Dr Caroline Nielsen

Caroline specialises in the social and cultural history of medicine, health and disability in Britain, circa 1660-1918. Her research looks at the complex historical relationship between war, medicine, and social welfare institutions, such as workhouses, hospitals, almshouses and asylums.

She also researches and teaches public history and employability, and works with students to develop their employability skills through participation in research projects and work-informed and work-based learning opportunities.

She joined the History team at Northampton in September 2015. Prior to this, she was the Economic History Society Tawney Research Fellow at the University of London's Institute of Historical Research (IHR).

• British social and cultural history, c. 1660-1918
• Social and cultural history of medicine
• Disability history and historical experience of physical and mental impairment
• Historical experiences of poverty and the poor
• Historical experiences of veterans and military personnel, c. 1600-1918
• Social and cultural history of death and bereavement
• Public history
• Graduate employability and careers guidance information

Funded Research Projects

• 2024: Northampton Sessions House Project with Dr. Drew Gray (University of Northampton)
• 2018-20: 'Employability in History Programmes: An Evaluation of Staff and Student Perspectives' - Research project funded by the East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning. Co-investigator with Dr Andrew Gritt (Nottingham Trent University).

• 2018-19: 'Employability, Placements and Work-Based Learning in History: Sharing Pedagogic Developments and Best Practice' - Research project funded by the East Midlands Centre for History Teaching and Learning. Co-Investigator.
• 2017: ‘“Now Walks Like Others”?: Health, Medicine and Disability in Northampton during the First World War. Research project funded by the AHRC and the University of Hertfordshire Everyday Lives in War: First World War Engagement Centre. Working with the Northampton General Hospital Historical Archive.
• 2015-16: ‘HistoryPin Evaluation’ – evaluation project funded by the University of Hertfordshire Everyday Lives in War: First World War Engagement Centre.
• 2014-15: - ‘Disabled by the state: the Pensioners of the Chest at Chatham and their communities, 1660-1807' - Research project funded by the Economic History Society Tawney Fellowship.

Caroline was previously the AHRC research associate on the BBC collaboration ‘World War One at Home: North East and Cumbria’.

She also coordinated the University of Hertfordshire’s Heritage i-Teams Programme (2015), a collaboration between the University of Hertfordshire and the Institute of Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.

Caroline teaches the following modules:

• HIS1023 Health and Healers: Histories of Disease and Disability (module leader)
• HIS2038 Communicating History (module leader)
• HIS2034 Life on the Margins? Poverty and the Poor in Britain, 1660-1834
• HIS3044 Seeing Ghosts: Death and the Supernatural in Britain, 1654-1918 (module leader)
• HIS3045 Using History (module leader)
• HIS045 MA History - Experiencing Health: Disease and Society

Previous modules include:

• EDU2029 Education and Heritage (co-taught module with Dr Toby Purser)
• HIS1019 Introduction to Heritage
• HIS3032 Death and Bereavement in Britain, 1500-1914
• HIS2003 Research Skills in History

Caroline coordinates the History degree programmes work-informed and work-based learning programmes. She welcomes enquiries or expressions of interest in these.