Lucy Slater

Profile

Currently, I am a PGR, researching the organisational evolution of Britain’s intelligence services and their management in the post-war period. My project is fully funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council via the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities.

I previously studied a taught MA in War and Strategy and my BA in International History and Politics, both at the University of Leeds. For the former, I was in receipt of a full scholarship (fees and maintenance) from the School of History, University of Leeds. My MA dissertation, entitled ‘‘Britain is the Paradise of the Spy’: Spy Fever in Edwardian Britain and the Establishment of the Secret Service Bureau’, won the Marion Sharples Prize for the best MA dissertation within the School of History. I also finished at the top of my Undergraduate class in 2019 and received the School of History Outstanding Achievement Award for IHP.

Research interests

Some of my current research interests (some more specific than others) include:

• the role of intelligence in international politics, particularly during periods of extreme tension (i.e. prior to the outbreak of both World Wars and during the Cold War) and decolonisation
• how organisations and bureaucracy evolve
• the history of the British Civil Service

My PhD research focusses on the development of Britain’s intelligence apparatus, coming out of the Second World War and entering the Cold War, paying particular attention to the myriad of “review” processes that intelligence organisations underwent.

I have also explored the history of British nuclear civil defence for the nationalised industries in the post-war period which resulted in the publication of ‘How Britain’s railways prepared for nuclear war’ (DOI:10.15180/232002)

Qualifications

• MA War & Strategy
• BA (Hons) International History and Politics