Dr Valerie Wright
- Affiliate in Centre for Gender History (History)
email:
Valerie.Wright.2@glasgow.ac.uk
Economic and Social History, Room 218, Lilybank House, University of Glasgow, G12 8RT
Biography
Valerie is currently Research Associate on the Leverhulme Trust funded project 'Building a Modern Scotland: The New Towns, c. 1947-2017' based in History at the University of Glasgow.
Previous experience:
- Research Fellow on the ESRC funded project 'Reimagining the Future in Older Age' based in Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling.
- Research Associate - 'Employment, politics and culture in Scotland, 1955-2015', Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow (Leverhulme Trust).
- Lecturer Modern Scottish History, Scottish History, University of Glasgo
- Research Associate - 'Housing, Everyday Life and Wellbeing over the long term: Glasgow 1950-1975', Urban Studies and History at the University of Glasgow (Leverhulme Trust)
- Post-Doctoral Research Assistant - 'Jute & Dundee: The Management of Industrial Decline', Economics and History at the University of Dundee on a project entitled (Leverhulme Trust)
She completed her PhD in the Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow.
Valerie is a historian of modern Scotland with particular expertise in gender, social and political history.
Research interests
Valerie's current research focuses on exploring the development, history and legacy of the new towns programme in Scotland.
Other research interests include:
- older adult's perceptions of future time and hopes and desires for the future
- The effects and legacy of the processes of deindustrialisation on communities and individuals in post-war Scotland
- The changing structure of women’s employment in Britain in the post-war years
- Women’s engagement in politics (broadly defined) and role in political change in twentieth century Britain
- The long-term impact of the residualisation of council housing on the lack of affordable housing in the present day
- Children’s use of urban space and the ways in which this was altered by urban planning in the post war years, especially with regards to play
Teaching
Valerie has a wide and varied range of teaching experience
Course co-ordination:
- HIST4185 – Devolving the Nation: Scotland 1945-2004 (Honours Module – Scottish History)
- HIST4173 – Victorian and Edwardian Glasgow (Honours Module – Scottish History)
Course contribution:
- HIST5008 – Gender, Politics And Power (MSc in Gender History)
- HIST4089 – Life Histories: Personal Testimony And Memory (Honours Module – Modern History)
- HIST1008 – History 1A: Scotland’s Millennium: Kingdom, Union and Nation, c.1000-2014
- SPS3003 – Researching the City: Developing an Urban Profile (Urban Studies - Visiting Students from University of Nankai)
She also has extensive experience of teaching in Economic and Social History:
- ESH4041 – Popular Culture in Britain 1870-c1939 (Honours Module)
- ESH2001 – Economic & Social History 2A: Britain 1770-1914
- ESH2002 – Economic & Social History 2B: Britain since 1914
- ESH1001 and ESH1002 (renamed subsequently)
Additional information
In addition to being interviewed for a variety of print media including The Herald, The Scotsman and The Evening Times:
- The Years That Changed Modern Scotland Two Rivers Media for BBC Scotland, four part series, January-February 2021 (historical consultant) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000r1xm
- The Singer Story: Made in Clydebank TVI Vision for BBC Scotland, May 2019 (interviewee) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00051z7
- Time Travels, Louise Yeoman (producer) BBC Radio Scotland, various dates (2019/2020) (interviewee) -https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b094d4hl
- Steelmen, Purple Films, Margot McCuaig (producer, writer and director), BBC Alba, January 2019 (interviewee) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000237y
- Archibald Cameron Corbett: The Man and The Houses, The Archibald Corbett Society, Ben Honeybone (director), January 2018 (interviewee) http://thecorbettsociety.org.uk/film/
- Dispossession: The Great Housing Swindle, Velvet Joy productions, Paul Sng (director), June 2017 (later adapted for Channel 5) (interviewee) - https://www.dispossessionfilm.com/
- The Town that Thread Built, TVI Vision for BBC TV Scotland, June 2017 (later shown on BBC4) (interviewee) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tl9nr
- Growing Up in Scotland: A Century of Scottish Childhood, BBC TV Scotland, February 2017 (interviewee). http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04twshx
- BBC Scotland News, April 2016, (interviewee).
- BBC Breakfast News, BBC, 3 February 2016 (interviewee).
- Riverside Show, STV Glasgow, April 2015 (Interviewee).
Valerie currently serves as Co-Vice-Convenor of Women’s History Scotland, serves on the steering committee of Scottish Labour History Society, the steering group of Scottish Critical Heritage and is a member of the Centre for Gender History at the University of Glasgow
Valerie also serves on the Board of Future Paisley, leading cultural regeneration of the town as well as the Research and Ethics Committee of Paisley Museum Reimagined
Valerie has also participated in a School of Humanities project at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Education Scotland to create ‘Broad General Education’ learning resources to be used as part of the Curriculum for Excellence in Scottish schools. The resource ‘Homes in high places: Urban life in 20th century Glasgow’.