Historians at one of Scotland's highest rated university history departments have pieced together the singular story of an east coast-based pharmaceutical company in an unusual partnership with local industry.
The University of Dundee's Department of History, whose international research excellence was recognised in the recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), struck an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to produce a history of the company's Montrose plant which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.
The resulting book, by Professor Chris Whatley and postgraduate student Ann Petrie, will be published by the company as part of a series of events to celebrate the anniversary on 26 May.
Professor Whatley said, "It is a relatively rare event for a humanities department to find commercial sponsorship for what is in fact a very valid and interesting piece of research into Scotland's recent industrial history. We are delighted to find the project has been such a success for both partners and are now actively seeking similar contracts from other companies."
David Wintle, GlaxoSmithKline Site HR and Business Change Director, was equally happy with the partnership. "As Project Sponsor, I have to say that coming up with the idea to produce a history of the plant here at Montrose was perhaps the easy part, the more difficult part was finding someone to research and write it. Having made contact with the University we were immediately impressed by their enthusiasm for the project and their desire to make it a reality. The task was not insignificant, and now that we have the final product in our hands we are extremely pleased - something that the University, GSK and the Montrose community will hopefully be proud to have been associated with."
Project researcher Ann Petrie, who graduated from the department in 2001, has drawn on material from a rich variety of company and external sources including local museums and archives to piece together the Glaxo story. The book describes the company's modest start in the disused buildings of a concrete manufacturer to its rise as a global producer of active ingredients for pharmaceutical products and employer of over 700 people in the local area.
The book, titled "'The Glaxo': 50 Years in Montrose" will be given free to all Glaxo employees in Montrose as well as retired staff and will be made available locally.
Professor Whatley can be contacted on 01382 344085
Note for Editors
The Department of History at the University of Dundee was rated grade 5
in the RAE 2001 and achieved a top rating of "exemplary" in the most recent
Quality Assurance Exercise.
The Department offers two degrees, in History and Scottish Historical Studies, with an extensive range of undergraduate courses in Scottish, British, European and American History, as well as three postgraduate degrees. An innovative Distance learning Course in Modern Scottish History broke new ground when it was launched in partnership with the Open University.