University Oral History project
Archives and Special Collections, the Scottish Political Archive and the Division of History, Heritage and Politics are delighted to announce an oral history project which will record the University’s responses to the Coronavirus pandemic. We hope to interview a wide range of staff and students to capture the shared and differing experiences that the pandemic has given us all so that we can evidence for the future how the University of Stirling community got through this difficult and unprecedented period of history.
We are now calling out for staff members who would be interested in being interviewed for this oral history project. From cleaners and security staff to estates and lecturers, we’d like to talk to those who kept campus running while so many of us were away and those who haven’t stepped foot on campus since March 2020 – everyone’s experiences will tell a valuable part of the University of Stirling story. We only ask that you have been working at the University of Stirling for a period of at least 12 weeks since March 2020.
What would be asked of you:
We envisage that interviews will be conducted via Teams so that they can be conducted remotely and recorded. If you do not have a computer readily accessible to you from which to run Teams, the Library have laptops for loan or we can provide you with guidelines on using Teams on a mobile phone.
We will have topics we’d like to touch on in the interview but the length of the interview really depends on how much you would like to say. We can organise interviews at a time to suit you so that you don’t feel rushed.
Interviews will be conducted by Rosie Al-Mulla (Assistant Archivist, IS), Sarah Bromage (Archivist, Scottish Political Archive) and Stephen Bowman (Lecturer, History).
Once the interview has concluded we will send you the recording so that you can listen over what you have said. We are happy to apply closure periods to interviews if you would prefer not to make your account immediately available. We can discuss this with you before the process is completed. Your interview will be kept in Archives and Special Collections as part of the pandemic collection.
You also have the option to be recorded via video as well as just audio so that clips of your interview can be included in a film that we will put together at the end of this project. This is entirely optional.
If you are interested in taking part or have any questions about the project, the interviews or the archive then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. You can email Rosie on rosie.al-mulla@stir.ac.uk
Enormous thanks to the Vice Chancellor’s Fund for supporting this project!
