Precarity in the Academy: Issues and Solutions for the History of Medicine
Wroxton College, Oxfordshire, 26-29 June 2023

A Wellcome-Funded Society for the Social History of Medicine Event

This residential workshop offers scholars at all career stages the space to reflect on what precarity means for the field of the history of medicine. Whilst moves have been made sector-wide to discuss the challenges around precarious employment and careers, discussion about the impact of the changing landscape within communities of scholarship has been limited. Moreover, identifying the problems has been relatively simple, but creative and practical mitigations against precarity and its ramifications have been less of a focus.

This blended career, community support and idea-generating event will embrace publishing, funding and CV advice alongside explorations of alt-ac and portfolio careers, redundancy, and choices made or forced by personal circumstances. During the course of these discussions, we aim to produce a working document to identify issues within the sector and peculiar to the history of medicine, and to help create pathways to avoid or change the worst excesses of precarity for ECRs and more senior scholars. Through this working document, the Society for the Social History of Medicine hopes to generate wider conversations, collaborations and care in the field between members, regardless of employment contracts.

Funded residential spaces will be available for up to 40 people. Attendance is open to anyone who identifies as a historian of medicine or whose work connects with the history of medicine. In the event of oversubscription, our aim is to form a participant group that embraces diversity of Higher Education experience. There is a small registration fee, but we are working to ensure that we can support those who would not otherwise be able to attend. For queries about this and the event, please contact: sshm-events@strath.ac.uk.

To register your interest in attending Precarity in the Academy, please complete the Qualtrics form (GDPR compliant), found on our website (below or, if reading this call elsewhere, via bit.ly/SSHM-precarity), by 5pm on Friday 7 April 2023. Registrants will be informed of their invitation status by 7 May 2023.