Professor Bernard Harris

Social Work and Social Policy

Personal statement

My research is concerned with various aspects of the social history of health and welfare since circa 1700. I have worked on a wide range of topics within this field, including work on the history of height, morbidity and mortality; unemployment and poverty; the relationship between statutory and voluntary welfare provision; and the origins and development of the British welfare state.

Prizes and awards

International Conference on the History of Insurance in a Global Perspective Best Paper Award: Recipient; 22/7/2022
Fellow of the Acdemy of Social Sciences: Recipient; 20/10/2016
PROSE Award for Excellence in Economics (2011): Recipient; 2011

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Qualifications

I was awarded a BA (Hons) in History by the University of Cambridge in 1983 and obtained my PhD (also in History) from Birkbeck College, London, in 1989.

I held a Temporary Lectureship in the Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Bristol from 1987 to 1991, when I joined the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Southampton. I joined the School of Applied Social Sciences (now the School of Social Work and Social Policy) at the University of Strathclyde in September 2013.

Publications

Sickness experience in England, 1870-1949: Hinde Andrew, Gorsky Martin, Guntupalli Aravinda, Harris Bernard; Standard of Living Studies in Economic History (2022) (2022); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06477-7_4
Did statutory insurance improve the welfare of Swedish workers? The statutory workplace accident insurance act of 1916: Andersson Lars-Fredrik, Eriksson Liselotte, Harris Bernard; Labor History Vol 63, pp. 210-233 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2022.2070734
Social security, full employment and voluntary action : the three pillars of William Beveridge's welfare society: Harris Bernard; Social Policy and Administration Vol 56, pp. 203-216 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12776
The 1918/19 influenza pandemic and Covid-19 in Ireland and the UK: Gorsky Martin, Harris Bernard, Marsh Patricia, Milne Ida; Historical Social Research Vol 33 (2021)
Anthropometric history and the measurement of wellbeing: Harris Bernard; Vienna Yearbook of Population Research Vol 19, pp. 1-33 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1553/populationyearbook2021.rev02
Growth before birth : the relationship between placental weights and infant and maternal health in early-twentieth century Barcelona: Galofre-Vila Gregori, Harris Bernard; Economic History Review Vol 74, pp. 400-423 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13026

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Research interests

I am currently working on a number of different topics, including the following:

Various issues associated with the use of anthropometric indicators to study the health and wellbeing of past populations
The history of sickness and morbidity
The impact of sanitary intervention on mortality decline (with Andrew Hinde, University of Southampton)
The comparative history of social policy in the different parts of the UK and the English-speaking world

Professional activities

Sanitary investment and the decline of mortality in England and Wales, 1817-1914: Speaker; 21/2/2018
Evaluation Panel, Eudaimonia Institute, University of Oulu, Finland (Event): Advisor; 25/10/2017
International Union for the Scientific Study of Population: Speaker; 11/7/2017
HEDG Workshop on Public interventions, health and population in history and 8th Annual Workshop on Growth, History and Development: Keynote/plenary speaker; 15/6/2017
PhD viva: Examiner; 26/5/2017
Queen's University, Belfast, Economic History Seminar: Invited speaker; 23/3/2017

More professional activities

Projects

Border Crossings: Charity and voluntarism in Britain's mixed economy of health care since 1948: Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Principal Investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
Border Crossings: Charity and voluntarism in Britain's mixed economy of health care since 1948: Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Principal Investigator) Stewart, Ellen (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
Gender and morbidity: Individual sickness trajectories of women and men in Sweden during the first half of the 20th century (supported by the Swedish Research Council): Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2022
Equally Safe in Higher and Further Education: Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) McCarry, Melanie (Co-investigator) McGoldrick, Roisin (Co-investigator) Pilkington, Kevin (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2016 - 30-Jan-2019
Scottish ESRC Doctoral Training Centre DTG 2011 | Rawcliffe, Sue: Harris, Bernard (Principal Investigator) Rawcliffe, Sue (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2014 - 16-Jan-2019
Scottish ESRC Doctoral Training Centre DTG 2011 | Robbin, Melvina Rachael Valrete: MacIntyre, Gillian (Principal Investigator) Harris, Bernard (Co-investigator) Robbin, Melvina Rachael Valrete (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2013 - 16-Jan-2020

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Address

Social Work and Social Policy
Lord Hope

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