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About Hilary

Hilary Burrage: scholarly praxis, public health and social change

I am a sociologist, writer and public-health advocate committed to praxis—bringing scholarship and action together. My work connects research with practical efforts to advance children’s and women’s rights and wider social change. It spans women in science, as well as wider issues around education, cultural regeneration, environmental policy and impacts, and the prevention of child cruelty and female genital mutilation (FGM).

Alongside my writing and advocacy, I am an Adjunct Professor at the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, and a trustee of the Institute of Health Promotion and Education (IHPE). I am based in London.

I am also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a member of IHPE (MIHPE), and a member of the Society of Authors.

FGM, public health and children’s and women’s rights

My two books approach FGM through sociological analysis, practical prevention and the experiences of those affected. Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation: A UK Perspective (2015) brings together evidence and guidance for prevention. Female Mutilation: The Truth Behind the Horrifying Global Practice of Female Genital Mutilation (2016) presents more than seventy narratives from survivors, families, activists and professionals across five continents.

Chapters in the Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health (2019) and The Routledge International Handbook of Harmful Cultural Practices (2023) extend this analysis to genital surgeries, economics, public health and societal wellbeing. Other writing explores connections between prevention, livelihoods, land rights, education, climate change and water access.

A central concern is establishing FGM Studies as an international academic field. My concept of “patriarchy incarnate” connects the practice with wider structures of gendered power. Wherever possible, I make my work freely available to support access, translation and public scrutiny.

A hands-on advisory role with The Guardian’s campaign to end FGM preceded my work as an adviser to the Global Media Campaign to End FGM, which grew out of that initiative. This advocacy has also involved contributions to parliamentary inquiries, UN events and consultations, and collaboration with other FGM-prevention organisations. In 2016, the Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation recognised my two FGM books with a Certificate of Appreciation.

In 2025, I wrote an editorial marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation and was lead author of IHPE’s FGM Position Statement. The 2026 opinion paper “Stunting? What Happens to Children Born to Women with FGM?” develops questions for further research about maternal FGM and children’s health.

Beyond FGM, my work on women’s rights includes co-authored research on marriage in Iran and editing and writing the foreword to Kameel Ahmady’s A House with Open Door (2021). My essay “Women in Iran: Past, Present and Future” (2026) addresses marriage, employment, population policy, health and gender-based violence in this authoritarian theocracy.

Research, teaching and educational leadership

Postgraduate study and my earliest research centred on the sociology of science and technology. A 1971–1972 survey of women university scientists became my 1973 MSc dissertation and a 1983 article in Social Studies of Science. Subsequent work included doctoral research and a research-associate role on teenage pregnancy at Liverpool.

My qualifications are a BSc(Soc)(Hons), an MSc in Sociology of Science and Technology, and a PGCE. Ill-health prevented completion of my doctoral research.

Teaching across schools, further and higher education has included work at Liverpool and the Open University, senior lecturing in Health and Social Care, developing an early Access to Higher Education course, and GCSE and A-level examining. Support for adults returning to education included advocacy for childcare provision; work on equality included writing an early equal-opportunities policy for Liverpool colleges.

As national secretary of the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences (ATSS), I founded and convened FACTASS—the Forum of Academic and Teaching Associations in the Social Sciences. Its purpose was to strengthen social education and teacher development and defend the place of social sciences and personal, social and health education in the school curriculum. Other professional responsibilities included commissioning editor of Social Science Teacher and membership of the British Sociological Association’s executive committee.

Culture, music and community regeneration

A trained coloratura soprano, I studied singing at Birmingham School of Music (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) and Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. I later sang with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir.

In Liverpool, cultural participation became a practical means of supporting community development and regeneration. My roles included elected director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1993–1999), first chair of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce’s Arts and Culture Committee, and founder-chair of HOPES—the Hope Street Association (1994–2011).

HOPES brought institutions and residents together through around twelve years of Hope Street festivals, alongside conferences, regeneration proposals and the Hope Street Papers. I commissioned, edited and published the papers, including the 2000 volume with an introduction by the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. This sustained cultural and community activity supported the physical and socio-economic regeneration of Liverpool’s Hope Street Quarter. A presentation to the Millennium Commissioners formed part of that work; the HOPES archive is held at the University of Liverpool.

My husband, Martin Anthony (Tony) Burrage, was a long-serving violinist in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO). The HOTFOOT concerts at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall were part of this wider programme, bringing community musicians together with Tony, Richard Gordon-Smith and other RLPO professional players. My music-management responsibilities also included work with Ensemble Liverpool / Live-A-Music.

At the BBC’s request, HOPES supported Liverpool’s 1998 Windrush anniversary celebrations.

Research in the Royal College of Music archives led to my discovery of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s lost Piano Quintet, Op. 1. Tony Burrage prepared the performing parts from the manuscript, enabling Ensemble Liverpool / Live-A-Music to give its first performance in living memory at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 7 November 2001, more than a century after its 1893 premiere.

In 2010, Tony and I founded the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation to promote the Black British composer’s music. We also appeared in Search for the Blue Note, selected for the 2023 London Independent Film Festival.

Tony and I are currently writing Five Decades, a book about his life in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and its city. Our accompanying website, fivedecades.blog, brings together his recollections and our research into the orchestra, Liverpool’s cultural life, and the wider social and political context. It also invites readers to contribute memories, documents and corrections, helping us build and check the historical record.

Health, governance and environmental policy

An early public-health paper, “Epidemiology and Community Health: A Strained Connection?” (1987), anticipated a continuing concern with the relationship between research and practice.

Evaluation work included Sure Start and young people’s programmes in disadvantaged areas of North West England, including a 2006 service review for Knowsley Council.

Health-governance appointments have included non-executive director of Merseyside NHS Ambulance Trust (2003–2006), with responsibilities for human resources and safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; lay partner and visitor for the Health Professions Council; and trustee of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

As a member of Defra’s Science Advisory Council (2006–2009), I contributed to its social-research work and co-authored its 2007 report on social research. During this period, I was also a director of the British Urban Regeneration Association (2006–2010), responsible for equal opportunities, and vice-chair of the North West Regional Sustainability Group (2007–2010).

Other activities ranged from supporting science investment in North West England to teaching the Homes and Communities Agency’s In a Nutshell course on place-making and sustainable communities.

My regeneration and environmental writing examines how knowledge, resources, public space and participation shape communities’ capacity to influence development. “Green hubs, social inclusion and community engagement” (2011) was nominated for an Institution of Civil Engineers award in 2012. Subsequent citations include Toronto’s TransformTO report and Butt and Rigoni’s “The Green Blueprint” (2025).

Political, trade-union and civic service

Political and trade-union service has included membership of the Musicians’ Union’s North West executive committee, service as deputy chair of Liverpool NATFHE, and representation of my college union at Liverpool Trades Union Council.

Within the Labour Party, I chaired Liverpool Riverside Constituency Labour Party, served as honorary secretary of Merseyside West European Constituency Labour Party, and was election agent for Dame Louise Ellman MP at three elections. After moving to London, I served as a constituency Labour Party honorary secretary and a branch Women’s Officer.

Continuing priorities

Drawing on these interconnected fields, I continue to advocate for social, economic and environmental sustainability, and for social science research that informs practical action—including the prevention and eradication of FGM and related harmful practices.

Selected publications and writing

Books, editorial work and current projects

Research, educational publications and chapters

  • Women Scientists: An Investigation of the Social Situation of Women University Teachers of Natural Science — MSc dissertation, University of Salford (1973).
  • “Women university teachers of natural science, 1971–72: An empirical survey” — Social Studies of Science, 13(1), pp. 147–160 (1983).
  • “Social Science at 16+” — Sociology, 20(3) (1986).
  • “FACTASS: A new joint forum for the social sciences” — Social Science Teacher (1986); republished online as “FACTASS: The New (1986) Joint Forum of Academic & Teaching Associations in the Social Sciences” (2011).
  • “Epidemiology and Community Health: A Strained Connection?” (1987).
  • “Health education” — in Barry Dufour’s The New Social Curriculum: A Guide to Cross-Curricular Issues, chapter 4 (1990).
  • “The sociology of science and the science of society” — opening chapter of Sociology Reviewed (1993); reproduced online in 2018.
  • “Knowledge, the new currency in regeneration” — Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 3(2), pp. 120–127 (2009).
  • “Green hubs, social inclusion and community engagement” — Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers—Municipal Engineer, 164(3), pp. 167–174 (2011).
  • “Rational-emotional ‘divorce’ in Iran” — with M. H. Barzoki and M. Tavakoll, Applied Research in Quality of Life, 10(1), pp. 107–122 (2015).
  • “Female genital mutilation and genital surgeries” — in the Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health, chapter 33 (2019).
  • “FGM studies: Economics, public health, and societal well-being” — in The Routledge International Handbook of Harmful Cultural Practices, chapter 12 (2023).
  • “International day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation” — editorial, International Journal of Health Promotion and Education (2025).
  • “Stunting? What Happens to Children Born to Women with FGM?” — opinion paper, EC Gynaecology, 15.8, pp. 01–04 (2026).

Reports, community publications and online essays

  • Hope Street Papers — HOPES publication series (1999–2001), which I edited and published; the 2000 volume includes an introduction by the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
  • “Liverpool’s Hope Street Festivals and Quarter (1977–1995)” (2006).
  • “Hope Street, Liverpool: History and Festivals (1996–2006)” (2006).
  • Sure Start in Halewood: Service Provision Overview — report for Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council (2006).
  • Defra Science Advisory Council report on social research — co-author (2007).
  • “Culture: Civic Badge or Serious Business? A Walk Down Liverpool’s Smithdown Road” (2010).
  • “The Global Economics of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)” (2014).
  • “The End FGM Walk-A-Thon, 15 October 2016, Washington DC” (2016).
  • “Social Research in Environmental Contexts” (2020).
  • “A House with Open Door (Kameel Ahmady, 2021): My Foreword” (2021).
  • “Female Genital Mutilation & Child ‘Marriage’, Covid-19, Climate Change—and War: An Economic Perspective (CSW66)” (2022).
  • “World Water Day—and Why It Matters for #EndFGM” (2024).
  • “Stunted Children: A Global Tragedy. Does FGM Amplify It?” (2024).
  • IHPE FGM Position Statement — lead author (2025).
  • “Women in Iran: Past, Present and Future” (2026).

For further details, see my formal CV.

A personal postscript

Writing has always been part of my life. It became particularly important when my professional path took an unexpected turn. I had imagined continuing as a teacher and researcher in further and higher education until retirement. Instead, chronic illness required a different course.

By my early thirties, I was experiencing conditions later identified as psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia. By my mid-forties, exhaustion, pain and restricted mobility left me no option but to retire from my teaching post. Leaving work affected both my confidence and my finances, as well as my sense of the future.

Alongside the medical support available, two things helped me through. The first was the constant support of Tony, my spouse of almost sixty years, our daughter Anna, and our wider family and friends. Tony and I married in 1968.

The second was an Amstrad—a small, early personal computer that my medical consultant instructed me to acquire. “You need to keep your mind busy,” he said. “One of those Amstrad things…” He was right. That computer, and later access to the internet, opened new routes into research, writing and contact with others.

Over a few years, treatment and a better understanding of my limitations helped me find a more sustainable way of working. Stopping had been essential: I needed space to adjust, physically and psychologically, to what had changed.

I still have to be realistic about breaks and how much I can do. But my intellectual life has continued to grow, alongside a worldwide community of friends, colleagues and contacts. My typing remains awful; the range of ideas and experiences I can draw on is much greater than when I first adopted information technology.

I share this partly to thank those who understood and supported me, and partly to explain a career that has not followed a straight line. Disability is not something about which any of us should feel embarrassed. Although everyone’s circumstances differ, I hope this account may encourage others living with chronic conditions to explore possibilities at their own pace, while acknowledging what they have lost.

Finding a different way forward takes time. To everyone who has helped me as I travel: thank you.

Hilary Burrage’s two books on female genital mutilation
Handbooks containing Hilary Burrage’s chapters on women’s health and harmful cultural practices