SMS – CHSTM Programmes – The wider world of HSTM, Medical Humanities and Science Communication

The wider world of HSTM, Medical Humanities and Science Communication

If you’re serious about working in a relevant field – for example, as an academic historian, a museum curator, or a science journalist – you need to find out as much as you can, as early as possible, about the community you will be dealing with. Teaching staff can advise on your individual needs, but here are some starting-points you should know about.

E-mail lists
Still the most common means for circulating information about jobs, studentships, conferences and public events in some fields.

mersenne is the main mailing list for the history and philosophy of science, technology and medicine in the UK. Traffic is light, mainly consisting of job and conference announcements. If you’re committed to HSTM, you should join. https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=mersenne
H-Sci-Med-Tech is a US-based HSTM list with international scope. Much busier, but you can cut down the number of emails using the ‘digest’ feature. http://www.h-net.org/~smt/
Histmed is a British-focused list for the history of medicine. http://listserv.warwick.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/histmed
LitMed is a US-based literature and medicine list sponsored by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Its subscribers are mostly academics, and an increasing number of British scholars and practitioners contribute to and use it. http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/litmed
sts-grad is a list for graduate students in Science and Technology Studies (including sociologically based and policy studies, but also some HSTM). http://groups.google.com/group/stsgrad/about
psci-com is a busy, British-focused list about science communication and public engagement with science. It’s mainly used by practitioners (people who do the actual communication, rather than necessarily studying it). https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com
Science-in-Public is the listerv for the Science in Public Network. It primarily deals with issues related to academic science communication. https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=SCIENCE-IN-PUBLIC
The SIGCIS list is an active list run by the Special Interest Group on Computers, Information and Society of the Society for the History of Technology (non-members of the Society are welcome to join the list), covering social and critical studies approaches as well as history. http://www.sigcis.org/listserv

Twitter and Facebook
Twitter is often useful to find out what’s going on in your field at the moment. Follow CHSTM on Twitter @ManCHSTM.

The CHSTM Facebook group rarely carries academic announcements, but is used by some staff, students and alumni to keep in touch. Contact Rob Kirk for access.

The hashtags #histSTM (for the integrated HSTM field), #histsci, #scicomm and #scipolicy are all popular; #histmed also gets some use.

Professional societies and networks
Most academic disciplines have one or more organisations (“learned societies”) which publish journals, organise conferences, and otherwise promote the field. Some specialist trades, such as science writing, have professional bodies to give advice and support, or more loosely organised networks. A few suggestions:

The British Society for the History of Science is the largest body for HSTM in the UK, and welcomes involvement by enthusiastic grad students. The annual Postgraduate Conference provides an excellent way to involve yourself in the community. http://www.bshs.org.uk/
The Society for the Social History of Medicine is the main history of medicine society in the UK, and likewise organises postgrad-specific as well as general conferences. http://www.sshm.org/
The Association of British Science Writers has various resources on its website which may be useful to anyone thinking of a career in science journalism. http://www.absw.org.uk/
The PCST Network operates internationally, providing information useful to anyone studying or practising science communication. http://www.upf.edu/pcstacademy/PCST_Network/network.html
The Science in Public Network is a UK-based society for practitioners and academics to discuss the broad field of science communication. https://scienceinpublic.org/
The British Science Association is a learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science, and was known until 2009 as the British Association for the Advancement of Science. It runs the British Science Festival. https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/
Stempra is a network for people involved in public relations, communications and media work focusing on science and related fields. https://stempra.org.uk/
The Association for Medical Humanities sponsors an annual conference bringing together academics and practitioners from the UK and Ireland. http://amh.ac.uk/
The Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research is an interdisciplinary group which acts as a hub for academic researchers in the medical humanities as well as practitioners, artists and others who may wish to collaborate. http://nnmh.org.uk/
Various student societies at Manchester, including the Medicine in Arts Society, the Psychiatry Society and the Manchester Global Health Society have regular events incorporating the arts and humanities into healthcare and are open to new ideas and suggestions. Please ask the teaching staff and we will put you in touch.