Strategic and Enhancement Awards holders

The Strategic and Enhancement Awards in the History of Medicine provide core support for groupings of historians of medicine within UK universities.

Strategic Awards holders

School of History, Queen Mary University of London
‘The Makers of Modern Biomedicine: Testimonies and Legacy’
This project records oral testimonies from groups and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the legacy of modern biomedicine. Following on from the successful Witness seminars, it will create an extensive widely accessible and freely available collection of interviews with key figures in recent biomedical research. Its key themes are:

A multidisciplinary project with input from historians, ethicists and scientists from a wide range of biomedical areas
A published resource in print and digital media for the benefit of researchers across the globe
The development of five major themes of identified importance to the Trust, including clinical genetics, neuroscience, global health and infectious disease, medical technologies and the ethics of research and practice.

Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
'Generation to Reproduction'
The research focuses on issues ranging from ancient fertility rites to IVF. A strongly grounded account, building on a lively field of historical investigation, will offer a fresh basis for policy and public debate. Specific projects address:

long-term change and the transformations of the modern age
medical encounters with people seeking help with reproduction
how maternal, foetal, infant and childhood health have affected adult health and fertility
the reproductive impact of sexual behaviour and venereal disease
how changing understandings of sex, development and evolution were produced, debated and used
the reproductive revolutions that made assisted conception routine

Northern Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Durham/Newcastle
‘Knowledge, Ethics and Representation of Medicine and Health - Historical Perspectives’
The themes of research are:

histories and traditions of medical knowledge
histories of medical practice, ethics and expertise
historical responses to mental illness and disability
history of bodies, sexualities and reproduction
geographies and archaeologies of health and disease
the history of the communication of medical ideas and of the representation of medical themes in literature and fine art.

Centre for Medical History, University of Exeter
'Health, Heredity and Environment, 1850-2000'
The research focuses on shifting medical and popular conceptions of the relative roles of nature and nurture in the aetiology and pathogenesis of human disease. Specific projects focus on:

history of environmental and occupational respiratory diseases
history of mental health
history of gender, sexuality and the family.

Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine/Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Manchester
'Medicine and Modernity'
The main themes of research are:

diseases of civilisation
medical sciences and technologies
ecologies of disease
the economic history of medicine
contemporary history.

Centre for Health, Medicine and Society: Past and Present, Oxford Brookes University
'Health Care in Public and Private'
Specific projects address:

the development of political, patient and professional perceptions and expectations of publicly versus privately funded healthcare
the role of philanthropy in the development and patient experience of the mixed economy of healthcare
the experience and negotiation (by patients and practitioners) of the porous boundaries between public, private and philanthropic sectors
relationships between a particular configuring of healthcare resources and the mainstreaming or marginalisation of patients
institutions and the public and private spheres
eugenics and medical responsibility.

Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick/Leicester
'Cultures and Practices of Health'
The research focuses on the social history of medicine and medical practice and also the cultural context and meanings of health provision in the past. In particular it highlights:

the experience and representation of health and related themes such as gender, sexuality, reproduction, food and nutrition, consumption
social management and construction of illness
medical ritual, ceremonial, verbal and behavioural expression of suffering and distress
interactions of practitioners with sufferers, kin and community.

Enhancement Awards holders

Department of History, Queen Mary University of London for the Centre for the History of Emotions
Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford University for research on Disease, Health, and Medicine in Global Context
Centre for History in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for research on Public health and health services in post-war Britain
Department of History, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Northern Ireland / Centre for the History of the Body, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland