Our People

Dr Rosemary Cresswell

Fellow

Departmental Lecturer in Lifelong Learning (History)

Department for Continuing Education

Ph.D., History of Medicine, Imperial College London, University of London, 2003-2007; M.Sc., History of Science, Medicine and Technology, Distinction, Imperial College London and University College London, University of London, 2002-2003; B.A. (Hons), Economic and Social History, First Class, University of Liverpool, 1999-2002; Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Merit, King’s College London, 2009-2011.

Dr Rosemary Cresswell joined the Department of Continuing Education (OUDCE) as a Departmental Lecturer in Lifelong Learning (History) in 2024. She is a historian of health, humanitarianism, charity and voluntarism from c.1850-2020, as well as the broader context of modern British and international history. Rosemary studied Economic and Social History at the University of Liverpool, before an MSc in History of Science, Medicine and Technology at Imperial College London and University College London, and a PhD focusing on the history of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. She has held postdoctoral research roles at the University of Oxford and at King’s College London, a temporary lectureship at Imperial College London, and between 2012 and 2020 was Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Global History at the University of Hull.

Rosemary joined the University of Warwick as a Research Fellow in November 2020 before moving to the University of Strathclyde in July 2021. Rosemary is part-time at OUDCE and also currently works as a Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, with the ‘Border Crossings: Charity and Voluntarism in Britain’s mixed economy of health care since 1948’ project, funded by Wellcome. Between 2018 and 2022, Rosemary was the Chair of the Society for the Social History of Medicine, and still remains a member of the Executive Committee. Research interests: Rosemary’s first book, Rosemary Wall, Bacteria in Britain, 1880-1939 (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2013), investigated the use of bacteriology in hospitals, workplaces and local communities. She is currently writing The History of the British Red Cross, 1870-2020: Health and Humanitarianism, under contract with Bloomsbury, and has published various chapters and articles on the history of infectious disease, health care, and humanitarianism. She has recently been the Principal Investigator for research grants including: ‘Crossing Boundaries: The History of First Aid in Britain and France, 1909-1989’, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, with Co-Investigator Barry Doyle (2016-2021); ‘Oxfam and the History of War, Health and Humanitarianism’, funded by Wellcome (2019-21); ‘War, Humanitarianism and the British Red Cross’, University of Oxford Bodleian Libraries Sassoon Visiting Fellowship (2017).