Professor Robert Freedman (a long-standing CHM associate) has just presented a paper at Charles University, Prague, entitled 'Women's role in the establishment of biochemistry in the UK: 1900-1945', based on work done in collaboration with Hilary Marland and Drs Vicky Long and Stephen Soanes, former PhD students in CHM (project pages here). The conference was entitled 'Gendering Science: Women and Men Producing Knowledge' and was organised by the Commission on Women and Gender Studies in STM of the International Union of the History of Science. The paper reported on a project funded by the Biochemical Society as part of the celebration of its centenary in 2011. It focussed on the biographies of the first three women members elected to the Biochemical Society in 1913 (and a few of their contemporaries) and then aimed to analyse the common features behind their successful careers in science. These included the excellent schooling available to daughters of the liberal bourgeoisie in late 19th century English cities, the supportive environments of women's colleges of London and Cambridge universities, the relative openness of this new discipline compared to its 'parents' Chemistry and Physiology, the critical role of well-placed supportive male mentors, and the 'appropriateness' of this new scientific field in terms of its relationship to traditional women's concerns with the domestic, especially hygiene and nutrition.

To celebrate the International Year of Light, a new exhibition at the Florence Nightingale Museum will look at the contentious history of light therapy.

 The Kiss of Light: Nursing and Light Therapy in 20^th-century Britain opens on Florence’s birthday on May 12^th 2015 and centres on the healing powers of light – and its risks. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and co-organised with University of Warwick medical historians Tania Woloshyn and Hilary Marland, the exhibition showcases a remarkable photographic record of nurses and their vulnerable patients being exposed to both natural and artificial light. Light therapy was especially used for children to combat tuberculosis and rickets in clinics and sanatoria and even in the home by mothers eager to protect their child by exposing them to rays from trendy portable ultra-violet lamps. We may have very different ideas now towards light safety but the health and protection of our children remains an issue today.

Website: www.florence-nightingale.co.uk

Fixed term contract - 1st September 2015 to 31st July 2017

Closing date for applications: 20th April 2015

Please go to the job advert at the University's HR pages for further details, including contacts for queries etc.

The Assistant Professor will conduct research and teaching in the History of Medicine both individually and in collaboration with colleagues within the Department, and across the University. S/he will be expected to build research networks in his/her specialism beyond the University, and have a proven record of achievement in research, with clear potential for and/or demonstrated excellence in publication in an area or areas of the History of Medicine.

The postholder will undertake undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision and the design and delivery of specific areas of research-led teaching. In particular, s/he will be able to convene, lead seminar and offer a portion of the lectures for either or both of two large undergraduate modules in the History of Medicine, ‘Kill or Cure: The History of Medicine and Health,’ a first-year module, and ‘From Cradle to Grave: Health, Medicine and Lifecycle in Modern Britain,’ a second-year module. S/he will be expected to participate as appropriate in the administration of the History Department, and to participate in and contribute to the activities of the Centre for the History of Medicine.