Maud Belair (MLitt, BA (Hons.))

Thesis title: Identity, Environment, and Policy: Intersected Spaces of Poverty and Hunger in Nineteenth-Century Britain and Ireland

Biography

Background

I am a second-year PhD candidate whose research primarily focuses on the history of poverty and its lived experience in nineteenth-century England, Ireland, and Scotland. My work focuses on food aid, the spaces it was offered in, and their barriers to access. Moreover, my research analyses how public perceptions of poverty were shaped alongside the popularization of slum literature, investigative journalism, and changing understandings of health, medicine, and science. Ultimately, my work aims to further understand how our responses to poverty result from socially-constructed conceptions of labour, morality, charity, and power.

Qualifications

B.A. in Liberal Arts (Honours), Minor in Political Science, Concordia University (2018-2022)

MLitt in Transnational, Global and Spatial History, University of St Andrews (2022-2023)

PhD in History, University of Edinburgh (2024-Present)

Responsibilities & affiliations

In addition to my research, I am a contributing writer for Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, and co-convener of the Irish History Reading Group. 

Undergraduate teaching

I have tutored on the following courses within the School of History, Classics and Archeology: 

  • Themes in Modern European History
  • The History of Edinburgh: From Din Eidyn to Festival City

Papers delivered

“Ireland through the Looking Glass: Constructions of Embodied Irishness in the Nineteenth Century”, 52nd Annual Conference of the Economic and Social History Society of Ireland, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, December 2025.

“Constructing the Workhouse: Architecture in Principle and Practice in England, Ireland, and Scotland’s Institutions”, University of Edinburgh History PhD Conference, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, May 2025.

‘The Birth of the Wellness-Industrial Complex: Justus von Liebig’s Extractum Carnis as Exemplar’. SYNAPSIS: A Health Humanities Journal, 19 December 2025. https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2025/12/19/birth-of-wellness-liebigs-extractum-carnis/.

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