Amber is a doctoral researcher at the Institute for Creative Futures and a recipient of a Techne Collaborative Doctoral Award. Her research explores military telecommunications during World War II. As part of her PhD, Amber works in partnership with two archival organisations: The BT Archives and PK Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications.
Amber holds a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Exeter and an MA in Film and Television: Research and Production from the University of Birmingham. Her research interests during this period included Vietnam War photography, Memory Studies, and the telecommunications revolution. Alongside her studies, she undertook placements with the Visitor Experience Team at Calke Abbey and with Wall to Wall Television, contributing research to the BBC One series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’.
Amber’s research explores the overlooked contributions of British telecommunications during World War II, focusing on corporations such as the Post Office and Cable & Wireless. Her work examines the deep entanglement between military operations and telecommunications, investigating how these collaborations influenced and shaped the development, implementation and maintenance of military communications technologies and infrastructure.
The project considers how complex technical communications systems were identified, developed, co-ordinated, and sustained across institutional boundaries. Rather than treating telecommunications infrastructures as a purely technical achievement, Amber explores how these networks depended on ongoing negotiation, collaboration, and distributed responsibility. She is particularly interested in how government-corporate relationships were structured and how authority, expertise and responsibility were managed within them.
PhD Supervisors
- Loughborough University: Dr Burçe Celik and Dr Sam Edwards
- The BT Archives: Anne Archer and James Elder
- PK Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications: Charlotte Todd
Awards, Grants, or Scholarships Received
This Collaborative Doctoral Award is funded by Techne, a Doctoral Training Partnership award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).