Scholar - Women Also Know History

Participant Info

About Me: I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy and work as part of a team on ‘The Life of Breath Project’. My work focuses on the historical use of the spirometer in measuring and assessing lung capacity, and its role in scaling and defining levels of respiratory disability. As an interdisciplinary project combining the philosophy of science and technology with medical history, this work will trace the epistemic authority of the spirometer and explore the disconnect between objectivity and subjectivity in a historical context. The role of measurement and standardisation in creating categories of disability was a key component of my PhD thesis, which I completed at the University of Leeds in 2016. 2017)

I am interested in public engagement, and investigating how history and historical objects can be used to facilitate improved communications between practitioners, patients, and academics. Previously, I have been involved with outreach projects with the Thackray Medical Museum, the Museum of HSTM, the BeCurious Festical, and recently appeared on Radio 4 women’s hour to discuss the importance of unknown women to science, specifically pioneering audiologist Dr Phyllis Kerridge. Recording available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x19d4

I have a personal twitter account @coreen_anne

Recent Publications: I maintain a list of completed publications on the University of Bristol website, see https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/en/persons/coreen-a-mcguire(2c2e48a4-7395-4bfa-89bc-4b531ee186d9)/publications.html