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Dr Leona Watson

Associate Professor

Department: Humanities

Her doctoral research at Durham University investigated the regulation of key bio-physical flows of water, manure, blood, urine and industrial waste products in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British townscapes, revealing remarkably well organised and effective systems of environmental regulation.

At the universities of York and Bristol, she worked on two AHRC-funded post-doctoral, environmental history research projects: 1) ‘Local Places, Global Processes’, on twentieth-century Kielder, in the North Tyne valley in Northumberland, revealing how local people’s economic, social and cultural lives were reshaped by successive environmental changes; and 2) ‘The Power and the Water’, on the environmental history of north-east England’s River Tyne (1529-2015), reconnecting the sub-themes of the river’s fish life, sanitation, pollution, riparian industry, riverine knowledge, regeneration, conservation, recreation and environmental governance. In 2015-16, she worked on an EPSRC-funded water sustainability project with civil engineers and social scientists, ‘TWENTY65’.

Leona is Co-Investigator on a three-year, AHRC-funded project, ‘’, working on historic flood mitigation and the Internal Drainage Boards (1770s to present) and she is also researching the environmental history of English brewing as a biotechnology, 1603-1830.

Campus Address

Rm 323, Lipman Building
City Campus
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

  • Helen Leighton-Rose From Kirk to Secular Committee: The Impact of Changing Administration of Immoral Crime, Sexual Activity and Poverty upon South Eastern Scottish Borders Women’s Lives, 1707-1870. Start Date: 01/01/2020
  • Laura Littlefair Recontextualising the Deindustrialised Railway Town: Communities, Memory, Gender, and Identity in Shildon, 1984-2004 Start Date: 17/10/2024
  • Georgia Wade Our Calder History: Our Calder Future. Start Date: 01/10/2024
  • Adam Dixon The Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Twentieth Century Tyneside Start Date: 01/04/2023

  • History PhD June 01 2013
  • History MA January 01 2009
  • BA (Hons) June 30 2007
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy FHEA 2018
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society FRHistS 2017


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