Marc-William Palen was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the US Studies Centre in 2011 and a Research Associate from 2012 to 2015. During his time at the Centre, he revised his book manuscript, The Conspiracy of Free Trade, for publication. Palen is currently a lecturer in imperial history at the University of Exeter. He specialises in the intersection of British and American imperialism within the broader history of globalisation since 1800 and how political economy, gender, and ideology have shaped global imperial expansion.