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Epidemic Belfast

History Podcasts

Epidemic Belfast raises difficult and challenging questions about Northern Ireland's medical history, from the 19th century to COVID. In each episode, experts examine themes including the health of Belfast's mill workers, asylums, Victorian anti-vaxxers, 'cures' and shock therapies for homosexuality, the thalidomide tragedy, lobotomies, prison doctors during the Troubles and the AIDS crisis.

Location:

Ireland

Description:

Epidemic Belfast raises difficult and challenging questions about Northern Ireland's medical history, from the 19th century to COVID. In each episode, experts examine themes including the health of Belfast's mill workers, asylums, Victorian anti-vaxxers, 'cures' and shock therapies for homosexuality, the thalidomide tragedy, lobotomies, prison doctors during the Troubles and the AIDS crisis.

Language:

English

Contact:

+447530818928


Episodes
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Preparing for Gas Attacks in Second World War Belfast

1/8/2024
An Interview with Dr James O’Neill, Curator at Northern Ireland War Memorial

Duration:00:25:01

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Health, Medical Care and the Victorian Workhouse

11/10/2022
Robyn Atcheson, who lectures at Queen’s University Belfast, discusses health and medical conditions in Belfast’s workhouse system.

Duration:00:29:27

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Nursing, Emotional Labour and the Troubles

7/4/2022
Megan Kelly, Associate Lecturer at Open University discusses the emotional labour of nursing during the Troubles.

Duration:00:30:36

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Health and the Postal Service

6/22/2022
Laura Newman (KCL) discusses using post office data to understand health in Northern Irish history and William Orr, a Ballymoney postman who managed to deliver his post despite his blindness.

Duration:00:25:31

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Midwifery and Childbirth in Twentieth-Century Belfast

6/6/2022
Caitlin Smith, PhD researcher at Ulster University, talks about historical experiences of midwifery and childbirth in 20th-Century Belfast.

Duration:00:15:45

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Experiencing Diabetes in 20th-Century Northern Ireland

5/19/2022
Lauren Young, PhD researcher at QUB, and former UU History Master’s student, explores patient experiences of diabetes in 20th-century Northern Ireland.

Duration:00:29:39

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‘Curing’ Homosexuality in Late 20th Century Belfast

11/7/2021
Richard O’Leary, Visiting Scholar at Queens University Belfast and Rebecca Watterson (PhD candidate, Ulster University) talks to Ian Miller (Ulster University) about attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality in Belfast and Northern Ireland in the late 20th Century. (With voiceover provided by Ross Lindsay).

Duration:00:33:02

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Curing Homosexuality in Late 20th Century Belfast

11/7/2021
Richard O’Leary, Visiting Scholar at Queens University Belfast talks to Ian Miller, Lecturer at Ulster University and Rebecca Watterson, PhD candidate at Ulster University, about attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality in Belfast and Northern Ireland in the late 20th Century.

Duration:00:33:02

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COVID in Northern Ireland, 2020-21

11/3/2021
Professor Louise Dubras, GP and Foundation Dean of the School of Medicine at Ulster University, reflects on her experience as a doctor during the recent COVID pandemic.

Duration:00:21:28

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Living with HIV in Belfast

11/3/2021
Rebecca Brown, MA student at Ulster University and Eugenie Scott, PhD candidate at Ulster University discuss the AIDS crisis and interview Greg Owen about his experience as a gay man living with HIV in Belfast.

Duration:00:24:06

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‘Curing’ Homosexuality in Late 20th Century Belfast

11/3/2021
Richard O’Leary, Visiting Scholar at Queens University Belfast talks to Ian Miller, Lecturer at Ulster University and Rebecca Watterson, PhD candidate at Ulster University, about attempts to ‘cure’ homosexuality in Belfast and Northern Ireland in the late 20th Century.

Duration:00:33:02

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Prison Doctors and the Troubles

11/3/2021
Eugenie Scott, PhD researcher at Ulster University, interviews Séanna Walsh, a former Republican prisoner, who discusses his negative experience of prison medical services during the Troubles.

Duration:00:22:56

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Injury, Hospital staff and the Troubles

11/3/2021
Dr Ruth Coon (Researcher QUB) and Patrick Garland, a former staff member at the Royal Victoria Hospital, discuss how working life and wellbeing of healthcare workers were affected by the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Duration:00:24:55

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The Troubles, Psychological Trauma and Feminism

11/3/2021
Dr Ian Miller, Lecturer at Ulster University, talks about how psychological trauma caused by the Troubles became a campaigning issue for feminist activism and asks whether psychologists at the time responded effectively to the problem.

Duration:00:12:29

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The Thalidomide Tragedy in Belfast

11/3/2021
Michael Kinsella, PhD researcher at Ulster University, and Hannah Brown, MA student at Ulster University discuss the thalidomide tragedy of the late 1950s and early 1960s and interviews survivor Jacqueline Fleming.

Duration:00:31:29

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Polio in Belfast

11/3/2021
Hannah Brown, MA student at Ulster University, interviews polio survivors Jim Bailey and Eddie McCrory from the Northern Ireland Polio Fellowship, about their experience living with disability caused by the polio epidemic of the 1950s.

Duration:00:31:59

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Lobotomies in 20th-Century Belfast Asylums

11/3/2021
Rebecca Watterson, PhD candidate at Ulster University, discusses psychosurgery in Northern Ireland in the 20th century, and its harmful impacts on mental health patients.

Duration:00:16:50

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The Therapeutic Revolution, 1910s to 1960s

11/3/2021
Dr Ian Miller, Lecturer at Ulster University, talks about the therapeutic revolution in medicine between the 1910s and 1960s.

Duration:00:12:01

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The Spanish Flu in Ireland, 1918-19

11/3/2021
Dr Ida Milne, Lecturer at Carlow College, and Dr Patricia Walsh, Curator at the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland, hold a round table discussion on the 1918-19 Spanish Influenza epidemic and its effect in Ireland in the early 20th century.

Duration:00:49:15

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The Care of Shell-shocked Veterans after the First World War

11/3/2021
Dr Michael Robinson, Leverhulme Trust Funded Early Career Researcher at the University of Liverpool, discusses his research into the health, treatment and care of shell-shocked Irish veterans returning from the First World War.

Duration:00:27:18