Ian Burney

Ian Burney is a Professor at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) at the University of Manchester. His research bridges histories of medicine, science, law, and modern British social/cultural history. He holds a BA from Brown University (1984) and a PhD from UC Berkeley (1993). His work includes monographs like Bodies of Evidence (2000), Poison, Detection and the Victorian Imagination (2006), and Murder and the Making of English CSI (2016, co-authored). His current project explores innocence advocacy in American criminal justice via Erle Stanley Gardner's Partisans for Justice.

Teaching focuses on medical history and 19th/20th-century British science, including courses like 'From Sherlock Holmes to CSI.' He was named the University's 2016 undergraduate supervisor of the year. Awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship (2019) and Royal Historical Society Fellowship (2017). External roles include serving on the Wellcome Trust Research Resources Panel (2013–2018).

Research highlights include forensic science globalization, Victorian poison anxieties, and CSI's historical evolution. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals through justice system analysis and historical advocacy studies.