Eleanor Kerfoot

Thesis Topic

‘Disease and the Corpse in Britain, c.1690-1830’

My doctoral research examines the role of human corpses in disease transmission in Britain over the long-eighteenth century. My thesis integrates medical-scientific thought on corpse contagion into an analysis of disposal practices at lay level, in doing so providing a new account of British disposal practices at the intersection of intellectual and social history.

Research interests and activities

My research interests include attitudes towards death and the dead, the Enlightenment and the histories of science and medicine c.1600-1900. I am also interested in public engagement and policy in relation to history, and completed a UK Research and Innovation Policy Internship with the civil service in 2021. Alongside my research I am proactively engaged in promoting and supporting interdisciplinary approaches to the study of death and the body, having organised the Oxford postgraduate conference ‘Death and Mortality in the Humanities and Social Sciences’ (November 2021) and co-organising an upcoming Medical Humanities Workshop for DPhils (November 2022).

Research Awards and Honours

AHRC-OOC-DTP full DPhil funding, Oxford (2019-23)

Peter Storey Scholarship, Balliol College (2019-23)

Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute Award (2020-21)

Balliol-Bodley Scholarship (2019)

AHRC-DTP full MSt funding, Oxford (2018-19)

Supervisor: Professor Bob Harris