Dr Ian Miller

Overview

Ian Miller is Senior Lecturer in Medical History at Ulster University, and Senior Fellow of HEA. Ian is author of eight medical history books. History of Ireland in Ten Body Parts was shortlisted in the An Post Irish Book Awards as 'Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year. Earlier books looked at the force-feeding of hunger strikers, how the Irish diet changed (mostly for the worse) after the Irish Famine and the surprisingly interesting history of the Victorian stomach. In 2024, Ian published two books on the thought-provoking history of self-esteem (Polity), and has a four-volume edition on food in 19th-century Britain forthcoming with Routledge.

Ian is PI on the AHRC/DfE-funded project, Epidemic Belfast, a podcast series and learning resource on Belfast's under-explored medical history.

Ian regularly attracts major funding. He is currently involved in the following funded projects:

• (Co-PI) CHOICE: A Community Consortium To Tackle Health Disparities For People Living with Mental Illness (AHRC PI: Gerard Leavey, UU, School of Psychology).
• (Co-PI): Translating Medical History Research into Screen Projects (AHRC Impact Acceleration).
• (PI) Engaging Local Belfast Communities in Medical History and Heritage (AHRC Impact Acceleration).
• (PI) ‘Feeding Children? Food Poverty across Ireland: Historical, Current and Future Perspectives' (AHRC Impact Acceleration).

Ian has held visiting fellowships at the Max Planck Centre for the History of Emotions (Berlin), INSERM (Paris), Institute for General Practice and Community Medicine (Oslo) and, most recently in 2022, at HEX (Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences), University of Tampere.

Ian's work has featured in Guardian, Independent, London Review of Books, New Yorker, Sunday Times, Sunday Post, Irish Times, Times Literary Supplement among many others. Ian has appeared and consulted on a number of BBC, RTÉ and Disney+ stations.

Ian is Book Review Editor for the journal Social History of Medicine, Secretary for Royal Irish Academy (Historical Studies), AHRC Peer Review College member and Irish Research Council Board panel member.