Project News
Call for Papers
We are delighted to announce that the international two-day symposium Beyond Pavlov: Understandings of Psychological Distress in Eastern Europe will take place at the University of Warwick on 13-14 May 2027.
Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the symposium will explore how psychological distress has been understood, experienced, and treated across Eastern Europe, while moving beyond narratives centred solely on Pavlovian science and medicine. We warmly invite proposals from researchers working on the histories of psychiatry, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and related fields.
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 1 January 2027.
Click the link to view the full call for papers and submission detailsLink opens in a new window.
Seminar Highlight
We are delighted to share that Anna Toropova took part in an international seminar on Cinematic Representations of Medicine in Socialist Societies at the University of Warsaw on 9 October 2026.
Her paper, ‘Early Soviet Cinema and the Neurological Gaze’, explored how Soviet specialists used film to document a range of neurological conditions and movement disorders. These medical film projects fit within a broader Western neuropsychiatric tradition that prioritised visual evidence and looked to the body’s surface for signs of disease. Yet, as the paper shows, Soviet specialists also sought to move away from understanding madness as a form of ‘degeneracy’ expressed in the body and took an interest in unique case histories and the verbal expressions of individual patients.
Conference Highlight
We are delighted to share that Viktoria Vorobeva, a researcher on the Traumatised Minds project, participated in the Marsilius Academy 2026, Feel the Heat: Science and Histories of FeverLink opens in a new window, held at Heidelberg University from 20 to 25 September 2026.
Bringing together scholars from the natural sciences and the humanities, the Academy explored the biological, cultural, and historical dimensions of fever.
Research in Focus
We are delighted to share that, from 1 to 28 August 2026, Olga Smolyak conducted archival and field research in Almaty, Kazakhstan, building on discoveries made during her earlier research trip to Bishkek.
Research in Focus
We are delighted to share that, from 5 July to 31 July 2026, Olga Smolyak conducted archival research in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, as part of the Traumatised Minds project.
Research Spotlight
We are delighted to share that Anna Toropova recently presented a paper at the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) / History of Science Society (HSS) Joint Meeting, held in Edinburgh on 14 July 2026.
In her paper, ‘Conceptions of Trauma in Soviet Scientific Film, 1920s–1950s’, Anna explored how film became a crucial battleground for competing scientific understandings of trauma. Rather than pointing to widespread compliance with ‘Pavlovian’ orthodoxy, the scientific film history of this period indicates the presence of lively discussion and debate on the characteristics of a ‘Soviet’ understanding of trauma.
Conference Highlight
We are delighted to share that Anna Toropova and Olga Smolyak presented their research at the Society for the Social History of Medicine Biennial Conference, In/Out, held at the University of Leeds from 30 June to 3 July 2026.
On 1 July 2026, they contributed to the panel 'Trauma at the Margins: Understanding the Role of Borders, Place and Space in Psychiatric History', which explored how geographical, political, and institutional settings shaped experiences and understandings of psychological trauma.
Workshop Spotlight
We are delighted to share that Anna Toropova recently took part in the workshop Histories of Child Mental Health, held on 22–23 April 2026 at the University of Southern Denmark in Copenhagen.
At the workshop, she delivered a paper titled 'The Nervous Child: Early Soviet Psychiatry and Childhood Trauma.' Her presentation traced the growing concern about children’s mental health after the October Revolution. Mapping ruptures and continuities between the 1920s and the Stalinist 1930s, she discussed the evolution of understandings of child nervousness through the early Soviet period.
Edited Volume Contribution
We are pleased to share that Anna Toropova has contributed a chapter to the edited volume Psychiatry after Kraepelin: Ambition, Image and Practices, edited by George Ikkos and Thomas Becker. Released in March 2026 and now available online, this open-access volume brings together rich historical and philosophical reflections on Kraepelin’s legacy across disciplines, alongside perspectives informed by the lived experiences of mental health service users.
In her chapter, 'Soviet Psychiatry: The Stalin Years,' Anna explores the complex and evolving reception of Kraepelin in Soviet psychiatry, tracing its trajectory from initial engagement to its eventual rejection under Stalin. Her contribution thinks through the intersections of psychiatric theory, political context, and intellectual change.
Click the link to look at the volume and read Anna's article.Link opens in a new window
New Publication
We are pleased to announce that Anna Toropova has published a new article, ‘From Neurasthenia to “Experimental Neurosis”: Soviet Cinema, Psychiatry and the Problem of Nervousness’,in Isis, the journal of the History of Science Society.
Published in March 2026, the article uses cinematic engagements with the question of neurosis to re-examine the extent to which the Soviet psy-disciplines were subordinated to a biological model of the mind in the Stalin era.
The article is available to read online via the provided linkLink opens in a new window