Baihui Duan

Baihui Duan serves as a Lecturer in Environmental History at Lancaster University's School of Global Affairs. Her academic work bridges historical analysis with environmental studies to explore the complex relationships between nature, disease, and human societies in early modern East Asia.

Dr. Duan specializes in environmental history of early modern East Asia, with particular focus on the Korean peninsula following the Imjin War (1592-1598). Her research examines how nature and infectious diseases shaped migration, disaster relief, medical care, and governance in early modern Korea. She investigates the interconnected histories of epidemics and environmental crises across East Asia, exploring how disease outbreaks influenced military strategy, commerce, diplomacy, and the circulation of medical knowledge. Through comparative analysis with European public health history, her work contributes to understanding epidemic management in early modern East Asia and questions of power in global health discourses.

Her recent publications demonstrate how environmental factors and health crises shaped historical events and governance structures across the region, with particular attention to human-animal relations, military welfare during conflicts, and the long-term societal impacts of epidemics. Her research combines historical and geospatial analysis methods to reveal patterns in disease transmission and state responses.

Her notable achievement includes:

• Winner of the William Bynum Prize 2023

Dr. Duan is currently completing her book project, "Relieving the People: Epidemic Management and Confucian Statecraft in Post-Imjin Korea," which examines how Confucian principles influenced epidemic response and disaster management in Korea following the devastating Imjin War. Her research has been presented at various academic conferences including talks on "Seas, Borders, and Interactions in East Asia," "Abdominal Illness of Riverine Fish: Fishing on the Seventeenth-century Southern Coastline Amidst Climatic Variability," and "Smallpox Panic: Managing Diseases and Sino-Chosŏn Relations." She maintains regular office hours at Bowland Main, Room B13, on Mondays and Tuesdays from 4-5 pm.