Welcome to the 2019 History of Science, Medicine and Technology Graduate Research Conference. Over the course of this two-day conference, the postgraduate presenters for HSMT will introduce you to the research we have been conducting over the past year. We come from all over, both geographically and academically, our backgrounds ranging from pure history to bio-ethics to medicine and our homes as close as London and as far away as Texas. With nineteen of us in the cohort this year, the range of topics is vast, covering subjects from the indigenous response to smallpox vaccinations in nineteenth-century colonial India to the social and structural barriers facing African American women in the field of medicine today.

The history of science, medicine and technology is a discipline that can and should absorb myriad others, from physics to philosophy to the history of art. Some of our research focuses on highlighting the complexities of great names in science history, such as one DPhil’s deep dive into soul-body interactions in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Others of us are considering the philosophical implications of medical dilemmas, like what constitutes a good death. This year’s projects reflect the vast flexibility of our field.

The contributor of this year’s conference name, David Bowie, wrote in its namesake song a lyric that he perhaps did not initially intend to apply to a room full of historical researchers. “Strange fascinations fascinate me… turn and face the strange”. Over the course of this conference we hope to take you with us to face the strangeness of our world together. We guarantee it will fascinate you.

All welcome. Admission and lunch (on 20 June) are free, but registration is essential.

Read more and programme here: www.hsmt.ox.ac.uk/event/2019-hsmt-postgraduate-conference-ch-ch-changes-history-science-medicine-and-technology