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Dr Emily Rees

Research Fellow

Department: Newcastle Business School

I am a historian of twentieth-century Britain, with a focus on histories of science and industry, and how these intersect with visual culture, gender and professional practices. I am currently research fellow on the project An Institutional History of Internal Communications, based here at Northumbria University.

From 2022­­-24, I worked in the Research and Public History department at the Science Museum Group, both as a research fellow on the European project Museums and Industry: Long Histories of Collaboration and as an open access consultant. The latter role involved spearheading the creation of the Science Museum Group’s Open Access repository, which made many of the museum’s research outputs freely available for the first time online.  

Prior to this, I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Leeds on the AHRC-funded project Electrifying Women: Understanding the Long History of Women in Engineering. Through this project, I have collaborated with professional bodies including the Women’s Engineering Society, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists.

I completed my PhD on the commodification and domestication of the television set in the UK in mid-century Britain at the University of Nottingham in 2018, where I also worked as a lecturer teaching across a range of media-related courses.

Emily Rees

My research interests are interdisciplinary in nature spanning business, marketing and management history, science and technology studies, media history and gender studies. Most recently, this manifested in research into corporate sponsorship of museum exhibitions, in particular at science museums, with a focus on the Sainsbury family as patrons.

A longer-standing interest has been in the professional lives and networks of women in STEM. The way in which these professional women in STEM communicate, both internally and externally, has come to the fore in my work through research on the International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES) and the internal magazine of the Women's Engineering Society (WES) The Woman Engineer

This built on my doctoral research into television’s development from a technological curiosity into a consumer good. I explored how this process was tied to domestic practices with a strong focus on women as homemakers and consumers in marketing material, while also revealing that women worked as factory workers in technical roles producing television sets. 

My research practice also extends beyond the purely academic realm; I am interested in how academic research can be translated into accessible and impactful outputs for different audiences. I am experienced working with varied partner organisations, including museums and advocacy groups, and in putting into action open access paradigms for sharing research online. 

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • Why Don't We Look at Television?, Rees Koerner, E. 1 Oct 2023, In: Technology and Culture
  • Formulating a Transnational History of Women in Engineering and Applied Science, Gooday, G., Rees Koerner, E. 30 Jun 2022, In: Women's History Today
  • Inventor, devoted daughter, or lover? Uncovering the life and work of Victorian naval engineer Henrietta Vansittart (1833-1883), Rees Koerner, E. 25 Oct 2022, In: Science Museum Group Journal
  • Television, gas and electricity: Consuming comfort and leisure in the British home 1946–65, Rees Koerner, E. 1 Jun 2019, In: Journal of Popular Television

  • Film and Television Studies PhD October 01 2018
  • Film and Television Studies MA October 01 2013
  • Classics BA (Hons) June 01 2011


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