Leanne grew up in Northern Ireland before going to Cambridge to read History, and after a year teaching in India, returned to complete a PGCE there. She taught History for several years in Edinburgh before returning to Northern Ireland where she completed a PhD at Ulster University.
Along with Professor Sean O’Connell, Leanne was the co-author of the Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland, 1922-1990 research report, published in 2021. Leanne led on the archives and records aspect of the research for that report. Leanne is the social and oral history specialist on the Panel, leading on the archival research for the Panel, working very closely with the Panel’s specialist archivist Mark Farrell.
Her research expertise is on women’s history, the history of sexuality and medicine in the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland and the Irish diaspora in North America. She has published widely in these areas. Leanne is the co-creator of the ‘Bad Bridget Project’, which looks at Irish women who committed crimes in C19th and early C20th North America. She is also currently working on a project ‘Queer Northern Ireland: sexuality before liberation’.