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Biography
Please note that from February 2023-February 2024 I will be on research leave and not engaged in teaching duties. From the end of January 2023 until the end of April 2023 I will be working outside the UK.
As the University of Nottingham's first Professor of Health History, I am interested in the social and cultural histories of health and medicine post 1850, principally in modern British contexts. However, I am also keenly interested in the operation of western medicine in the British Empire. The interconnectivity of the local with the global particularly fascinates me, not least the way the Empire (and other global) networks were integral to the development and promotion of health, beauty and pharmaceutical products in the UK. I am also interested in the history of health and medicine in Britain more broadly conceived, particularly taking into account social and cultural perspectives, such as the 'use' of medicine to gain cultural influence. Before I took up my position in September 2014 at the University of Nottingham, I had previously worked for four years as an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China (2010-14). I am happy therefore to advise students who are thinking about spending some of their time on the Nottingham Ningbo campus. I had many wonderful experiences in China, where I served as Acting Head of Department, Deputy Head of Department and Director of Teaching in the School of International Studies. Prior to moving to Ningbo, I held Assistant Professorial positions at the University of Exeter (2009-10) and the University of Strathclyde (2005-9). I also have held part time teaching and research positions at University College London, where I took my PhD, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
My research passion is health history. During the earlier part of my career I published books on the history of colonial medicine. My first book, Practising Colonial Medicine (I.B. Tauris, 2007) looked at European Doctors working in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, while my next book, Indian Doctors in Kenya: The Forgotten Story, 1895-1940 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, paperback 2017) with Harshad Topiwala moved my focus to the careers of private and governmental Indian doctors in Kenya. More recently, however, whilst still retaining an interest in imperial & global connections, I have moved my health historical interests to archives closer to home. My co-authored book Florence Nightingale at Home (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) marked a move into nursing history, for example. Between 2016-2017 I worked on a Wellcome Trust funded project on the colonial history of the famous chain store chemists Boots and since October 2021 I now take this further in my role as Principal Investigator on a large AHRC Standard Grant: 'Chemists to the Nation, Pharmacy to the World': Exploring the Global Dimensions of British Healthcare and Beauty with Boots the Chemists, 1919-1980' (2021-2025).
My research on both Boots and Nightingale allows me to examine the way local history feeds into international projects and ideas, as well as showing the way broader concerns framed local developments and mindsets. In all of my recent work, I have been interested in working with colleagues beyond history (for example, in business studies, health sciences, medicine, bio-science and advertising), as a means of enhancing new interpretations of historical themes and events.
I also work closely in the Health Humanities, particularly promoting the role of history in health and well being. I am a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Expertise Summary
I am interested in a variety of aspects of the history of modern medicine, but particularly British and global histories of health and hygiene commodities. I am interested in the little known international histories of 'British' health and hygiene products and also the way Britishness was exported abroad via these sorts of saleable goods. More generally, I work on the history of western medicine in the history of the British Empire- particularly, but not exclusively: histories of doctors and European responses to tropical climates and landscapes. I am also keenly interested in the history of drugs and pharmaceuticals, the history of health and medical sourcing, marketing and retail, particularly the history of Boots the chemists. Relating to my interest in international health consumerism, I also have a burgeoning interest in the history the 'unhealthy' sponsorship of sports by alcohol, tobacco, fast food and betting companies.
In sum, I have a broad range of interests broadly under the umbrella of the history of modern western medicine, with additional niche specialisms in British health and hygiene commodities, colonial medicine and the movement of knowledge and people transnationally.
I am very happy to accept research students in any of these fields and, indeed, in any aspect of the history of modern medicine post 1850, or the social and cultural history of Empire, or within the Medical Humanities or Health Humanities more broadly defined.
Teaching Summary
I have won awards for my teaching and enjoy interacting with students very much. I currently teach a third year Special Subject, Disease and Domination: The History of Medicine and the Colonial… read more
Research Summary
My current research Project:
(1 October 2021-30 September 2025)
AHRC Standard Research Grant (AH/T008741/1) Principal Investigator [Dr Richard Hornsey, CI] 'Chemists to the Nation, Pharmacy to the World': Exploring the Global Dimensions of British Healthcare and Beauty with Boots the Chemists, 1919-1980'.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vision/vision-pharmacy-to-the-world
Selected Publications
I have won awards for my teaching and enjoy interacting with students very much. I currently teach a third year Special Subject, Disease and Domination: The History of Medicine and the Colonial Encounter and a third year option, The Agony and the Ecstasy: Drugs for Pleasure and Pain in the History of Medicine. Additionally, I regularly teach at MA level. I also give guest lectures and seminars on the year one module, Learning History. I additionally contribute to Roads to Modernity and the Contemporary World.
In the past I have taught many diverse modules, from the history of medicine in the media, to medicine and literature, the history of capitalism and the history of narcotics. I also have convened several broad survey modules in the history of the British Empire and the history of medicine.
Past Research
Previously I have written about the history of British doctors in colonial East Africa, psychiatric interpretations of European behaviour in the tropics, recruitment to the Colonial Medical Service, medical theories of tropical life and the theoretical uses of history in other social science disciplines (particularly within Organisational Studies).
I have experience on a number of funded research projects. For example:
1 August 2020-31 July 2021)
Wellcome Prime ISSF Principal Investigator, 'Tobacco, Public Health and Sponsorship: An Exploratory Case Study of John Player and Son and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club'.
(10 November 2019-10 August 2021)
AHRC GCRF Cultures, Behaviours and Histories of Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition call (AH/T00410X/1) Co-investigator [Professor Murray Lark, PI and Dr Alison Mohr, CI) 'Towards Transdisciplinary Understanding of Inherited Soil Surveys: an Exploratory Case Study in Zambia'.
(January 2018-September 2021)
AHRC Standard Research Grant (AH/R00014X/1), Co-investigator [Professor Paul Crawford, PI], 'Florence Nightingale Comes Home for 2020: an Historico-Literary Analysis of her Family Life'.
Future Research
I am currently developing a large research project on the history of 'addictive' unhealthy sport sponsorship by alcohol, tobacco, and betting companies between 1965-2025 with colleagues at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Glasgow.