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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).

2025

• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Apr 2025, In: Journal of Liberal History. 126, p. 10-21 16 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

2024

• Published
  Collinson, M., 4 May 2024, In: Southern History. 45, p. 84-104
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Rees, L. A. & Collinson, M., 2024, In: Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 15, 1, p. 249-254 6 p., 14.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review
• Published
  Wiliam, M. & Collinson, M., 6 Mar 2024, The Conversation.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
• Published
  Collinson, M., 20 Dec 2024, In: Town Planning Review. 96, 1, p. 111-2 2 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
• E-pub ahead of print
  Collinson, M., 3 Jan 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: The Historian.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2023

• Accepted/In press
  Collinson, M., 12 May 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. 32
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
• Published
  Collinson, M., 10 Jul 2023, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales (NLW)
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• Published
  Collinson, M., 4 Apr 2023, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales (NLW)
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• Published
  Collinson, M., Wiliam, M., Evans, S., Williams, C. & Rowland, M., 27 Jan 2023, Rural History Today, 44, p. 5-6.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

2022

• Published
  Olsson-Rost, A. & Collinson, M., Oct 2022, In: British Journal of Educational Studies. 70, 5, p. 1-17
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 2 Jun 2022, In: Parliamentary History. 41, 2, p. 323-341
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., Sept 2022, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 171, 1, p. 9-21
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., Oct 2022, In: The Local Historian. 52, 4, p. 359-363 5 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
• Published
  Collinson, M., 5 Dec 2022, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales (NLW), 2 p. (Online).
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Nov 2022, In: Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. 30 (New Series)
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
• Published
  Collinson, M., Apr 2022, In: Midland HIstory. 47, 1, p. 77-95 19 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2021

• Published
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 2021, In: Innovative Practice in Higher Education. 4, 2, p. 239-262 8.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 17 May 2021, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter, 77, p. 3-4 1 p.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
• Published
  Collinson, M., Aug 2021, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, 1, p. 7-14
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Literature review › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Jun 2021, In: Journal of Energy History/Revue d’histoire de l’énergie . 6, p. 1-11 11 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Aug 2021, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 170, p. 179-181
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

2020

• Published
  Collinson, M., 2 Apr 2020, In: Contemporary British History. 34, 2, p. 273-298 26 p.
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 5 Feb 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (eds.). London, Vol. XV. p. 4-14 10 p.
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• Published
  Collinson, M., 1 Oct 2020, Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Newsletter.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Book/Film/Article review
• Published
  Collinson, M., 1 Aug 2020, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 169
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
• Published
  Professor Keith Gildart & Collinson, M., 5 Feb 2020, Dictionary of Labour Biography. Gildart, K. & Howell, D. (eds.). London, Vol. XV. p. 209-220 11 p.
  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• Published
  Papadogiannis, N. & Collinson, M., 16 Apr 2020, History and Policy.
  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

2019

• Published
  Collinson, M., 2019, In: Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 168, p. 166-167
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

2018

• Published
  Collinson, M., 27 Mar 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Apr 2018, 50 p.
  Research output: Book/Report › Other report
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Sept 2018, In: Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club. 2018, p. 97-104
  Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey
• Published
  Collinson, M., 13 Feb 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• Published
  Collinson, M., 30 Apr 2018.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2017

• Published
  Collinson, M., 31 Mar 2017.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• Published
  Collinson, M., 7 Dec 2017.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2016

• Published
  Collinson, M., 4 Apr 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• Published
  Collinson, M. & Wiliam, M., 14 Sept 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
• Published
  Collinson, M., 22 Jul 2016.
  Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

2025

• Taith part-funded mobility to explore and develop a future research project on the history of ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É's twinning with Soest, NordRhine-Westfalen

  22 Jun 2025 – 26 Jun 2025

  Activity: Visiting an external academic institution (Visiting researcher)

• Reflection on ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É History team engagement with short community courses, and the potential of Welsh history as civic mission activity.

  9 May 2025

  Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

• This lecture will introduce the speakers’ upcoming RSLC volume, Realities of Reorganisation: Manchester City Labour Group’s Experience of Reformed Local Government, 1973–1977, which reproduces manuscript minutes of meetings held by Manchester City Labour party councillors in the early years of their council after its reorganisation following the Local Government Act, 1972. The lecture will consider a number of illustrative case studies, ranging from housing maintenance, concession management at Manchester Airport and reciprocal exchanges with Manchester's 'twin' city, Leningrad, to demonstrate the breadth of local authority activity, and the multifaceted political culture of the Manchester Labour party during the supposed 'gloom' of 1970s Britain.

  27 Mar 2025

  Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

• Building on the interest in ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É History’s ‘College on the Hill’ event for the University’s 140th Anniversary, this course explores different aspects of the history and heritage of north Wales. Our historians and archaeologists are passionate experts in their field of study, and the course is designed to introduce some of the more contested aspects of local and community history.

  19 Mar 2025 – 9 Apr 2025

  Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Organiser)

• Dictators fascinate and frighten in equal measure. Yet, how they use their power can tell us a great deal about them, or certainly how they are perceived. Some are remembered positively as founding fathers, while others are remembered negatively, being variously mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

  We will think of them as political figures and leaders and try to consider how they governed and how they presented themselves. Exploring examples from the familiar Hitler to the less familiar Saparmurat Niyazov. We see how, with dictators, myths, misrememberings, and propaganda often shape our understanding of these often-flawed political figures.

  16 Mar 2025

  Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Schools engagement (Contributor)

• The October 1964 General Election brought Harold Wilson's Labour party into power, but it also brought Smethwick to notoriety. This paper examines these events to set the political context of Malcolm X's visit to Smethwick. It will discuss the preceding elections and activist campaigns, together with deeper political and urban problems, which shaped the contest in 1964. The role of key figures, like Peter Griffiths and Patrick Gordon Walker, will be discussed alongside some less familiar candidates. Finally, the paper will explore the extent to which this rather complicated political environment shaped future interpretations of the events of 1964 in Smethwick

  8 Feb 2025

  Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

2024

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

  13 Nov 2024

  Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)

• For 140 years, ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É has been located in the City of ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É. This event is a celebration of both the university and that ongoing relationship. Talks will cover a number of aspects of the university's founding and provide opportunities for attendees to discuss issues further.

  After an introductory talk from Prof Merfyn Jones, staff discussed aspects of university history. Talks include:

  ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É: Growth of a City before 1884 - Shan Robinson

  Who were the University’s founders? - Shaun Evans

  A Victorian University: The Violet Osborne Affair - Lowri Ann Rees

  Building history: The growth of ÑÇÖÞÉ«°É since 1884 - Marc Collinson

  Tea and coffee will be provided. The talk will begin at 10am and finish around 3pm, and there will be a break at lunch time.

  19 Oct 2024

  Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Contributor)

• 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 twr