Professor Laura Kelly

History

Personal statement

I am a historian of modern Ireland with expertise in gender history, oral history and the social history of medicine. I joined the University of Strathclyde as a lecturer in February 2015. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018 and Professor of Modern Irish History in December 2022.

I am originally from Galway in the west of Ireland. Prior to arriving at Strathclyde, I was awarded a PhD in History by the University of Galway in 2011 and undertook an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, University College Dublin (2012-14). My research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, British Academy, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Irish Research Council, and Carnegie Trust, amongst others.

I am the author of three monographs, the most recent of which is Contraception and Modern Ireland: a social history, c.1922-92 (Cambridge University Press, 2023, available open access) which won the British Association for Irish Studies Book Prize in 2024. My earlier work focused on the history of women in the medical profession and medical education and student culture in Ireland. It resulted in several journal articles on this theme and two monographs: Irish medical education and student culture, c.1850-1950 (Liverpool University Press, 2018) and Irish women in medicine, c.1880s-1920s: origins, education and careers (Manchester University Press, 2012, paperback 2015).

My recent work has focused on the history of reproductive health and activism in twentieth-century Ireland. In addition to my recent monograph, I have published several journal articles relating to this theme. I am currently researching the history of pro-choice and pro-life activism in 1980s and 1990s Ireland. My next book, under contract with Oxford University Press, is a social and transnational history of the Irish anti-abortion movement. From 2025-27 I will hold a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for a project entitled 'Irish pro-choice activism: an oral history, c.1980-92'.

I am a member of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare (CSHHH), the Scottish Oral History Centre, and the Modern Irish History group at Strathclyde.

Expertise

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Prize And Awards

British Association for Irish Studies 2024 Book Prize: Recipient; 5/2024

More prizes and awards

Publications

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Publications

Positively Irish Action on AIDS (PIAA), HIV and AIDS activism and the Irish diaspora in London, c.1989-1996: Kelly Laura; Journal of the History of Sexuality Vol 34 (2025)
The Women's Right to Choose Group and abortion rights activism in early 1980s Dublin: Kelly Laura; Health and History Vol 26, pp. 51-72 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1353/hah.2024.a952497
Depo-Provera, class, race and the domiciliary family planning services in Glasgow and Haringey, 1970-1983: Rusterholz Caroline, Kelly Laura; The Historical Journal Vol 68, pp. 216-238 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X24000347
The IFPA youth group, the Adolescent Confidential Telephone Service and sexual health activism in Ireland, c.1984-90: Kelly Laura; History Workshop Journal Vol 98, pp. 181-208 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbae018
Marriage, family life and sexual ethics in Britain and Ireland, 1914-2000: Kelly Laura, Geiringer David; Oxford History of Catholicism in Britain and Ireland Recapturing the Apostolate of the Laity, 1914-2021 (2023) (2023)
Contraception and Modern Ireland : A Social History, c.1922-92: Kelly Laura; (2023); https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108979740

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

In 2024-5 I will be teaching the third-year/honours module V1346/V1468 (Sex, medicine and society in Britain and Ireland, 1880s-1980s) and MSc module V1988 (Gender, health and modern medicine).

I am happy to hear from prospective students about PhD supervision in areas related to the social history of medicine, gender history and modern Irish history.

I am supervisor to the following PhD students:

Jois Stansfield: The history of speech therapy in Britain	(first supervisor) 2021-
Victoria Cocozza: Legality and reality: women’s experiences of abortion in the West of Scotland c.1945-68 (Global Research Award)	(first supervisor, 2023-)
Monique Lerpiniere: A Hidden Migration History: South Asian Medical Professionals in Scotland, 1872-2022 (SGSAH Collaborative Doctoral Award)	(first supervisor, 2024-)
Paula Jones: Large families - urban myth or reality? A longitudinal study of Dublin's Fertility Transition (PhD in History with Genealogical Studies)	(first supervisor, 2024-)

Recently graduated PhD students:

Dr Rory Stride: Gender, loss and memory: Women's experiences of deinsdustrialisation in the West of Scotland textile industry since 1970. (2024)
Dr Kristin Hay: Birth control practices in Scotland: an oral history, c.1960-1990. (2023)
Dr Georgia Grainger: 'Objectionable, mean and demeaning': The popularisation of vasectomy in Britain, c.1920-1990. (2023)
Dr Jasmine Wood: Disability and intimacy in the lives of wounded British soldiers, 1914-45. (2022)
Dr Mara Dougall: Writing Unity a Practice-led Exploration of Female Embodiment in Historical Fiction Set in Early Twentieth-Century Britain. (2021)

Research

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Research Interests

The social history of medicine in modern Ireland
Gender and medicine
Contraception and reproductive health
Activism
History of sexuality
The medical profession
Medical education and student culture

I have received funding awards from the Wellcome Trust, Carnegie Trust, Royal Society of Edinburgh, British Academy and the Irish Research Council, amongst others.

I recently held a RSE Personal Research Fellowship (2023-24) for a project entitled 'Anti-abortion activism in the Republic of Ireland, c.1972-92' and a Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant for a project on Pro-life and Pro-Choice Activism in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 2016 and 2021 I held a Wellcome Trust research fellowship for my project 'Contraception and Modern Ireland, c.1922-92'.