University of Tasmania, Australia

Smallpox and Immunisation in the Long Eighteenth Century

This project will investigate some aspect of the smallpox and strategies of immunisation between the late seventeenth century and the spread of vaccination in the early nineteenth century. The candidate will focus on some aspect of one of number of topics on the social and cultural history of smallpox and immunisation, including: the human experience of the disease, popular and learned understandings of the disease, popular and professional attitudes towards inoculation, issues of private and public health, the spread of vaccination, and the broader implications of the vaccination revolution. The candidate may work on Britain, or, depending on background knowledge and language proficiency, on some part of continental Europe or the Americas. The project will be associated with an Australian Research Council project entitled ‘The Global Vaccination Revolution: A Transnational and Comparative Perspective’ and some support will be available for travel.