Madge Dresser is a Reader in History at the University of the West of England. A member of the Royal Historical Society, she has published widely on the British Slave Trade and on the history of ethnic minorities and national identity. In 2002, she went to the Gambia at the request of UNESCO to advise on a slavery website and in 2007 finished leading a successful Heritage Lottery project on 1001 years of Bristol's ethnic minorities.

Committed to widening participation to higher education and in communicating good quality historical research to a wider public, Madge is a founder member of the Bristol Black Archive Partnership and has acted as historical advisor to English Heritage, the National Archives and various museums. She has contributed to many programmes for the BBC and other media outlets.