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Professor Don MacRaild Steps Down as Research Leader at London Met

At the end of 2024, Professor Don MacRaild stepped down as Pro Vice-Chancellor (PVC) for Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) at London Metropolitan University.

Date: 30 January 2025

A distinguished historian and mentor, he played a key role in revitalising the university’s research culture. We caught up with him to discuss his career, his impact, and what comes next. 

Q: What has been your academic path?  
A: "I'm a graduate of Liverpool Polytechnic and Sheffield University. In 1993, I took up my first lecturing post at Sunderland University. I then moved in 2000 to Northumbria. I went on to hold chairs in England, Northern Ireland, and New Zealand, working at Sunderland, Northumbria, Ulster universities, and Victoria University of Wellington." 

Q: What has been your research focus?  
A: "My interests embrace the wider study of diasporas and migration; social and labour histories; and history and theory. While I'm probably best known among academics for my several books on the Irish in Britain, I also wrote, with Jeremy Black, a very successful primer for undergraduate history entitled Studying History. This textbook ran to four editions and introduced my thinking to vastly more budding scholars than my specialist works could ever do!"  

Q: What achievement means the most to you?  
A: "I've always held the view that the next generation is more important than the current one, and I'm especially proud of my fifteen PhD completions. Along with my several postdocs, all of these students are now doing good things as professors, lecturers, and civil servants. One of them is even a Deputy Vice-Chancellor!" I would be wrong to think all this work would have been possible 25 years ago, but my career has coincided with a transformation in the funding landscape. I’ve had grants from Leverhulme, ESRC, Wellcome, and the AHRC, and these funds have been the bedrock of the work of many of my PhDs and postdocs.  

Q: How have you seen London Met's research culture develop?  
A: "I helped to transform the research culture in Arts at Northumbria and, more widely, at London Met. As a community, we are rightly proud of our last REF submission, which was an expression of our massive collective will." London Met has always done great research. It has a great reputation in many areas. My job has simply been to encourage our scholars to express themselves once more.  

Q: What’s next for you?  
A: "While I've stepped down as PVC RKE, I have not stepped off the academic train altogether! I remain with London Met as a fractional professor and have many writing projects to complete. In fact, my latest book, The Removal of Irish Paupers from Britain: 1819 to the Early 20th Century, co-authored with Lewis Darwen, was published in December 2024 by Liverpool University Press."  
 
Research and Knowledge Exchange leadership at London Met has now passed to Senior Professor Duncan Stewart, Senior Professor Karim Ouazanne, and Maeva Khachfe. The Research and Postgraduate Office (RPO) remains in place and can be contacted any time at rpo@londonmet.ac.uk. 

Portrait picture of Professor Don MacRaild

‘Few colleagues have achieved so much as Don, and with the deep appreciation and respect of all his colleagues.’&²Ô²ú²õ±è; 
Don's old friend and long-time collaborator, Professor Enda Delaney of the University of Edinburgh

 

Further reading