Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in the field of
- The British and Irish industrial city 1850-1930
- Urban poverty and welfare 1850-1930
- Public history and memory; heritage
- Child and family welfare
- Urban development and public health
- Irish landed estates and country houses
Public outreach & key achievements
- Professor Purdue's work on the growth of industrial Belfast and in public history and heritage has led to collaborations with a wide range of organisations in the heritage, tourism and museums sectors, including being historical advisor for Titanic Belfast, collaborating with the Ulster Museum on their Irish history gallery ‘Industrial Giant and the Shadow of Poverty’, an working with Ulster Rugby in the development of their museum and education centre
- She works with a number of media production companies on the development of documentaries such as the 6-part documentary for UTV ‘The Big House Reborn’, the Channel 4 documentary ‘Belfast: Britain’s most Victorian city’ and the online documentary ‘Belfast, a tale of two cities’
Research students
| PhD Title | The Photographer and the City (Northern Bridge Strategic Partnership Award) |
| Country | UK |
| PhD Title | Belfast Baths: Exploring and interpreting historic spaces of the Victorian industrial city (National Investment Productivity Fund Award) |
| Country | UK |