Gillian Murray graduated with MA (Hons) and MSc from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Leicester. She worked on a range of multi-disciplinary research projects with a focus on aspects of twentieth century British history and interests in gender, media and labour history.
In March 2014 Dr Murray started work at the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University as a post-doctoral researcher on the CommonHealth research programme. Her research traced the origins of social enterprise in Scotland through the revival of the co-operative movement and pioneering community development work carried out as part of community business in Scotland. This research also sought to understand the development of connections between these socially innovative projects and health and wellbeing enhancement. The oral histories collected as part of the CommonHealth project captured the memories of practitioners who were drawn towards work in Community Business (a forerunner of Social Enterprise) and the development of their work in Scotland’s social economy from the late 1970s onwards.
Dr Murray continued her research into the history of social enterprise in Scotland, working on the Social Enterprise Collection (Scotland) project from November 2018 to March 2020 in collaboration with the Archive Centre. Through her involvement with this project further oral histories were collected and a travelling exhibition introduced the history of social enterprise in Scotland.