Gerry Hassan

Honorary Professor

Yunus Centre

Gerry Hassan is Honorary Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and has previously held posts as Research Fellow at Dundee University and University of the West of Scotland where he completed his PhD. He has also worked in a variety of think-tanks and research posts: working on strategy for the Institute for Public Policy Research, heading Demos Scotland, and as director of the Centre for Scottish Public Policy.

He has written and edited over two dozen books on Scottish, UK politics and social change including The Strange Death of Labour Scotland (2012), Caledonian Dreaming: The Quest for a Different Scotland (2014), Independence of the Scottish Mind (2014), and The People’s Flag and Union Jack: An Alternative History of Britain and the Labour Party (2019).  His most recent books include with Simon Barrow: Scotland After the Virus (2020) and A Better Nation: The Challenges of Scottish Independence (2022). Several of his books have been regularly used as key texts in universities, schools, as exam texts and have appeared as core texts on the French National Curriculum.

He has a track record of organising events, discussions and conversations – from the small scale and reflective as producer of Changin Scotland from 2002-15, to co-director of Scotland’s Festival of Ideas (2014-16), and co-founder of Govanhill Book Festival (2019-21). He has also worked in the area of futures thinking and created and led the programmes: Scotland 2020 and Glasgow 2020 – both of which had significant local, national and international impact, led to the much cited publications: Scotland 2020: Hopeful Stories for a Northern Nation (2005) and The Dreaming City: Glasgow 2020 and the Power of Mass Imagination (2007) which led to his lead role in the Cultural Olympiad programme in Scotland (2009-13). He is also currently Books Editor of Bella Caledonia and his writing, commentary and research can be found at: www.gerryhassan.com