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Dr Marc Collinson teaches contemporary history and politics. An active political historian of post-war Britain, Dr Collinson is interested in electoral phenomena (including by-elections), political parties, and policymaking. He is currently writing a study of Smethwick in electoral politics, c. 1955-1970.

Dr Collinson currently acts as Programme Lead for BA Politics. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

• PhD: Commonwealth Immigration, Policymaking, and the Labour party, c. 1960-1980
  2013–2019
• PGCertHE (part 1 & 2)
  2014–2018

Dr Collinson was appointed Teaching Associate in 2020 after several years as a part-time Tutor in the School. He teaches modern history and contemporary politics. 

Current modules:

• HPH-4007: 'Documents and Sources for Modern Historians' [Convenor; contributor]
• HGH-2138/3138: 'Europe, 1945-1992' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HGH-2142/3141: 'Twentieth Century Dictatorships' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HPS-2004: 'Twentieth Century Ideas and Movements' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HPS-1002: 'Principles of Politics' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HXH-1012: 'Britain: Blitz to Brexit' [Convenor; Lecturer]

Past modules include:

• HPS-1006: 'Essential Skills for Academic Success' [Co-convenor; Lecturer]
• HPH-4005: 'Themes and Issues in History' [Contributor]
• HPS-4004: 'Research Skills' [Contributor]
• HPS-1001: 'From Cradle to Grave' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HCH-1050: 'Past Unwrapped' [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HWH-2133/3133: 'Global Wales' [Contributor; Seminar convenor]
• HXH-1012: Modern Politics in Action [Convenor; Lecturer]
• HCH-2050: 'Debating History' [Contributor; Seminar convenor]

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Dr Collinson is a published practioner-researcher (Innovative Practice in Higher Education, 2021) with an interest in employability, and has graded on the University's internal PGCertHE. 

Building on his PhD research, Dr Collinson's scholarly interests focus on how post-war socio-economic change interacted with perceptions of locality to affect political parties and Government. He is also interested in political leadership and policy history, together with the significance of agency, ideas, and myth in electoral politics. These interests are divided into three main themes:

Locality, change, and representative politics

This examines how political parties and political actors interpreted and interacted with localised processes, such as deindustrialisation and social change, in the construction and articulation of their political appeals to voters. The role of the Member of Parliament as an actor within this context remains a particular focus of this theme. Initial outputs have been published with Contemporary British History (2020); Midland History, Parliamentary History,Transactions of the HSLC & Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society (all 2022). 

Forthcoming

The major output from this theme will be a monograph (under contract for the Routledge 'Studies in British History' series) re-examining the 1964 election contest at Smethwick.

Power and agency in institutional policymaking

The second focuses on understanding the role of political parties within the policymaking process within their historical contexts. This examines how the policymaking process developed within political parties, the relationship between parties and government through the agency of party leaders, ministers, and policy networks, and the role of ideas and their champions within a dissaggregated party structure. His PhD examined this process with regard to post war Commonwealth Immigration. In collaboration with Dr Anna Olsson-Rost (MMU) this approach has been applied to debates within the Labour party about the comprehensivisation of secondary education in post-war Britain. This has been published in the British Journal of Education Studies (2022).

National Government policy and local responses

This research theme considers how various communities and groups active at the local level understand, conceptualise, and react to national policy decisions and plans. So far, this project has focused on the UK Government's post-war construction of nuclear power stations in north Wales. It consideres the reponse of local actors, campaign groups (like the CPRW), and resident communities to these major state-backed interventions into local societies. Outputs have appeared in: Transactions of AAS (2018); Journal of Energy History (2021); The Local Historian (2022).

Forthcoming:

First, further work on nuclear policy and north Wales [in collaboration with Dr Mari Wiliam]. Second, a project on how the Local Government Act (1972) affected politics in Manchester [in collaboration with Dr Bertie Dockerill (UoM) and Prof. Peter Shapely].

...................................................................................................................

Dr Collinson has also published a half-centenary reflective article on the significance of P.F. Clarke's Lancashire and the New Liberalism in the Transactions of the HSLC. He has contributed entries to the Dictionary of Labour Biography (2020) and the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (2022).

2024

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 4 Mai 2024, Yn: Southern History. 45, t. 84-104
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Rees, L. A. & Collinson, M., 2024, Yn: Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 15, 1, t. 249-254 6 t., 14.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl Cynhadledd › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Wiliam, M. & Collinson, M., 6 Maw 2024, The Conversation.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyhoeddiad arbenigol › Erthygl
• E-gyhoeddi cyn argraffu
  Collinson, M., 3 Ion 2024, (E-gyhoeddi cyn argraffu) Yn: The Historian.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid

2023

• Wedi ei Dderbyn / Yn y wasg
  Collinson, M., 12 Mai 2023, (Wedi ei Dderbyn / Yn y wasg) Yn: Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. 32
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 10 Gorff 2023, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales (NLW)
  Allbwn ymchwil: Pennod mewn Llyfr/Adroddiad/Trafodion Cynhadledd › Cofnod mewn Gwyddoniadur/Geiriadur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 4 Ebr 2023, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales (NLW)
  Allbwn ymchwil: Pennod mewn Llyfr/Adroddiad/Trafodion Cynhadledd › Cofnod mewn Gwyddoniadur/Geiriadur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., Wiliam, M., Evans, S., Williams, C. & Rowland, M., 27 Ion 2023, Rural History Today, 44, t. 5-6.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyhoeddiad arbenigol › Erthygl

2022

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Olsson-Rost, A. & Collinson, M., Hyd 2022, Yn: British Journal of Educational Studies. 70, 5, t. 1-17
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 2 Meh 2022, Yn: Parliamentary History. 41, 2, t. 323-341
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., Medi 2022, Yn: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 171, 1, t. 9-21
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 5 Rhag 2022, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales (NLW), 2 t. (Online).
  Allbwn ymchwil: Pennod mewn Llyfr/Adroddiad/Trafodion Cynhadledd › Cofnod mewn Gwyddoniadur/Geiriadur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Tach 2022, Yn: Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. 30 (New Series)
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., Ebr 2022, Yn: Midland HIstory. 47, 1, t. 77-95 19 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., Hyd 2022, Yn: The Local Historian. 52, 4, t. 359-363 5 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl

2021

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 2021, Yn: Innovative Practice in Higher Education. 4, 2, t. 239-262 8.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 17 Mai 2021, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter, 77, t. 3-4 1 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyhoeddiad arbenigol › Adolygiad Llyfr/Ffilm/Erthygl
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., Awst 2021, Yn: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, 1, t. 7-14
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Adolygu llenyddiaeth › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Meh 2021, Yn: Journal of Energy History/Revue d’histoire de l’énergie . 6, t. 1-11 11 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl adolygu › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Awst 2021, Yn: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, t. 179-181
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Adolygiad Llyfr/Ffilm/Erthygl

2020

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 2 Ebr 2020, Yn: Contemporary British History. 34, 2, t. 273-298 26 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Erthygl › adolygiad gan gymheiriaid
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 5 Chwef 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (gol.). London, Cyfrol XV. t. 4-14 10 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Pennod mewn Llyfr/Adroddiad/Trafodion Cynhadledd › Cofnod mewn Gwyddoniadur/Geiriadur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 1 Hyd 2020, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyhoeddiad arbenigol › Adolygiad Llyfr/Ffilm/Erthygl
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 1 Awst 2020, Yn: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 169
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Adolygiad Llyfr/Ffilm/Erthygl
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Professor Keith Gildart & Collinson, M., 5 Chwef 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (gol.). London, Cyfrol XV. t. 209-220 11 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Pennod mewn Llyfr/Adroddiad/Trafodion Cynhadledd › Cofnod mewn Gwyddoniadur/Geiriadur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Papadogiannis, N. & Collinson, M., 16 Ebr 2020, History and Policy.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyhoeddiad arbenigol › Erthygl

2019

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 2019, Yn: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 168, t. 166-167
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Adolygiad Llyfr/Ffilm/Erthygl

2018

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Ebr 2018, 50 t.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Llyfr/Adroddiad › Adoddiad Arall
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 27 Maw 2018.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Medi 2018, Yn: Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club. 2018, t. 97-104
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gyfnodolyn › Arolwg byr
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 13 Chwef 2018.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 30 Ebr 2018.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur

2017

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 31 Maw 2017.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 7 Rhag 2017.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur

2016

• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 4 Ebr 2016.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 14 Medi 2016.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur
• Cyhoeddwyd
  Collinson, M., 22 Gorff 2016.
  Allbwn ymchwil: Cyfraniad at gynhadledd › Papur

2024

• Presentation on a history of nuclear energy production in north Wales. Delivered to the Telford Centre Winter Lecture series.

  13 Tach 2024

  Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)

• Bydd y ddarlith hon yn bwrw golwg ar arwyddocâd Pen LlÅ·n a’i thirlun i ddelfrydau o Gymreictod a gwledigrwydd yn ystod canol yr 20fed ganrif, gan ganolbwyntio’n arbennig ar y trafodaethau yn ystod y 1950au a’r 1960au ynghylch gosod atomfa niwclear ger Edern. Bydd hyn yn cael ei gyferbynnu gydag enghreifftiau eraill cynhennus o ‘foderneiddio’ golygfeydd Pen LlÅ·n, megis yr Ysgol Fomio ac ymlediad twristiaeth yn y fro. Holodd Baner ac Amserau Cymru yn 1957 ‘Pa lanast yw peilonau’, gyda’r cwestiwn yna’n greiddiol i drafodaethau ingol am enaid Pen LlÅ·n, diboblogi gwledig a’r frwydr am ‘fara’ neu ‘harddwch’

  This lecture will take a look at the significance of Pen LlÅ·n and its landscape to ideals of Welshness and rurality during the middle of the 20th century, focusing particularly on the discussions during the 1950s and 1960s regarding the installation of a nuclear power station near Edern . This will be contrasted with other controversial examples of 'modernisation' of Pen LlÅ·n scenery, such as the Bombing School and the spread of tourism in the area. Baner and Amserau Cymru asked in 1957 'What a mess pylons are', with that question at the core of poignant discussions about the soul of Pen LlÅ·n, rural depopulation and the battle for 'bread' or 'beauty'.

  6 Gorff 2024

  Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)

• The future of relatively ‘clean’ nuclear energy is of the greatest importance to our national economy and our path toward ‘net zero’. The rate of development of nuclear energy in Britain since the 1960s has been significantly affected by societal attitudes. This talk will consider the history and local impacts of three nuclear power stations in North Wales: Trawsfynydd, Wylfa and Edern (a station proposed for the LlÅ·n Peninsula that was never built, but was a notable feature of the nuclear discourse). Based on recent research at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÒÅÆ×ÊÁÏ, the talk will examine the repercussions of the industry on landscape, language and local politics from the 1950s to the 1980s.

  21 Maw 2024

  Cysylltau:

  Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)

• Trustee

  2024 →

  Gweithgaredd: Aelodaeth o fwrdd (Cyfarwyddwr)

2023

• Reflection on teaching/employability initiative

  25 Gorff 2023

  Gweithgaredd: Cyflwyniad llafar (Siaradwr)

• This two-day conference explored why, how, to what ends, and with what effects people in Britain and Ireland organised and were organised for political purposes during the long nineteenth century, one that has been seen as an age of association.

  The event was hybrid and organised by Durham University

  20 Gorff 2023 – 21 Gorff 2023

  Gweithgaredd: Cymryd rhan mewn cynhadledd Academaidd (Cyfranogwr)

• Presentation to Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club about the project (Audience - c. 70)

  20 Ion 2023

  Gweithgaredd: Cyflwyniad llafar (Siaradwr)

2022

• The Bodorgan Estate (https://www.bodorgan.com/) located in south-west Anglesey has received a Welsh Government grant to construct a new public footpath through part of the estate, linking to the existing Wales Coast Path. The development of the footpath infrastructure will proceed alongside a programme of habitat restoration. The route will embrace several important landscape features, linked to the social, cultural and economic history of Anglesey. The project is committed to sharing this landscape history with future users of the footpath through the installation of appropriate heritage interpretation along the route. The Bodorgan Estate is collaborating with Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÒÅÆ×ÊÁÏ’s Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (http://iswe.bangor.ac.uk/) to deliver these objectives.

  The Project Team (Shaun Evans, Marc Collinson, and Mari Wiliam) advised and supervised the work of two paid postgraduate interns (Matthew Rowland and Catrin Williams). They undertook archival work at Bodorgan and interviewed members of the local community to provide historical information and oral testimony to aid the creation of heritage interpretation along the path and online. Members of the team intend to produce academic-level publications in due course.

  1 Awst 2022 – 31 Rhag 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu academaidd allanol - Ymchwilio a Dysgu mewn Sefydliad Allanol (Cynghorydd)

• (Audience: c. 30)

  The Does British Political History have a Future CfP argued that political history was ‘outdated, static’ and that ‘political historian’ was a rarely used description. As an academic subdiscipline, local history arguably suffers from comparable reputation problems. Yet, rarely asked questions remain. First, if ‘all politics local’, why have so few political historians engaged with local case studies? Second, why do so few local historians engage more clearly with twentieth century politics? After reflecting on these apparent problems, this paper will suggest that a deliberate and critical interaction between these two areas may actually aid the historical study of place, belonging, and political representation. Addressing issues of local governance and popular politics, together with ideas of community and collectiveness, this paper argues that these issues have laid at the heart of political concerns in recent decades.

  Originating from research considering local electoral contests affected by debates over migration and far-right politics, and how national energy policy affected local communities, economies, and politics, the paper will reflect on whether a renewed focus on the local might help in the conference’s outlined endeavour. It suggests that interactions between local reactions to larger socio-economic processes, like deindustrialisation, cultural change, and political fragmentation, can be better mapped and understood through localised case studies. Responding to concerns, raised by adherents to ‘new political history’, about an assumed ‘nationalisation of politics’ obfuscating localised political cultures and socio-economic factors, this paper advocates moving beyond merely incorporating the local, by making it a fundamental significant area of political activity. After all, In British politics, where the only election that decides national governance is when constituents vote for their Member of Parliament, how localities interpret global, national, and local issues is crucial to our understanding of British politics.

  12 Gorff 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Cyflwyniad llafar (Siaradwr)

• Research assistance work for Peter Shapely funded by College of Arts and Humanities and Business Seed Fund

  4 Gorff 2022 – 8 Gorff 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Ymgynghoriad (Ymgynghorydd)

• Patrick Gordon Walker: A ‘Commonwealth man’ in Smethwick politics?

  11 Meh 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Cyflwyniad llafar (Siaradwr)

• Attended.

  6 Meh 2022 – 7 Meh 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Cymryd rhan mewn cynhadledd Academaidd (Cyfranogwr)

• Publications Secretary, HSLC

  23 Maw 2022 →

  Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu academaidd allanol - Cyfraniad at waith pwyllgorau a gweithgorau cenedlaethol neu ryngwladol (Cyfrannwr)

2021

• Co-authored paper (delivered by Dr Anna Olsson-Rost) - Associational public intellectuals and party education policy: The Fabian Society and the shaping of Labour's comprehensivisation policy, c.1960–1979

  24 Medi 2021

  Gweithgaredd: Cymryd rhan mewn cynhadledd Academaidd (Cyfranogwr)

• How politicians consider, define, and respond to issues shape their actions. This paper explores Smethwick’s long-term Labour MP Patrick Gordon Walker, a politician with a complicated legacy in post-war decolonisation. A former Commonwealth Relations Secretary, Gordon Walker had a complicated relationship with racial issues, including the banishment of Seretse Khama, opposition against the restrictive Commonwealth Immigration Bill in late 1961, with his failed re-election at Smethwick in 1964 often linked to this stance. This paper examines Gordon Walker’s social origins and political career to consider whether he was to blame for the disconnection between his candidacy and voters, or whether a ‘connect’ ever existed in the first place.

  18 Meh 2021

  Gweithgaredd: Cyflwyniad llafar (Siaradwr)

2020

• Member of Grants and Prizes Committee

  30 Tach 2020

  Gweithgaredd: Aelodaeth o bwyllgor (Aelod)

• All politics is local? The 1965 Leyton by-election as a negotiation between electors and the elected

  16 Hyd 2020

  Gweithgaredd: Cymryd rhan mewn cynhadledd Academaidd (Siaradwr)

• Associate Editor (inc. Book Reviews) of the Transactions

  1 Gorff 2020

  Gweithgaredd: Gweithgarwch golygyddol (Golygydd)

• Early Career Researcher advocacy organisation (committee member).

  Ion 2020 – 15 Mai 2023

  Gweithgaredd: Aelodaeth o bwyllgor (Aelod)

2019

• Member of Council

  30 Awst 2019 – 23 Maw 2022

  Gweithgaredd: Mathau o waith ymgysylltu academaidd allanol - Cyfraniad at waith pwyllgorau a gweithgorau cenedlaethol neu ryngwladol (Aelod)

• Editorial board member

  30 Awst 2019

  Gweithgaredd: Gweithgarwch golygyddol (Aelod o fwrdd golygyddol)

• Editorial Assistant

  30 Awst 2019 – 1 Gorff 2020

  Gweithgaredd: Gweithgarwch golygyddol (Golygydd)

2018

• Discussion of initial results of a feasibility study funded by the conference organiser

  12 Chwef 2018

  Gweithgaredd: Sgwrs wadd (Siaradwr)

• 01/10/2023 – 10/08/2024 (Wedi gorffen)

Postwar local government reform and Manchester politics

This builds on unarchived material collected in an earlier project in the School, seeking to publish an edition of these documents which evidence political change in post-war Manchester. Dr Collinson's team secured a research assistant through a University-funded, paid internship program to aid project development. 

Collaborators: Prof. Peter Shapely; Dr Bertie Dockerill

Partner: Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÒÅÆ×ÊÁÏ Employability and Skills Service