Dr Catriona Ellis

Senior Teaching Fellow

History

Contact

Back to staff profile

Personal statement

I am a historian of modern South Asia with a particular interest in the social history of children and childhood.  I joined Strathclyde in August 2018 as a Teaching Associate and was promoted to Senior Teaching Fellow in December 2024. 

My scholarship activities focus on the mainstreamining of equality, diversity and inclusion principles into teaching practice, for example through an Inclusive Language Guide and through innovative assessment  and feedback practices.  I am particularly interested in the co-creation of classes as a way of building inclusive classrooms.  I am currently involved in reviewing the undergraduate History curriculum and re-designing the first year modules to focus on the transition from high school and the development of transferable skills.

My disciplinary research centres round the history of education and history of childhood.  My monograph Imagining childhood, Improving children (2023) investigates state and civil society interventions in the lives of children in late colonial South Asia.  I have authored a number of articles on history of education, juvenile justice, children's health and autobiographies.  My most recent research focuses on decolonising museums of childhood.

I currently hold an RSE small grant Free and brave: Scottish educational mission in Madras which considers the impact of transnational connections in Higher Education between Scotland and south India in the early twentieth century.

I am a member of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare and the Criticial Youth and Childhood Studies Collective.  

Since Sept 2015 I have been Deputy Director of Teaching and Learning for the Department of Humanities, with responsibility for the PGT programmes.  Previously I was a deputy chair of the EDI committee and deputy subject leader for History.  

I am the Humanities Rep for Strathclyde as a Place of Expertise on Children and Young People.  Within this, I am currently part of an interdisciplinary community education project provisionally called 'Histories of Play: Useful Learning With the Local Community' at the Engaged Scholarship Hub in Royston.  

Back to staff profile

Teaching

I am happy to hear from prospective students about PhD supervision in areas related to the history of childhood and children, social history of empire, history of drugs and medicine, South Asian history and decolonising museums.

I currently supervise: 

Johnnie Anderson: Movable Feasts: Migration, Culinary Culture and Nutrition in Glasgow 1916-1980 (PhD Co-supervisor Oct 2022 - )

Anubhab Dey: History of Tea and Politics: an analysis of the Indian tea industry 1929-1951 (MRes Co-supervisor Sept 2022 - )

Leah Wade: Where Memory Lives (PhD 1st supervisor Oct 2025 - ) 

Debra Brock: Daughters of the Raj (PhD 1st supervisor Oct 2025 - ) 

In 2025-26 I (co-)convene the following undergraduate courses:

  • History 1A: Making History: themes & sources
  • British Empires: Conquest, Commerce and Cooperation
  • From Samurai to Entrepreneurs: The Birth of Modern Japan
  • Imperialism, Politics & Society in Britain

I have extensive experience running courses in South Asian history (Living under the Raj), imperial history and history of medicine (Disease & Society/Governings Highs and Health/ Dangerous Drugs and Magic Bullets/No matter how small).

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Back to staff profile

Research Interests

  • global histories of childhood
  • history of children and children's agency
  • children's rights in historical perspective
  • children's health and state welfare policies
  • history of education 
  • juvenile justice
  • autobiographies and child-authored sources
  • South Asian history 
  • dyarchy and constitutional change in late colonial India 
  • decolonising museums & legacy of colonialism 
  • South Asian diasporas in the UK

Professional Activities

Cross-Faculty Connections: Growing Networks and Building Opportunities with and for Children and Young People
Participant
26/2/2026
Histories of Play: Useful Learning With the Local Community
Recipient
28/8/2024
Choosing to learn: co-creation as a way of building inclusive classrooms
Speaker
20/8/2024
H-Net Teaching conference ‘History, Social Science, and the Humanities: Working in Classrooms and Communities’
Participant
19/8/2024
Episode 12 'On the Madras Presidency' podcast
Recipient
5/2024
Children’s rights and the formation of social policy in India in the 1920s and 1930s
Speaker
28/2/2024

More professional activities

Projects

Free and brave: Scottish educational mission in Madras, 1909-1956 (RSE Small Grant)
Ellis, Catriona (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
Inclusive Language Guide
Ellis, Catriona (Principal Investigator) Kelly, Laura (Principal Investigator)
The inclusive language guide recognises hat the language we use can help to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, and provide the same opportunities for all. We recognise that our language is important, and that historically the unthoughtful use of language has contributed to the consolidation of privilege and the marginalisation of voices from groups based on age, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, age or sexual orientation. This is a practical guide for students to facilitate good conversations in the classrooms.
01-Jan-2022 - 01-Jan-2023
Supervision of Research Interns @ Strathclyde (RI@S) Summer Internship 2020-2021 - Knowledge Exchange Project Irish Women in the Indian Nationalist Movement
Ellis, Catriona (Principal Investigator)
Production of three podcasts (later added to the Decades of Centenaries website) tracing the contribution of 3 Irish women (Sister Nivedita, Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins) to the Indian Nationalist Movement
01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2021

More projects

Back to staff profile

Contact

Dr Catriona Ellis
Senior Teaching Fellow
History

Email: catriona.ellis@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 444 8367