Sarah Mason (MPhil, BA (Oxon))
Thesis title: Bin Lid Brigades and Mummy’s Little Helpers: An Oral History Investigation of Communal Networks amongst the Women of West Belfast, 1970 – 1985.
PhD History
Year of study: 1
- School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Contact details
PhD supervisors:
Background
Sarah graduated from St Hilda’s College, Oxford, in 2021 with a First Class BA in History. Sarah completed her MPhil Research Masters at the University of Glasgow in 2022. She began her doctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh in September 2022, Sarah’s doctoral research is funded by a SGSAH (AHRC) Studentship Award and the Justin Arbuthnott Scholarship in Modern Irish History.
In 2021, Sarah was awarded the Oxford Hildegarde Research Prize for her undergraduate research on the Northern Irish Conflict. In May 2023, she was awarded a British Association for Irish Studies Prize and a SGSSS (ESRC) Prize for her doctoral research.
Qualifications
MPhil History and Education, University of Glasgow, (2021-2022)
BA (Oxon) History, St Hilda’s College, Oxford, (2017-2020), First Class Honours
Responsibilities & affiliations
Sarah is a member of the UK Oral History Society, Oral History Network of Ireland, Irish Association of Professional Historians and the British Association for Irish Studies.
Undergraduate teaching
I am a current tutor on the undergraduate history module, “Britain, Ireland and Empire, 1800-2000” (HIST08040).
Research summary
My doctoral research focuses on the quotidian realities of women across West Belfast, 1970-1985. It examines the importance of communal networks within the context of the mounting violence of the Northern Irish conflict. This project utilises oral history interviewing to examine the relationship between the socio-spatial segregation of West Belfast and women’s domestic experiences.