Katherine Rawling

Dr. Katherine Rawling is a Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century British History at the School of History, University of Leeds, within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures. Her expertise spans the history of medicine, mental health, photography, and visual culture. She holds a Ph.D. from Royal Holloway, University of London (2011), and has taught at the Universities of Warwick, Greenwich, and Royal Holloway. Currently, she leads the Social Photography Research Group, exploring the relationship between social media photography and youth mental health. Her work bridges historical and modern concerns about photography’s societal impacts.

• Education:
  • B.A. History, University of Edinburgh
  • M.A. Women’s and Gender History, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Ph.D. History, Royal Holloway, University of London
• Research:
  • Pioneering studies on photography in Victorian asylums, including her book Photography in English Asylums, c.1880–1914: The Institutional Eye.
  • Ongoing project Photomania: Anxiety and the Camera in Britain, 1839–1914, examining historical parallels to modern photographic anxieties.
• Awards:
  • Wellcome Trust ISSF Fellowship in Medical Humanities
  • Emerging Minds UK funding for interdisciplinary mental health research

Her teaching focuses on Modern British History and the History of Science and Medicine. She also serves as an Academic Personal Tutor in the School of History.