Dr Timothy Sim
- Position: Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
- Areas of expertise: History of modern science, technology, and medicine; History of the environment; International and Global Health; Tropical Medicine; Dengue fever; Singapore
- Email: T.Sim@leeds.ac.uk
- Website: ORCID
Profile
I am a historian of science and medicine in the twentieth century, with broad interests in histories of public health, environment, and human and non-human ecologies. I have particular expertise in histories of insect-borne disease and control, especially dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever, the world's fastest growing mosquito-borne disease.
I joined Leeds in 2026 as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow after obtaining a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge in the same year. My doctoral research investigated the history of the anti-dengue program in Singapore from 1965 to 2000, exploring the transition from malaria to dengue control, the role of local participation and global networks in consolidating knowledge and practice, and the recurrence of crisis narratives in explaining and justifying public health measures. My current research project is a Global South history of dengue fever that focuses on connections between scientists in Southeast Asia in Latin America.
I have reviewed a number of dengue-related books for Isis and H-Net, and have written public-facing pieces for the BSHS Viewpoint, Leverhulme Trust Newsletter, and Rockefeller Archive Center (pending). Beyond dengue, in 2026 with Erinn Campbell I co-wrote a chapter on insect control in the WHO and FAO for the Routledge Handbook of Health and Environmental Humanities.
In 2023 I was awarded Honourable Mention in the DHST Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy (STAND) Early Career Prize for an essay on the reception of Singapore’s vector control program within regional and global scientific networks. In 2025 I won the Craig A. Lockard Prize for best early career journal on Malaysia, Singapore, or Brunei from the MSB Studies Group of the Association of Asian Studies for an article in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine on public engagement with mosquito control campaigns in Singapore.
Qualifications
- PhD in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge (2026)
- MSci and BA in Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge (2021)