Funding success for new research on 'The Soviet Union, the World Health Organization, and Global Health, 1957-1991'
Dr Rob Hornsby has received a Discovery Award worth nearly £1 million from the Wellcome Trust.
The four-year project will see Dr. Hornsby put together a team of postdoctoral researchers to conduct interviews and work in historical archives both in the former Soviet Union and beyond.
Focusing primarily on global efforts to tackle smallpox, malaria, polio, and HIV/AIDS, the project will also explore questions around the place of healthcare in the Cold War struggle and the nature of international co-operation on health matters from the late 1950s onwards. Project members will be producing articles and books for publication, recording podcasts, holding a major workshop in Leeds, sharing findings with key NGOs, and more.
Dr. Hornsby says: ‘It is a fantastic honour to receive this funding from the Wellcome Trust, and it’s very exciting to think of what lies ahead over the four years of the project.
Looking at global health history from this perspective offers both insights about the recent past and important lessons for the present and future in terms of how we respond to health challenges.
The Soviet Union was always an important actor in global health efforts, and was in fact the country that initiated the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox, so I’m confident this will be a project that opens up some fascinating new avenues.’
Research Fellowships
Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have an established background in either Global Health History or History of the Soviet Union? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK's leading research intensive Universities?
Find out more about the reserch fellowships being recruited to this project on the University of Leeds jobs website (closing date 3rd June 2025).
Find out more
This project is funded by a Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust.
Learn about Dr Hornsby’s research on his staff profile page. Dr Hornsby’s most recent book is The Soviet Sixties (Yale University Press, 2023). Read more about the book in an interview with Dr. Hornsby.
