Participant Info
- First Name
- Megan
- Last Name
- Kelleher
- Country
- United Kingdom
- State
- megankelleherhist@gmail.com
- Affiliation
- RAF Museum
- Website URL
- https://wargraveswanderer.com/
- Keywords
- Commemoration, Memorialisation, First World War, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Grief, Death and Mourning, United Kingdom, Military history, Cultural history, Twentieth century, RAF History, Museum studies, Second World War
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- Megan is the Historian and Academic Access Manager at the RAF Museum and the Digital Strategy Coordinator for the British Association for Local History. She will be able to take on new projects around this work.
- PhD
- PhD
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
Dr Megan Kelleher is a writer, speaker and researcher. Her thesis focused on death and bereavement practices in Britain after the First World War, in addition to the interactions between the bereaved and the Imperial (later known as Commonwealth) War Graves Commission.
Megan’s research interests include death and bereavement practices in relation to modern conflict, in addition to war dead commemorated at home. She hopes to further this research through additional study of wider commemoration and bereavement practices across Europe, as well as comparative studies of First and Second World War commemoration. She has also previously published and spoken on topics relating the Air Power, the Royal Air Force and wider aspects of commemoration.
She studied her undergraduate degree in History (BA Hons) at the University of Greenwich, where she also completed modules in Film Studies and English Literature and wrote her dissertation on the literary impact of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Megan was awarded the top single honours student prize for her subject during her second year of undergraduate study.
After completing her undergraduate degree, she moved to the University of Kent to complete a Masters (MA) in Modern History. There, she wrote a dissertation on the impact of propaganda posters on the recruitment of women into the Auxiliary Services, with the WAAF being a particular focus.
While completing her MA, Megan was a Centenary Intern for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission between April and August 2018, where she was based in Ieper (Ypres), Belgium. She worked at Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial, Bedford House Cemetery, the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial and gave walking tours of Ieper.
Megan recently completed her PhD at the University of Kent, where she specialised in the history of grief and bereavement in relation to commemorating the dead of the First World War in the United Kingdom. She used this to analyse the decisions of the IWGC in relation to their remit in the British Isles, through looking at their financial, administrative and legal decisions and constraints in addition to the spatial and emotional aspects to their work. Her main focus is the impact of the IWGC’s work in the United Kingdom, though she has also written and spoken on a range of aspects relating to their work to commemorate the dead of the First and Second World Wars.
In addition to her academic work, she is the Historian and Academic Access Manager at the Royal Air Force Museum and is the Digital Strategy Coordinator for the British Association for Local History. She is an Editor of the University of Kent’s Centre for War, Media and Society blog Munitions of the Mind.
- Recent Publications
Academic Qualifications
- BA (Hons) in History, University of Greenwich: Graduated with a 2.1. Included modules on a range of historical topics, from the Early Modern period to Modern History, as well as modules in English Literature and Film Studies. Dissertation titled ‘Representations of Women in the Armed Forces during the Second World War with particular reference to the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was awarded 65 (Merit). Was the winner of the top single honours student in History during the second year of study.
- MA in Modern History, University of Kent: Graduated with a merit. Studied modules relating to a range of aspects from the Modern period, from the history of medical science and difference to the cultural memory of warfare from the 20th Century. Dissertation titled ‘”Take the Road to Victory”: Women’s Recruitment into Auxiliary Services, 1938-1946’ was awarded 65 (Merit).
- PhD in History, University of Kent: Thesis titled ‘The Commemoration and Care of First World War Dead Buried in the United Kingdom through the
lens of the Organisational Culture of the Imperial War Graves Commission, 1917-1939’ was completed in September 2023. As part of this, Megan spoke at various international conferences, appeared on a number of podcasts and wrote a journal article.
- Media Coverage
- Interviewed for BBC East Midlands and various local radio stations
- Social Media
- Country Focus
- Britain
- Expertise by Geography
- British Isles, England, United Kingdom
- Expertise by Chronology
- Modern, 20th century, 21st century
- Expertise by Topic
- Family, Gender, Government, Libraries & Archives, Literary History, Material Culture, Military, Museums, Public History, Women, World War I, World War II