Martin Luther King Jr. once remarked, 'We are not makers of history. We are made by history.' It’s a line that has stayed with me since I first encountered it during my second-year American History course at the University of Edinburgh. The quote captures something fundamental about how I see the past: history is not simply a record of events - it is a force that shapes identities, ideas, and the world we inhabit.

There’s an irony in beginning this page with someone else’s words. Why do we so often turn to past thinkers to frame our own ideas? Perhaps because they articulate something we recognise but cannot yet fully express ourselves. In doing so, they remind us that our thinking is never entirely new, we are always part of an ongoing conversation across time. In that sense, opening with King’s words perfectly illustrates his point: even here , I am shaped by history.

Curiosity sits at the center of my work. I’m driven not only by the excitement of uncovering answers about the past, but by the thrill of discovering new questions along the way. This endless cycle of inquiry ensures that history remains a living intellectual pursuit, one where every discovery opens new avenues of exploration.

My research interests lie primarily in the social and cultural history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I’m fascinated by the ways history is recorded, remembered, interpreted, and sometimes contested, and how those processes continue to shape societies and challenges today.

To explore these questions, I deliberately work across disciplines. Alongside traditional historical sources, I engage with insights from social policy, art and media history, and social anthropology. Bringing these perspectives together allows for richer, more nuanced interpretations of the past and reveals connections that might otherwise remain hidden.

 Ultimately, my goal is not simply to combine research with dynamic teaching but to revolutionise the discipline by bringing in a more interdisciplinary and future facing perspective - one that challenges traditional boundaries and reimagines how the past can inform the world ahead. I want to spark curiosity in students and the general public alike, encourage them to question assumptions, debate ideas, and engage critically with the past.

History, for me, is not a static record of what has been, but a powerful tool for understanding the present and shaping the future.