![Tom Allbeson](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/2137?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Tom Allbeson
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Tom Allbeson
Reader (Media & Photographic History)
Overview
I am a Reader in Media & Photographic History at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture (Cardiff University) and Director of Postgraduate Research. I am also co-editor of the Journal of War and Culture Studies and co-convenor of the network, 'By/For: Photography & Democracy'.
My research concerns media history and visual culture in contemporary Europe and the US with specialisms in photojournalism and conflict, visual culture and reconstruction, collective memory in post-conflict societies, and urban history.
My second book, Conflicting Images: Histories of War Photography in the News, was co-authored with Stuart Allan.
My first monograph addressed postwar reconstruction and photography of the built environment in Britain, France and West Germany (c.1944-1961). Photography, Reconstruction and the Cultural History of the Postwar European City has been reviewed in German History, Urban History and Contemporary British History.
I have a co-edited a recent volume for Bloomsbury titled, Picturing Peace: Photography, Conflict Transformation, and Peacebuilding. I have also edited special issues on 'Twinned Cities: Reconciliation & Reconstruction in Europe after 1945' (2024), ‘Visual Histories of Postwar Reconstruction’ (2022) and 'The Business of War Photography' (2016).
I have also co-curated two exhibitions of historic photojournalism: ‘Picture Post: A Twentieth Century Icon’ (National Museum Cardiff, 24 May to 9 Nov 2025) and ‘Bert Hardy: Photojournalism in War & Peace’ (Photographers Gallery, 23 Feb to 2 June 2024)
Before joining Cardiff University, I was a Lecturer in Modern History at Swansea University and held fellowships at the universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham. Prior to postgraduate research, I worked in Scotland for around 10 years at the Heritage Lottery Fund (a major UK funder of museums, galleries and heritage sties).
I welcome PhD proposals in the following areas:
- Conflict and photojournalism
- Humanitarian photography
- Photography, memory and post-conflict societies
- Histories of the photo-magazine
- Histories of photography and urban space
- Histories of photography, democracy and activism
Publication
2025
- Allbeson, T. 2025. The visual labor of photojournalism: Stefan Lorant at Weekly Illustrated and Picture Post, 1934-40. In: Pelizzari, M. A. and Zervigón, A. M. eds. Print Matters: Media and Modernity in Illustrated Magazines, 1910-1970. Los Angeles: Getty. , pp.199-217.
- Allbeson, T. 2025. The philosophy of late twentieth-century photography: Computerised images in Blade Runner: The Director's Cut. In: Abrams, N. , Miller, E. and Robinson, C. L. eds. The Cultural Heritage of Blade Runner: 'More Human than Human'. Liverpool University Press. , pp.93-117.
- Allbeson, T. , Oldfield, P. and Mitchell, J. eds. 2025. Picturing peace: photography, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding. New Encounters: Arts, Cultures, Concepts London: Bloomsbury. (10.5040/9781350258884)
2024
- Laucht, C. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Twinned cities: reconciliation and reconstruction in Europe after 1945 - an introduction. Urban History 51 (4), pp.674-682. (10.1017/S0963926823000469)
- Laucht, C. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Urban internationalism: Coventry, Kiel, reconstruction and the role of cities in British-German reconciliation, 1945-49. Urban History 51 (4), pp.683-708. (10.1017/S0963926823000172)
- Allan, S. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Conflicting images: Histories of war photography in the news. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9780203129852)
2022
- Allbeson, T. and Colquhoun, B. 2022. Page, print, JPEG: researching and curating Picture Post, its history and publics. TMG Journal for Media History 25 (1), pp.1-31. (10.18146/tmg.825)
- Allbeson, T. and Gorrara, C. 2022. Visual histories of postwar reconstruction: special issue introduction. Journal of War and Culture Studies 15 (2), pp.125-132. (10.1080/17526272.2022.2065121)
- Allbeson, T. and Gorrara, C. 2022. Domestic archives of empire: photographing Burma and reconstructing British imperialism for the postwar moment. Journal of War and Culture Studies 15 (2), pp.233-259. (10.1080/17526272.2022.2065120)
2020
- Allbeson, T. 2020. Photography, reconstruction and the cultural history of the postwar European city. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
- Allbeson, T. 2020. Photography, visual activism and counterpublics: the campaign for nuclear disarmament in post-war Britain. In: Miles, M. and Welch, E. eds. Photography and Its Publics. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts. , pp.79-102. (10.5040/9781350054998.ch-005)
2019
- Allbeson, T. and Allan, S. 2019. The war of images in the age of Trump. In: Happer, C. , Hoskins, A. and Merrin, W. eds. Trump’s Media War. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.69-84.
2016
- Allbeson, T. 2016. Carrying off the palaces: John Ruskin’s lost daguerreotypes by Ken Jacobson and Jenny Jacobson [Book Review]. The Journal of Architecture 21 (7), pp.1154-1158. (10.1080/13602365.2016.1233624)
- Allbeson, T. and Oldfield, P. 2016. War, photography, business: new critical histories. Journal of War and Culture Studies 9 (2), pp.94-114. (10.1080/17526272.2016.1190203)
- Allbeson, T. 2016. St Paul's in the Blitz. History Today 2016 (Jan 6)
- Allbeson, T. 2016. Where are the pictures? Photography & British public perception of the bombing of Germany, 1941-45. PhotoResearcher 25 , pp.60-87.
2015
- Allbeson, T. 2015. Visualizing wartime destruction and postwar reconstruction: Herbert Mason's photograph of St. Paul's reevaluated. Journal of Modern History 87 (3), pp.532-578. (10.1086/682677)
- Allbeson, T. 2015. Photographic diplomacy in the postwar world: UNESCO and the conception of photography as a universal language, 1946-1956. Modern Intellectual History 12 (2), pp.383-415. (10.1017/S1479244314000316)
2014
- Allbeson, T. 2014. The view from above: The science of social space, by Jeanne Haffner [Book Review]. History of Photography 38 (2), pp.206-208. (10.1080/03087298.2014.890417)
2013
- Allbeson, T. 2013. Cities and photography by Jane Tormey [Book Review]. Urban History 40 (03), pp.591-592. (10.1017/S0963926813000540)
Articles
- Laucht, C. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Twinned cities: reconciliation and reconstruction in Europe after 1945 - an introduction. Urban History 51 (4), pp.674-682. (10.1017/S0963926823000469)
- Laucht, C. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Urban internationalism: Coventry, Kiel, reconstruction and the role of cities in British-German reconciliation, 1945-49. Urban History 51 (4), pp.683-708. (10.1017/S0963926823000172)
- Allbeson, T. and Colquhoun, B. 2022. Page, print, JPEG: researching and curating Picture Post, its history and publics. TMG Journal for Media History 25 (1), pp.1-31. (10.18146/tmg.825)
- Allbeson, T. and Gorrara, C. 2022. Visual histories of postwar reconstruction: special issue introduction. Journal of War and Culture Studies 15 (2), pp.125-132. (10.1080/17526272.2022.2065121)
- Allbeson, T. and Gorrara, C. 2022. Domestic archives of empire: photographing Burma and reconstructing British imperialism for the postwar moment. Journal of War and Culture Studies 15 (2), pp.233-259. (10.1080/17526272.2022.2065120)
- Allbeson, T. 2016. Carrying off the palaces: John Ruskin’s lost daguerreotypes by Ken Jacobson and Jenny Jacobson [Book Review]. The Journal of Architecture 21 (7), pp.1154-1158. (10.1080/13602365.2016.1233624)
- Allbeson, T. and Oldfield, P. 2016. War, photography, business: new critical histories. Journal of War and Culture Studies 9 (2), pp.94-114. (10.1080/17526272.2016.1190203)
- Allbeson, T. 2016. St Paul's in the Blitz. History Today 2016 (Jan 6)
- Allbeson, T. 2016. Where are the pictures? Photography & British public perception of the bombing of Germany, 1941-45. PhotoResearcher 25 , pp.60-87.
- Allbeson, T. 2015. Visualizing wartime destruction and postwar reconstruction: Herbert Mason's photograph of St. Paul's reevaluated. Journal of Modern History 87 (3), pp.532-578. (10.1086/682677)
- Allbeson, T. 2015. Photographic diplomacy in the postwar world: UNESCO and the conception of photography as a universal language, 1946-1956. Modern Intellectual History 12 (2), pp.383-415. (10.1017/S1479244314000316)
- Allbeson, T. 2014. The view from above: The science of social space, by Jeanne Haffner [Book Review]. History of Photography 38 (2), pp.206-208. (10.1080/03087298.2014.890417)
- Allbeson, T. 2013. Cities and photography by Jane Tormey [Book Review]. Urban History 40 (03), pp.591-592. (10.1017/S0963926813000540)
Book sections
- Allbeson, T. 2025. The visual labor of photojournalism: Stefan Lorant at Weekly Illustrated and Picture Post, 1934-40. In: Pelizzari, M. A. and Zervigón, A. M. eds. Print Matters: Media and Modernity in Illustrated Magazines, 1910-1970. Los Angeles: Getty. , pp.199-217.
- Allbeson, T. 2025. The philosophy of late twentieth-century photography: Computerised images in Blade Runner: The Director's Cut. In: Abrams, N. , Miller, E. and Robinson, C. L. eds. The Cultural Heritage of Blade Runner: 'More Human than Human'. Liverpool University Press. , pp.93-117.
- Allbeson, T. 2020. Photography, visual activism and counterpublics: the campaign for nuclear disarmament in post-war Britain. In: Miles, M. and Welch, E. eds. Photography and Its Publics. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts. , pp.79-102. (10.5040/9781350054998.ch-005)
- Allbeson, T. and Allan, S. 2019. The war of images in the age of Trump. In: Happer, C. , Hoskins, A. and Merrin, W. eds. Trump’s Media War. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.69-84.
Books
- Allbeson, T. , Oldfield, P. and Mitchell, J. eds. 2025. Picturing peace: photography, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding. New Encounters: Arts, Cultures, Concepts London: Bloomsbury. (10.5040/9781350258884)
- Allan, S. and Allbeson, T. 2024. Conflicting images: Histories of war photography in the news. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. (10.4324/9780203129852)
- Allbeson, T. 2020. Photography, reconstruction and the cultural history of the postwar European city. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Research
Research interests
- Photographic history
- Media history
- Cultural memory
- Urban history & visual culture
Research Funding
(2025-2029), ‘Social Inequality and British Documentary Style: Bert Hardy’s photographs for Picture Post magazine, 1940-57’
- AHRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with V&A (£115,680)
(2025-2029), ‘War, Photography & Empire: Visual Propaganda and British India, c.1941-47’
- AHRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with Imperial War Museums (c.£110,000)
(2025-2029), ‘The Valleys Archive at Ffotogallery: Community, Photography & Democracy in South Wales, 1978-2028’
- ESRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with Ffotogallery (c.£50,000)
(2023-2024), ‘Picture Post: A Twentieth Century Icon’
- AHRC-funded placement at Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Cardiff (£14,556)
- Co-investigator, Dr Bronwen Colquhoun (Amgueddfa Cymru)
(2023), ‘Bert Hardy Archive: Opening up a Photojournalist Collection to Communities, Culture and New Partnerships’
- AHRC funded impact project to catalogue archive and run programme of public engagement work (£8,823)
(2021-2025), ‘Amnesty, Archives, Activism’
- ESRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with Amnesty International (c.£45,000)
(2021-2025), ‘Traces of Empire in the Built Environment’
- AHRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with Historic England (c.£90,000)
(2020-2024), ‘Decolonising and diversifying conflict photography’
- AHRC funded PhD studentship in collaboration with Imperial War Museums (£89,356)
(2018-2019), 'Photography and the Languages of Reconstruction, c.1944-49'
- Institute for Modern Languages Research Grant (£2,100) to establish research network and deliver research workshop
- Co-Investigator: Professor Claire Gorrara (Cardiff University)
(2016-2018), 'Picturing Peace: Photography, Conflict Transformation & Peacebuilding'
- Social Trends Institute Experts' Meeting Grant (€30,000) to deliver research workshop and publish an edited volume
- Co-Investigators: Dr Pippa Oldfield (Teesside University) & Professor Jolyon Mitchell (University of Edinburgh)
(2014-2015), 'Fostering Photographic Research'
- Challenge Investment Fund Grant (£8,000) to develop a series of workshops to foster interdisciplinary postgraduate research in partnership with Edinburgh archives, museums and galleries
(2014) ‘The Business of War Photography: Producing and Consuming Images of Conflict’
- Collaboration with Impressions Gallery, Bradford and the Centre for Visual Arts & Culture, Durham University
- Royal Historical Society Grant to support a conference addressing business histories of conflict photography
- Co-Investigator: Dr Pippa Oldfield (Impression Gallery)
Teaching
Current teaching
- Visual Histories: Visions of the Past in Heritage Discourse & Culture
- Employability: Knowledge, Skills & Experience
- Media Scholarship
Previously Taught
- A Century of War Photojournalism: Conflict Imagery in the UK
- Conflict & Memory: Europe in the Twentieth Century
- War & Photography in Britain, 1914-1989
- Europe of Extremes, 1789-1989
- Postwar Reconstruction: Europe, 1944-57
- Urban History: Twentieth-century Cities
- The Cultural History of Photography
- History and Guilt: The Historiography of the Holocaust
In addition to positions as a lecturer at the universities of Cardiff and Swansea, I previously held a number of teaching positions at Durham University (Tutor, Department of History, 2010/11 and 2013/14), University of Edinburgh (Tutor, Edinburgh College of Art, 2013-2015) and Edinburgh Napier University (Lecturer, 2014/15). In 2018, I completed my PG Certificate in Higher Education Learning and Teaching, and became a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Biography
Career Overview
2024-present: Reader in Media & Photographic History, Cardiff University
2021-2024: Senior Lecturer in Media History, Cardiff University
2017-2021: Lecturer in Cultural History, Cardiff University
2015-2017: Lecturer in Modern History, Swansea University
2014-2015: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of History, University of Nottingham
2014-2015: Research Associate (part-time), University of Edinburgh
2013: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh
2003-2013: Senior Officer Grants / Officer Grants, Heritage Lottery Fund, Edinburgh
Education
2012: PhD (Cultural History), Durham University
2008: MA (Photography Studies), Durham University
2001: MA Hons. (Philosophy & English Literature), University of Edinburgh
Supervisions
I am currently supervising collaborative doctoral research projects in partnership with the V&A, Imperial War Museums, Historic England and Ffotogallery.
I welcome PhD proposals in the following areas:
- Conflict and photojournalism
- Humanitarian photography
- Photography, memory and post-conflict societies
- Histories of the photo-magazine
- Histories of photography and urban space
- Histories of photography, democracy and activism
Current supervision
Past projects
Nelly Ating, Visual activism and Amnesty International: Photography, transnational networks, and the Anti-Apartheid movement, 1961-90. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University (2025).
Rio Creech-Nowagiel, Picturing Malaya: Colonial counterinsurgency, camera imagery and imperial imaginaries in ‘emergency’ Britain (1948-58). PhD Thesis, Cardiff University, (2024).
Engagement
Since September 2021, I have been involved with a number of projects that seek to engage new audiences in aspects of research into photographic history. This includes engagement work related to the famous photo-magazine Picture Post and one of its most well-known photographers, Bert Hardy.
I have worked with the Tiger Bay Cultural & Heritage Exchange to deliver workshops and photo-elicitation events regarding their collections housed in the Glamorgan Archives, as well as photographs of Butetown taken by Hardy in the 1950s.
I am collaborating on an exhibition about Picture Post (1938-57) with Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Cardiff. Along with Bronwen Colquhoun (Senior Curator, Photography), I have been working with young people to explore directions and interpretation for the exhibition, including looking at renowned photo-essays produced across Wales.
I co-curated an exhibition about Picture Post for Amgueddfa Cymru (Picture Post : A Twentieth Century Icon). I also co-curated an exhibition on Bert Hardy for the Photographers Gallery in London (Bert Hardy: Photojournalism in War and Peace). This was delivered in partnership with the V&A and Cardiff university Special Collections and Archives, which is responsible for the Bert Hardy Archive.
