Drs Wallis and Weatherburn spoke at Cambridge about teaching the history of science, medicine and technology.
Dr Jennifer Wallis and Dr Michael Weatherburn delivered a joint paper at the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) conference, which took place at the University of Cambridge between 8-10 July 2025.
Their paper provided an overview of the growth and prestige of STEM higher education globally, as well as a look at how STEM institutions are increasingly integrating Humanities programmes into their offerings to students.
After outlining the historical development of the Humanities at Imperial College London - going back one hundred years - Jennifer and Michael focused on History in the STEM context, highlighting modules such as History: Science & Empire and History of Science, Technology & Industry. They also noted the place of History within the Faculty of Medicine, most notably the BSc in Medical Sciences with Humanities, Philosophy & Law.
As well as the opportunities offered by Imperial's location, such as incorporating museum trips into teaching and using points of interest on the Imperial campus to discuss historical memory, their paper briefly considered the value of History in addressing broader challenges within higher education, such as the rise of AI.
CLCC is looking forward to developing more Humanities initiatives in the coming years, including marking the Acland Prize centenary in 2025-26 as well as several other events (watch this space!).
View slides from the talk 'Teaching history of science, medicine and technology in a STEM university context'.
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Reporter
Ms Cleo Bowen
Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication
