Jo Fox is the current Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research & Public Engagement, and Dean of London University’s School of Advanced Study. She is a specialist in the history of propaganda and psychological warfare in twentieth-century Europe, with numerous publications on propaganda in Britain and Germany during the First and Second World Wars, in particular on the connections between propaganda and popular opinion. She is currently working on a history of rumour in the Second World War and, with David Coast (Bath Spa), on a major project on rumour and politics in England from 1500 to the present day.

Before joining the Institute of Historical Research, Jo was Professor of Modern History and Head of Department at Durham University, where she began her academic career in 1999. She has contributed to broadcasts for the BBC (Woman’s Hour, Making History, the One Show and various documentaries for BBC4, including acting as historical consultant for The Documentary Film Mob) and BBC Radio 4, including presenting an episode of Document on ‘Scotland’s Lord Haw-Haw), CBC (Canada), PBS (United States), Channel 10 (Australia) and ABC (Australia). Jo is also active in the Museums, Archives and Heritage Sectors. In addition to supervising three AHRC Collaborative Doctoral students, she regularly assists museums and archives in their public programmes and exhibitions.

Jo is passionate about widening participation in Higher Education. Together with Ben Dodds, she created an initiative to bring cutting-edge research into local schools with a view to encouraging progression to higher education among low participation communities. Jo regularly gives talks and runs workshops in schools in the UK. She has also been involved in initiatives to promote gender equality in Higher Education, such as the Royal Historical Society’s report on gender equality and as an invited speaker at several gender equality events in London, Glasgow, Oxford, and most recently at the Royal Society of Ireland. She has been an Athena Swan assessor and panel chair, and serves as a member of the working group for the Athena Swan Charter Mark. She previously served as the Honorary Communications Director of the Royal Historical Society. She is a National Teaching Fellow (2007), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Manufactures and the Arts (FRSA).