Stephen has conducted research across Britain and the US and has published on Anglo-American relations and politics. His 2018 book with Edinburgh University Press - The Pilgrims Society and Public Diplomacy, 1895-1945 - focuses on propaganda, cultural diplomacy, and networking between British and American elites in the first half of the twentieth century. Stephen also has developing research interests in the historical cultural and political connections between Scotland and the US and is currently working on the transatlantic histories and historiographies of Glasgow and New York. He has published on these topics - and others - including with the Journal of Transatlantic Studies, the Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, and History Scotland. Stephen was the 2013 winner of the Transatlantic Studies Association's Donald Cameron Watt Prize.
Specifically, Stephen is working on the following projects:
Co-editing with Kieran Taylor the book project 'Portable City: Glasgow’s Connections Across the Atlantic, c.1850-c.1950.'
Collaborating with Gyorgy Toth on the project 'The Memory of John Paul Jones in Anglo-American Relations, c.1900s-c.1990s.' This project is in part supported by a grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Collaborating with James Smyth on the project 'Climate and Public Health in the City, c. 1860-1930: a comparative study across the Atlantic.'
Collaborating with Sarah Bromage (Head of University Art Collection), Rosie Al-Mulla (Assistant Archivist), and student volunteers on the University's COVID Pandemic Oral History Project. See https://collections.stir.ac.uk/covid-collecting/university-pandemic-oral-history-project/
Stephen is happy to supervise PhDs and Masters dissertations on topics falling broadly within the areas outlined above, especially modern Scottish and British history from a transnational perspective, the history of Anglo-American relations, political and international elite networks, cultural diplomacy, and urban history (broadly defined) in Britain and North America.
Stephen is also one of the founding members of the Faculty's Modern Research Group and sits on the advisory board for the Scottish Political Archive.