Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
I joined the University of Strathclyde and the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare (CSHHH) in 2011, after completing a PhD and post-doctoral work at the University of Exeter's Centre for Medical History. My research and teaching have focussed on three primary areas within the history of health and medicine: mental health and psychiatry; allergy and immunology; and food and nutrition. Thanks to generous funding from the Wellcome Trust, this research has contributed to one edited volume: Proteins, Pathologies and Politics: Dietary Innovation and Disease from the Nineteenth Century (Bloomsbury, 2018, co-edited by David Gentilcore); and three monographs: An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet (Rutgers University Press, 2011); Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD (Reaktion, 2012); and Another Person's Poison: A History of Food Allergy (Columbia University Press, 2015), which was reviewed in the New York Times and recently given honourable mention in the Association of American Publishers' Prose Awards for 2016.
I am working on two projects at present. The first, funded by an AHRC Early Career Fellowship, is on the history of social psychiatry in the United States. I investigate how American psychiatrists and social scientists viewed the connection between mental illness and social deprivation during the decades that followed the Second World War. This funding has resulted in two edited volumes, Deinstitutionalisation and After: Post-War Psychiatry in the Western World (2016) and Preventing Mental Illness: Past, Present and Future (2018), both co-edited by Despo Kritsotaki and Vicky Long, and published in the Palgrave series I co-edit with Catharine Coleborne: Mental Health in Historical Perspective. I am also in the process of developing a monograph on the history of social psychiatry.
My second project, 'Out on the Pitch: Sexuality and Mental Health in Men's and Women's Sport, 1970-Present' was funded by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award. I hope to develop this project into a larger project on sport on mental health.
I believe strongly that historical research can have a significant impact on public policy and decision making. As such, I have tried to engage with the public as much as I can through broadcasting, public lecturing, blogging and speaking to health and education professionals. My efforts in these areas were enhanced in 2012 when I was named an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. I have written for medical publications, such as The Lancet and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), presented my research to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and work closely with a range of medical and educational professionals. Recently, my book Hyperactive was used by novelist William Sutcliffe as inspiration and research for his novel Concentr8 (Bloomsbury, 2015).
Currently, I serve as the Vice-Dean of Research for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS). Previously, I served as Co-Director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare, the Director of Research for History and Deputy Head of the School of Humanities. I am also a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy of Scotland and a Fellow of the RSA and the Royal Historical Society.
Teaching Interests
I teach a range of undergraduate and postgraduate classes, focussing primarily on the history of medicine, but also North American history. My specialist courses include Madness and Society from Ancient Times to the Present; The Price of Health: The UK, US and Canada since 1800; and Food and Health in the West in the Twentieth Century. In addition, I have taught on Disease and Society, History of the USA, Historiography, Cultures of Empire, Glasgow: History, Culture and Identity and other classes.
I am happy to supervise a wide range of MSc and PhD projects in the history of health and medicine. Currently I am primary supervisor or co-supervisor for the following PhD students:
Erin Lux (The Mad House or the Big House: Juvenile Delinquency in the Post-War Period)
Iain Ferguson (A Face to Die For: Acne, Accutane and the Quest for Perfect Skin. 1950s-present)
Rachel Meach (A Spoonful of Sugar: Dietary Advice and Diabetes in Britain and the United States, 1945-2015)
Stuart Bradwel (Doctor’s Orders’ – Type 1 Diabetes and the Consultative Relationship, 1970-present)
James Dougan (Deindustrialisation, Gender and Mental Health in Glasgow)
Research Interests
When do certain behavioural characteristics become a psychiatric disorder? How do we know what foods are healthy for us? Why have rates of food allergy and intolerance escalated in recent years? What are the root causes of mental illness? My research involves analysing questions such as these from a historical perspective not only in the interest of charting our past, but also in the hopes of informing our future.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Exeter
Master of Arts, University of Alberta
Bachelor of Education, University of Alberta
Bachelor of Arts, University of Alberta
Keywords
- ADHD
- food allergy
- social psychiatry
- children
Fingerprint Fingerprint is based on mining the text of the person's scientific documents to create an index of weighted terms, which defines the key subjects of each individual researcher.
Network
Recent external collaboration on country level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots.
Selected Projects 2011 2019
An Ounce of Prevention: A History of Social Psychiatry, 1939-Present
AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council)
1/10/14 → 31/01/17
Project: Research Fellowship
Preventing Mental Illness Past Present and Future Witness Seminar
Project: Knowledge Exchange (Conference / Seminar Hosting)
Health History in Action : The Society for the Social History of Medicine Postgraduate Career Development Workshop and Conference
Project: Knowledge Exchange (Conference / Seminar Hosting)
DSM-5 and the Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis
6/07/14 → 8/07/14
Project: Knowledge Exchange (Conference / Seminar Hosting)
One Person's Food is Another's Poison: Food Allergy in the Twentieth Century - Fellowship
5/01/11 → 4/10/12
Project: Research Fellowship
Selected Research Output 2007 2018
Remembering the west end: social science, mental health and the American urban environment, 1939-1968
Smith, M. & Ramsden, E., 10 Feb 2017, In : Urban History. 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Hyperactive around the world? The history of ADHD in global perspective
Smith, M., 18 Jan 2017, In : Social History of Medicine. 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
A fine balance: Individualism, society and the prevention of mental illness in the United States, 1945-1968
Smith, M., 7 Jun 2016, In : Palgrave Communications. 2, 11 p., 16024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
'What if I smell your peanuts and die?' Communicating fact and fiction about peanut allergy
Smith, M., 6 Jul 2016, Food and Communication: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2015. McWilliams, M. (ed.). Totnes, p. 373-381 9 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Another Person's Poison: A History of Food Allergy
Smith, M., 15 May 2015, New York. 290 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Food allergy, mental illness and stress since 1945
Smith, M., Jun 2015, Stress in Postwar Britain, 1945-1980. Jackson, M. (ed.). Pickering & Chatto Publishers, (Studies for the Society for the Social History of Medicine; vol. 23).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
An ounce of prevention
Smith, M., 1 Aug 2015, In : Lancet. 386, 9992, p. 424-425 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
The art of medicine: another person’s poison
Smith, M., 6 Dec 2014, In : Lancet. 384, 9959, p. 2019-2020 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
The first hyperactive children: the rise of ADHD in historical perspective
Smith, M., Oct 2014, In : Leidschrift. 29, 2, p. 35-49 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
The hyperactive state: ADHD in its historical context
Smith, M., Sep 2014, (De)Medicalising Misery II. Speed, E., Moncrieff, J. & Rapley, M. (eds.).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
A pre-peanut history of food allergy
Smith, M., 1 Mar 2013, In : Food, Culture and Society. 16, 1, p. 125-143 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Hyperactive: the Controversial History of ADHD
Smith, M., 1 Aug 2012, 248 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Hyperactivity and history: challenges to and opportunities for understanding
Smith, M., 7 Jun 2012, Disabled Children, Contested Caring 1850-1979 : Studies for the Society for the Social History of Medicine. Borsay, A. & Dale, P. (eds.). London: Pickering & Chatto PublishersResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet
Smith, M., 31 May 2011, New Brunswick, NJ. 256 p. (Critical issues in health and medicine)Research output: Book/Report › Book
Mixing with medics
Smith, M., Apr 2011, In : Social History of Medicine. 24, 1, p. 142-150 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
A place for hyperactivity: Sputnik, the cold war “brain race” and the origins of hyperactivity in the United States, 1957-1968
Smith, M., 2010, Locating Health. Dyck, E. & Fletcher, C. (eds.). Pickering & Chatto PublishersResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
The uses and abuses of the history of hyperactivity
Smith, M., 2010, (De)constructing ADHD: Critical guidance for teachers and teacher educators. Graham, L. (ed.). New York: Peter Lang AG, (Disability Studies in Education; vol. 9).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Psychiatry limited: hyperactivity and the evolution of American psychiatry, 1957-1980
Smith, M., Dec 2008, In : Social History of Medicine. 21, 3, p. 541-559 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Into the mouths of babes: hyperactivity, food additives and the reception of the Feingold diet
Smith, M., 13 Dec 2007, Health and the modern home. Jackson, M. (ed.). p. 304-321 18 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Introduction
Smith, M., Long, V., Walsh, O. & Kritsotaki, D., 25 Jun 2018, (Accepted/In press) Preventing Mental Illness: Past, Present and Future. Kritsotaki, D., Long, V. & Smith, M. (eds.). London, 30 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Introduction
Smith, M. & Gentilcore, D., 13 Dec 2018, Proteins, Pathologies and Politics: Dietary Innovation and Disease. Gentilcore, D. & Smith, M. (eds.). London, 23 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Allergic to innovation? Dietary change and debate about food allergy in the USA
Smith, M., 13 Dec 2018, Proteins, Pathologies and Politics: Dietary Innovation and Disease Since the Nineteenth Century. Gentilcore, D. & Smith, M. (eds.). London, 32 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Datasets
Out on the Pitch: Sexuality and Mental Health in Men's and Women's Sport, 1970-Present
Callwood, D. (Creator), Smith, M. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 20 Sep 2018
DOI: 10.15129/d0ee727a-4812-4a78-9891-f6bb8594db5c
Dataset
Prizes
Pressman-Burroughs Wellcome Career Development Award
Matthew Smith (Recipient), 2010
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Outstanding Academic Title for Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD
Matthew Smith (Recipient), 2013
Prize: Other distinction
Selected Activities 2013 2018
History of Psychiatry (Journal)
Matthew Smith (Editor)Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Journal or guest editorship
External Examiner for University of Aberdeen Medical Humanities Programme
Matthew Smith (External Examiner)Activity: Examination types › Examination
Palgrave McMillan (Publisher)
Matthew Smith (Editor)Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Journal or guest editorship
Impacts
Health History and the Curriculum for Excellence
James Mills (Participant), Emma Newlands (Participant), Arthur McIvor (Participant), Matthew Smith (Participant), Angela Turner (Participant), Patricia Barton (Participant), Ryan Johnson (Participant)
Impact: Impact - for External Portal › Culture and creativity, Education