Isobel Newby

My PhD research revealed and explained for the first time the complex function of and relationships between several different institutions and organisations involved in UK Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) decision making between 1981 and 2004. I identified different ‘eras’ within the BSE episode, arguing that distinct and novel forms and uses of policy-relevant expertise arose out of them based on three variables: the needs and motivations of policy decision-makers, their assumed perception of public perceptions of their decisions, and the state of knowledge about BSE at the time. I also developed an interest in the contested histories of disease causation and disease concepts, resulting in my current work on the conceptualisation of prion diseases.

I completed my PhD in 2025 under the supervision of Professor Jamie Stark and Dr Graeme Gooday, in a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with The National Archives (TNA). Prior to this I gained an MA in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, and a BA in History at the University of Hull. I have also worked as a freelance researcher on a British Academy-funded project on the history of the National Collection of Type Cultures, and for developing exhibitions at TNA.

Visiting Fellowship Research

Though the causative agent of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) has been disputed throughout the 20th century, and prions remain a contested concept to this day, the issue has received relatively little attention by STS and HPS scholars. Reconstructing historical debates around the causal agent of TSEs provides a critical opportunity to advance our thinking about issues of uncertainty and authority in science, and established ideas of disease causation. Building on my doctoral research, initial archival work and literature reviews done during the Fellowship will form a basis for a full postdoctoral project aiming toward an original, fully-developed historical account of lesser-known prion diseases. This will provide a comprehensive chronological and transnational narrative of the history of prion disease research in the 20th and 21st centuries. Three thematic threads will span the project’s case studies: the nature of inter and cross-disciplinary collaboration and interactions between specialised and lay knowledge in generating ideas about prion diseases; developing scientific philosophies of disease aetiology from established ideas of bacteria and viruses to newer ideas around prion pathogenesis; the status of prions in health ecology as unliving, neutral entities, surpassing recent ideas around a microbial turn.

Publications

Journal articles

(Forthcoming, 2026) Newby, Isobel, ‘Scientific Expertise and Independence in a Time of Crisis: Advisory Groups on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, 1988-1990’, British Journal for the History of Science.

Stark, James F., and Isobel Newby, ‘Alice in Taxonomyland: Systematics in mid-Twentieth Century Microbiology’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 117 (2026)

Newby, Isobel, ‘Cow 133 at the Central Veterinary Laboratory: Recognising a Novel Zoonosis’, Midland Historical Review, 7 (2023)

Book chapters

(Forthcoming, 2026) Newby, Isobel, ‘Constructive Cooperation in Nontherapeutic Veterinary Institutions: An Historical Perspective’ in Carol Gray, Alison Skipper and Ruth Serlin, eds., An Introduction to Veterinary Humanities (Routledge)

Conferences and Presentations

• ‘‘Making Sense’ of the Prion Debate: Research Cultures, National Approaches and the Public Understanding of Science, 1984-2004’, Centre for History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, March 2025
• ‘‘Making Sense’ of the Prion Hypothesis: Theory and Practice, 1996–2004’, Cambridge Cabinet of Natural History, University of Cambridge, March 2025
• ‘CJD expertise and institutional dynamics during a change in disease conception, 1996-2004', 18^th Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences, Ischia, July 2024
• ‘‘Making Sense’ of the Prion Hypothesis: Theory and Practice, 1996–2004’, Centre for the Social Study of Microbes PhD School, University of Helsinki, June 2024
• ‘Communicating BSE: The Pathways of Knowledge of a Novel Animal Disease, 1984-1988’, Animal History Group Conference, 2022
• ‘Expert Scientific Advice in a Novel Epidemic: The ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Kinds of Expertise during the           BSE Episode, 1988-1992’, British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference, University of Leeds, 2022

Teaching

I have taught on a range of undergraduate modules in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, and more recently a module on international history in the School of History.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Leeds, 2025
• MA, History and Philosophy of Science, University of Hull, 2018
• BA, History, University of Hull, 2017