I originally trained as a violin maker in the Department of Musical Instrument Technology at the London College of Furniture. Today, musical instrument making is only occasionally fitted around an academic career that began with an Open University degree and which led to an MA and PhD at the University of Bristol. The PhD, ‘The Transformation of the Music of the British Poor, 1789–1864, with Special Reference to Two Second Cities’ (2012) focuses on my research interest in the low ‘Other’ in society, in particular their musical tastes and their roles as listener, consumer and performer of popular entertainment. My doctoral research was funded by the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council), and I also received financial support from the WUN (Worldwide Universities Network) Research Mobility Programme and the Faculty of Arts for a research trip to the University of Western Australia in 2010.

Over winter 2012/13 I was engaged as a postdoctoral research assistant attached to the management team for the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Service producing Phase Two of ‘Fallen Fruit: Mapping Orchard Decline in the Quantock Hills at Parish Level with Tithe Record and Map Data’. ‘Fallen Fruit’ is a micro-level empirical study of orchard decline in the Quantock Hills that employs historical GIS (Geographical Information System) methodology to create a social, cultural, economic and ecological database that illustrates orchard loss in an innovative and visually striking fashion. The project was funded by the Quantock Hills AONB Service’s Sustainable Development Fund (75%) and a grant from the University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Lady Emily Smyth Agricultural Research Station (25%).

I am currently working as a research assistant on AHRC-funded public engagement projects within the Connected Communities programme. The projects cover a diverse range of subjects and communities: inner-city community orchards, Bristol’s contributions to the First World War, and the Vaughan Collection of postcards held by the Bristol Record Office to name but three.