History of Medicine, Science, and Technology » News

CALL FOR PAPERS-Blood is the Price of Coal

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:41:39 GMT

Dear all,
We invite the submission of papers for the Blood Is the Price of Coal Conference 2026

This free one-day conference aims to bring together researchers from higher education, community and campaign groups to explore the history of health and welfare in Britain’s coal mining industry. Held jointly by the University of ��TV's Centre for the History of Medicine, Science and Technology, and Modern Records Centre, the event will run alongside an exhibition which will explore some of the themes covered by the speakers through the National Union of Mineworkers' archives. We welcome contributions from new and established researchers, working inside and outside higher education.

Location: University of ��TV, Coventry,

Date: 18 June 2026.

‘Never in Asylum Before’: Childbirth, Insanity and Jewish Mothers in Colney Hatch Asylum c.1900

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:08:00 GMT

We’re delighted to share that Hilary has recently published an article in Social History of Medicine. This is an outcome of her Wellcome Investigator Award held at ��TV between 2021 and 2025, which explored postnatal mental disorders in twentieth-century Britain along with postdoctoral fellows, Kelly-Ann Couzens and Fabiola Creed. This has appeared as an advanced Open Access article and will be part of a special issue on Women, Reproduction and Mental Illness, scheduled to appear later this year.

This article explores the admission of Jewish women diagnosed with mental disorders related to pregnancy and childbearing into Colney Hatch Asylum around 1900. Admissions with puerperal insanity were prevalent amongst ‘Hebrew’ women, and in published work, including that of the institution’s medical officers, this was related to assumptions about marital and sexual practices, heredity and the ‘neurotic’ tendencies of Jewish people. However, analysis of the asylum’s casebooks reveals discrepancies between these explanations and those drawn on in practice. Similarly to other women admitted with disorders associated with childbearing, the mental breakdown of Jewish women was largely attributed to domestic stress and the strains of childbirth. The article also explores the testimonies of family members whose comments were incorporated into the asylum records, suggesting that these provide valuable insights into families’ understanding of the role of childbirth in prompting mental breakdown, reinforcing institutional diagnoses or at times diverging from them.

Please access here : https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkaf098

Diversity in STEM GCSE Science Resources

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 08:30:00 GMT

Diversity in STEM is a set of GCSE Biology, Chemistry, and Physics resources that are designed to fit into existing lessons.

All the resources are curriculum-aligned and provide a simple, effective, and engaging way to highlight diversity in the STEM classroom.

There is an interactive website—Diversity in STEM: The Challenge—to get started: Diversity in STEM: The Challenge Interactive Website

As well as downloadable slides and lesson plans from both the website and the TES teachers’ resource portal: Diversity in STEM Slides and Lesson Plans

All resources are free to download, use and adapt.

They were developed by Dr James Poskett at the University of ��TV with funding from the History Department and the British Academy.

Protecting Health and the Catholic Family: Catholic Women’s League and Preventive Medicine Clinics for Mothers and Infants in Belgium (1945–1975)

Fri, 02 May 2025 09:33:00 GMT

We’re delighted to share that Juliette, 'a visiting fellow to the Centre for the History of Medicine, has recently published an article in Social History of Medicine. The article, which she began writing during her time at ��TV and presented to colleagues at CHM, marks a significant achievement in her research journey.

We’re delighted to share that Juliette, a former Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine, has recently published an article in Social History of Medicine. The article, which she began developing during her time at ��TV and presented to colleagues at CHM, marks a significant milestone in her research.

Since July 2023, she has been engaged as a postdoctoral researcher on the BRAIN WomenExile project (BELSPO), in collaboration with Université libre de Bruxelles, the University of Antwerp, and the Belgian State Archives. From November, she will continue her work in Paris as part of a two-year Marie Curie Fellowship. We’re proud to have supported her during her time at ��TV and wish her every success in this exciting next chapter.

Summary

This article examines a twofold specificity in circumstances that were brought about by the intervention of the Catholic Women’s League in the Belgian mother and infant welfare system between 1945 and 1975: the importance of religion and the central role of women volunteers in state-funded medical-social facilities. For the Women’s League, the infant clinics were a means of defending Catholic positions on the family and birth control on the ground, and of asserting its legitimacy to intervene in child protection policies. After 1945, the women who volunteered in the clinics took on apostolic missions, but also contributed to the medicalisation of children’s education. Protected by the Women’s League, they occupied rather unusual positions of authority. This article explores how the League succeeded in maintaining the presence of volunteers by creating new social services and missions when the medical and religious missions of clinics were changing in the early 1960s.

Traumatised Minds: Neurosis and Hysteria in Soviet Medicine and Culture, 1971-1953

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 10:41:00 GMT

The call for papers is out for Dr Anna Toropova's Cultures of Trauma Workshop, 8-9 May 2025. More information and to apply here.

She is also recruiting for a Research Fellow for a 2-year fixed term contract, starting 1 September 2025. Apply here

Find out more about the Traumatised Minds: Neurosis and Hysteria in Soviet Medicine and Culture, 1971-1953 research project here.

Anniversary fever? History and the culture of NHS celebration

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 11:26:00 GMT

Congratulations to Roberta Bivins and Mathew Thomson who have had their article about NHS anniversaries published in Modern British History.

This was drawn from reflections from The Cultural History of the NHS research project.

Read the full article here

Abstract

Delivered a day after Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) reached its 75th year since its opening on the Appointed Day of 5 July 1948, the Pimlott Lecture for 2023 explored the culture of NHS anniversary-making. What can the marking of these anniversaries tell us about changing attitudes towards the service, and indeed, the British state? Here, examining evidence from the media, government archives, and Mass Observation, we argue that NHS anniversaries have long functioned as points of reflection but that their role as moments of national celebration and even communion has come to the fore only recently and culminated in the apparent ‘anniversary fever’ of 2018. We will explore the reasons behind the growing public fervour, what it can tell us, and the lessons offered by our work on this (still) best-loved of British institutions for historians working on highly politicized objects in ‘fevered’ times.

Let's End Period Poverty Ghana

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 14:05:00 GMT

Former Centre for the History of Medicine MA student, Meg Boatemaa Asare undertook a research project in Ghana in June 2024 funded by Wellcome with the aim of combating period poverty by: providing sustainable menstrual products; educating girls in school on menstrual hygiene and creating an open dialogue about menstruation; and seeking to advocate for policy changes at local government levels to ensure menstrual health support in schools and public spaces.

The project was carried out over two weeks in two different regions in Ghana: 3 community schools in Kumasi and 2 schools in Accra. Notable successes were the establishment of emergency pad banks in schools ensuring no girl misses school due to the unavailability of menstrual products; and the inclusion of men and boys in menstrual health education sessions helping foster a broader cultural change toward a more inclusive perspective on menstrual health.

A full write-up of the project is available here, and Meg has recorded a short documentary about her time in Ghana.

"Low Risk Doesn't Mean No Risk": The Making of Lesbian Safer-Sex and the Creation of New (S)experts in the Late Twentieth Century

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 11:19:31 GMT

We are happy to announce that 'The Cultural History of the NHS' project continues to bear fruit!

Dr Hannah Elizabeth, one of our postdoctoral Fellows, has just published their chapter, '“Low Risk Doesn’t Mean No Risk”: The Making of Lesbian Safer-Sex and the Creation of New (S)experts in the Late Twentieth Century' (open access here), an exciting piece of work informed by and begun during their time with us here at CHM!

Dr Elizabeth is now a Fellow on Dr Rebecca Wright's fantastic Wellcome Trust funded Project Carbon Bodies: Warmth and Fuelling Health in Britain, 1918 to 2022 at the University of Northumbria.

Congratulations to Samir Hamdoud on his successful Viva!

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:42:00 GMT

The CHM Team is very happy to celebrate Samir Hamdoud's successful viva last week.

Congratulations to Samir and his supervisor Hilary Marland, with thanks to examiners Claudia Stein and Vicky Long.

Workshop: Embodied Faith: Spirituality and Corporeality in Early Modern Christianity, 12-13 September 2024

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 09:57:00 GMT

Sophie Mann, CHM, and Martha McGill have arranged a two-day international workshop focusing on spirituality, corporeality and health in the early modern period.

When: Thursday, 12 Sept, 2pm to Friday, 13 Sept, 3pm (GMT)

Where: Teaching Grid, ��TV University Library

Programme