Mary Beth Graham’s background, through education and activism, is in human rights within global supply chains. Her previous research looked specifically at fast fashion manufacturing and its varied damaging impacts on People of the Global Majority, their communities and their environment.

Mary Beth is in the final year of her PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her research project is titled ‘The Making of a Fair Trade Nation: The Development of Fair Trade Business Ethics and Practice in Scotland, c.1980s-2013.’ Through accessing extensive archival sources and collecting oral histories from key individuals, she is exploring the rise of the fair trade movement within Scotland’s wider social justice legacy. Its successes, failures and challenges are told through the combined impacts of strong grassroots community networks, faith groups, independent ethical businesses and local and national political decision-making.

She has a keen interest in social justice, colonial legacies and the politics of consumption. Mary Beth is passionate about accountability, co-production, and using history as a tool for justice.