Dr Megan Wang (née Kelleher)

Hello and welcome (or welcome back!) to my blog. I know it has been over two years since I last posted, so I should probably apologise for my hiatus. A lot has changed in this time, so I will give you a brief overview of what has happened.

I started a new role working in Public Engagement within the East Midlands back in 2018, working three days per week for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is an incredibly rewarding role, and has enabled me to settle into my new home in Nottingham by learning more about my local history. I’ve also started a PhD in History in 2019; I’m doing this research through the University of Kent (luckily I don’t have to be on campus often, even in a pre-pandemic world!) and am thoroughly enjoying researching my topic in my spare time. In this blog piece, I’m going to give you a brief overview of my PhD research and explain why I believe my research matters.

What is my Research Topic?

In really broad terms, my research covers the commemoration and care of First World War graves in the United Kingdom. I am researching this through looking at the role of the Imperial (and later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission in this task, and how their work was challenged by the unique nature of the graves in the United Kingdom. Many people are not aware that there are in fact more than 30,000 casualties from the two World Wars commemorated in more than 12,000 locations across the United Kingdom,[1] and this is something I’m hoping to highlight in my own research. As you can probably imagine, I am not going to be able to cover all 300,000+ stories in my thesis and have had to narrow down my research extensively. Since starting my PhD, I have narrowed my focus to research stories across England and will most likely have a case study approach. This is all dependant on sources available, though!

I’m looking at this topic from three viewpoints: the bureaucratic work of the Commission in English cemeteries and churchyards, their interactions with the public and the impact of the Commission’s work on wider British attitudes towards commemoration. I am about halfway through my PhD now, and am still really enjoying the research process. I do find myself falling down many a rabbit hole in my research, but on the whole I have been able to maintain focus!

Why Does my Research Matter?

One thing I really wanted to highlight in this piece is why I believe my research matters. For me, my research having a purpose both inside and outside of academia is really important as I want to ensure that as many people as possible can find personal connections to the subject matter. I’m conscious that I’m part of a wider discussion relating to this topic, and I hope to be part of the conversation and inspire other budding researchers to study this subject in more detail. If I enable people to visit local sites and want to learn more about their local war dead, then I see that as a job well done.

So this is a very brief introduction into my research. In the coming weeks and months, I hope to share more subject-specific posts with you, in addition to giving you an insight into the process of completing a PhD. I hope you found this blog post interesting, and I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts with you soon!

[1] Source: https://www.cwgc.org/our-war-graves-your-history/