and the Hudson Trust. I am currently working on projects on the transnational gendered health impacts of industrialisation and deindustrialisation (including collaboration in a major Canadian SSHRC funding bid 2019-20); working lives in the Scottish and Irish whisky industry (funded by Diageo, Irish Distillers and Chivas); and occupational health during the Second World War.
In my role as Director (since 2005) of the Scottish Oral History Centre (SOHC) I have overseen its development into an internationally renowned interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange centre for oral history. I am passionate about oral history and have played a leading role in getting oral history situated as one of the four research strengths of the History subject area at the University of Strathclyde, in teaching through our undergraduate and postgraduate oral history pathways, in providing advanced oral history training through the SGSAH/SS and in supervising dissertation, Masters and PhD theses deploying oral history methodologies.
I strongly believe that academic research should have a significant public impact and that there should be deep engagement with the public and wider stakeholders. I have tried to do this in my own research where my oral history approach to occupational respiratory disease and disability has had a significant effect on understanding the diverse and complex impacts of contracting such diseases upon identities, health and well-being, including in relation to the ongoing asbestos-related disease epidemic. I held a Knowledge Transfer Fellowship with Glasgow Museums in 2010-11 and have developed close links with museums, archives, community groups and some businesses, which has significantly impacted on their practices, including their understanding of the importance of memory heritage and the role of the voice in reconstructing past lived experience. I submitted a public impact case study to REF2014 and will submit another: 'Memory in Public History' to REF2021. The latter will incorporate a new MOOC (FutureLearn) I have been working on (with Kirstie Blair) over 2019 on coal miners' working lives (in collaboration with coal mining museums).
I have extensive experience of postgraduate supervision and welcome enquiries from prospective Masters and doctoral students interested in any aspects of the history of work, occupational health and safety, and deindustrialisation – especially those interested in deploying oral history methodology.
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Network
Projects
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Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard Oral History Project
Walker, D. & McIvor, A.
15/01/18 → 31/03/18
Project: Research
Research Output
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Blighted live: Deindustrialisation, health and well-being in the Clydeside region
McIvor, A., 2 Sep 2019, (Accepted/In press) In: 20 & 21: Revue d'histoire. 144Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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'Scrap-heap' stories: oral narratives of labour and loss in Scottish mining and manufacturing
McIvor, A., 15 Mar 2019, (Accepted/In press) In: Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen. 31, 2Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Datasets
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Disability and Industrial Society 1780-1948: A Comparative Cultural History of British Coalfields: Statistical Compendium
McIvor, A. (Creator), Turner, D. (Creator), Thompson, S. (Creator), Bohata, K. (Creator), Long, V. (Creator), Mantin, M. (Creator), Blackie, D. (Creator), Curtis, B. (Creator), Turner, A. (Creator), Brown, V. (Creator), Jones, A. (Creator) & Borsay, A. (Creator), 10 Dec 2016
Dataset
Prizes
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AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellow (Glasgow Museums)
McIvor, Arthur (Recipient), Jan 2010
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Activities
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International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) Scientific Committee on the History of Prevention of Occupational and Environmental Diseases, conference, 28-29 May 2020. Keynote: ‘Guardians of workers’ bodies: The rise and fall of trade unions in occupational health and safety’.
Arthur McIvor (Keynote/plenary speaker)
28 May 2020Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Key-note speaker and plenary lectures at conferences
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Understanding the Deindustrial Body: The Legacies of Occupational Injuries and Disease in the Former Kent Coalfield (Sophie Rowland)
Arthur McIvor (Examiner)
7 Nov 2019Activity: Examination types › Examination
Impacts
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Contribution to occupational health campaigns, international debate and public awareness of miner’s lung and asbestos related disease and disability.
Arthur McIvor (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Quality of life and safety, Public understanding, information and debate, Culture and creativity
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Health History and the Curriculum for Excellence
James Mills (Participant), Emma Newlands (Participant), Arthur McIvor (Participant), Matthew Smith (Participant), Angela Turner (Participant), Patricia Barton (Participant) & Ryan Johnson (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Culture and creativity, Education