Primarily a historian of ideas, I am most interested in the intersections of science, religion, and philosophy. I am currently working on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Fundamentalism as an Ulster Phenomenon? 1859-1939’ with Dr Andrew Holmes and Prof. David Livingstone. This will map, in unprecendented detail, varieties of popular Protestantism in the nine Ulster counties. It will also highlight Ireland’s key role in the formation of the transatlantic religious culture that birthed fundamentalism.
My doctoral research, funded by the AHRC, investigated the Victoria Institute. This organisation, formed in 1865, was a conservative Christian response to intellectual trends such as Darwinian natural selection, geology, and Biblical criticism.