Dr Kathy Davies

YEAR STARTED

2025

SUBJECT

History

FELLOW TYPE

By-Fellows

Dr Kathy Davies is an Archives By-Fellow and early career historian with expertise in interdisciplinarity, multimethodology, and social, political, environmental, and imperial history. Kathy’s background using newspaper archives and modern political papers, contemporary oral histories, and in public and policy engagement underpins her most recent work on historical approaches to sustainability research. Kathy’s research currently focusses on national energy transition, historic experiences of poor air quality and ‘Clean Air’ policy, and how histories of fuel and power can inform public discourse and decision-making on energy and environment in the present day.

Kathy has held research positions at the University of Manchester (2021), the University of York (2022), and most recently, at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University (2022-2025). She leads archival and oral history research for JustHeat, a CHANSE funded project (1.6 million Euros) investigating domestic heating transition in the UK, Sweden, Finland, and Romania. She is also co-investigator for Was the Past More Sustainable? which explores key themes in sustainability research through an historical lens. This project is funded by South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre. Kathy is also the Chair of HistoryLabPlus, the national network for early career historians at the Institute of Historical Research. She is an alumnus of Sheffield Hallam University.

Selected Recent Publications and Exhibitions (2024/5)

‘Breathing Clean Air’ and ‘Keeping Warm at Home’ in Was the Past More Sustainable? Co-authored trade book funded and serialised by South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre (2024/5)

‘From Devouring Monster to Instant Wrap Around Warmth: Domestic Heating Change in Postwar Britain’ in A. Ambrose (ed.) A History of Home Heating in Europe: Black Diamonds, Green Gases, and Wood that Warms Twice (under contract with Springer Nature, 2025)

‘From warming bodies to heating spaces: Using feminist energy justice and oral histories to expand understandings of heating transition’, Energy Research and Social Science (co-authored, forthcoming)

‘Home heating in Finland, Romania, Sweden, and the UK – energy democracy, energy citizenship, and energy justice’, Energy Research and Social Science (co-authored, forthcoming)

 ‘Keeping Warm’ @ Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham, South Yorkshire and Stamford Arts Centre, Stamford, Lincolnshire (Co-curated with JustHeat, January – February 2025)

 ‘Us between Us’ (featuring JustHeat) @ Rezidenta9, Bucharest, (Co-curated with JustHeat, June – September 2024)