Port Talbot Struggles After Tata Steel Plant Closure

Patricia Kingori, a professor of global health ethics at the University of Oxford, is leading a research project titled After the End to study how communities experience industrial endings. As part of this study, the Steeling Ourselves exhibition by photographer Jon Pountney is currently on display at the Plaza community hub in Port Talbot.

The town in south Wales continues to struggle with the social and economic aftermath of the 2024 closure of Tata Steel blast furnaces. The shutdown ended more than 100 years of operation and resulted in the loss of nearly 3,000 jobs, creating negative ripple effects for local businesses and supply chain workers.

While Tata Steel is transitioning to a greener electric arc furnace, the project has faced delays. The new operations will require significantly fewer employees than the previous blast furnace system. The research project documenting this transition is a collaborative effort between the University of Oxford, the University of Exeter, and Liverpool John Moores University.