About the BSHS Outreach and Engagement Committee (OEC)

The Outreach and Engagement Committee (OEC) coordinates and directs the Society’s efforts to promote the understanding of the history of science, technology and medicine in a wide range of contexts, both formal and informal.

We do this through a variety of public events, supporting researchers to work with museums, festivals and schools, and through the provision of grants and awards. The committee also works to foster relationships between universities, museums and other institutions concerned with public engagement. To contact the committee, find out more about current projects, or discuss new suggestions, email outreach@bshs.org.uk or follow the BSHS on BlueSky and Instagram.

Scroll down to meet our current committee members and read more about our latest initiatives.

Our Activities

BSHS Ayrton Prize

BSHS Hughes Prize

BSHS Engagement Fellowships

BSHS Exhibiting Excellence Prize

OEC Project Grants

Meet the Committee

Ross MacFarlaneHonorary Research Fellow, Queen Mary University London

Ross MacFarlane is a professionally qualified archivist, with over 20 years’ experience, particularly in outreach and engagement, for institutions such as King’s College London, the Royal Society and Wellcome Collection. Over his career he has collaborated on projects on the history of science and medicine with a range of researchers, including academics, artists, young people’s groups and broadcasters. At the core of his work is a close understanding of archives and other historical sources and a desire to promote collections to the widest possible array of researchers. He is a regular lead book reviewer for Fortean Times and has also published in magazines and journals such as New Scientist, The Lancet and Notes and Records of the Royal Society and also contributed to books such as A Practical Course in Magnetism: The Victorian Guide to Health, Happiness, Power and Success (2017) and Women in the History of Science: A Handbook (2023).

Dr Allan JonesHonorary Associate of The Open University

Allan Jones is a retired former Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Communications at the Open University. His teaching work centred mainly on communications technology, although he has also written distance-teaching material on music and on electronics. His research has focused mainly the history and sociology of science and technology. He has also published several musicological articles, and is a timpanist in the Open University Orchestra.

Lenka SchmalischDurham University

Lenka Sediva is a third-year Leverhulme Doctoral scholar in the History of Science and Medicine at Durham University. Her project specialises on the material and visual culture of Domestic Medicine, Women and Nationalism in Early Nineteenth-Century Bohemia. She undertook a three-month doctoral placement at Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds where she worked alongside the Curatorial, Collections and Learning teams and where she remains engaged as a volunteer. Lenka is also working as a teaching assistant for the Science, Medicine & Society module at Durham University.

Heather BennettScience Museum London

Heather Bennett is a museum professional with a background in science and science communication. She is currently curator at the Science Museum, having previously worked at Royal Museums Greenwich, as well as in in research, public events, and outreach and engagement. Additionally, Heather has over 5 years’ experience in the charity sector working with fundraising and disbursements for charitable projects.

Deborah CohenUniversity of Birmingham

Deborah Cohen is a part-time PhD student at University of Birmingham exploring how mental health and illness were covered by radio in the post war period, after a long career of many decades producing and editing radio and TV programmes for the BBC on all aspects of science, technology and medicine.

Many of the programmes she worked on told stories from the history of science. A number of these series have been in collaboration with large UK institutions. With the Science Museum she edited The Art of Innovation, a 20-part narrative history, and with Kew Gardens her unit produced a 25-part series, Plants: from roots to riches, which examined the emergence of botany.

Deborah has sat on panels for a variety of outreach activities, including judging the Science Book Prize in 1997 and in 2009. She has been part of committees that awarded grants for the public engagement of science for the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the EPSRC.