The Pamela Cox Public History Prize was established as a mark of gratitude to our former chair Professor Pamela Cox. It is awarded to a postgraduate student or an early career researcher whose activities enhance understanding of social and cultural history beyond the academy.

We are delighted to announce that this year’s prize has been awarded to Katherine Mackinnon (Glasgow University) for a series of walking tours called ‘Migrants Made Glasgow’. The tours, co-produced by refugees in the city, tell the story of a city through a cast of characters whose lives were shaped by histories of migration.

The judges said:

This is a timely and campaigning piece of public history, underpinned by detailed historical research and coproduction with people whose lives have been shaped by similar themes.

Katherine said:

I’m honoured to receive the Social History Society Public History Prize. Walking tours can be a radical intervention into public space, a way of complementing or challenging existing understandings of a place and its history. I am so delighted to have this prize spotlighting work on Glasgow’s long history as a migrant city.

The judges also highly commended Ayesha Riaz (University of Greenwich) for the project ‘Access to Justice and Asylum: A Public History of Legal Aid in the UK’.

Both Katherine and Ayesha’s work show how social and cultural history can cut through a politically-charged topic to encourage human connections.

The prize was announced at the Social History Society’s 50th Anniversary Conference, and the winner received one year’s free membership of the SHS, a showcase on our Community Exchange and a £300 cash prize.