Rebecca Watterson

Rebecca is a historian of mental health and psychiatry, interested in using participatory, creative and embodied research methods to support those living with mental illness today. Her work sits at the juncture between medical history, medical humanities and social sciences. She explores experiences of health, ill health, medicine and science from the 19th century to the modern day, often considering what has been or is still hidden, invisible, excluded or ignored.

Rebecca researches the lived experience of mental ill-health, treatment approaches, stigma, and social exclusion, collaborating with experts by experience and voluntary and community sector organisations. Currently, she is a research associate on the CHOICE (Challenging Health Outcomes/Integrating Care Environments) project, funded by AHRC and based at the Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing of Ulster University. CHOICE's overall aim is to establish and sustain a community partnership to co-produce innovative arts-based approaches to tackling social exclusion and reducing the health inequalities experienced by people living with mental health problems. Our vision is that people living with mental illness can lead healthy, flourishing lives.

Rebecca's PhD research focused on psychosurgery in the UK between 1940 and 1986. Her work in this area is ongoing, following a six-month Scouloudi Fellowship held at the Institute of Historical Research in 2024. Her MA research examined why the enzyme cholinesterase was a significant focus of psychiatric medical research in the UK during the 1950s. She was awarded ‘The Birley Prize for the best MA thesis in social history 2020’ for this work.

Rebecca is co-PI for the podcast and learning resource Epidemic Belfast, asking challenging questions about Northern Ireland's medical history. In part due to this work, Rebecca's research interests expand to the histories of the health of industrial workers, particularly linen workers across Ireland.

She is also the book review editor assistant for Social History of Medicine and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Rebecca is a director of the Federation for Ulster Local Studies and is passionate about supporting local communities in undertaking and sharing research on their own places.

• History of psychosurgery
• History of mental health and psychiatry - 19th C to the present
• History of industrial workers' health - particularly in the linen industry
• Lived experiences of mental health and mental illness
• History of and experiences of experimental mental and physical medical treatments
• Local studies
• Participatory Action Research
• Creative and embodied research methods