Prof Jessica Reinisch
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Jessica's main research interests lie in the social and political history of competing conceptions of internationalism; international organisations and networks; the history of international conferences; humanitarianism; migration and displacement; science and expertise; the world wars and post-war reconstruction.
She first joined Birkbeck in 2005 as a postdoctoral researcher, after completing her PhD at Imperial College London in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine.
Her Perils of Peace: the Public Health Crisis in Occupied Germany (Oxford University Press, 2013) is an open access monograph.
Highlights
Jessica is Director of Birkbeck's Centre for the Study of Internationalism, and co-editor of the Bloomsbury Histories of Internationalism book series.
Jessica has recently completed a HERA-funded project, The Scientific Conference: A Social, Cultural and Political History. This was a collaborative project which studied the emergence and formats of international conferences in science and technical fields. It brought to light conferences and conferencing as a major pillar of different conceptions of internationalism in practice. Recent project outputs include a 4-part podcast 'Conference Around the Clock' (available on Soundcloud or Spotify).
Jessica served as co-editor of the journal Contemporary European History for 5 years. The journal covers the history of Eastern, Western , Southern and Northern Europe, including Britain, from 1918 to the present.
Jessica was Principal Investigator of a collaborative research project, The Reluctant Internationalists, funded by a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award. The project studied international organisations and networks in twentieth-century Europe through the lens of public health, medicine and medical science. It brought to light a history of overlapping and competing internationalisms built around a variety of political, cultural, religious and economic priorities. You can read more about the project’s key findings and activities here.
Before that, Jessica was a postdoctoral research fellow on Eric Hobsbawm’s Balzan Prize Project, Reconstruction in the Immediate Aftermath of War: A Comparative Study of Europe, 1945-1950. Subsequently she held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship before her appointment to a Lectureship.
Qualifications
- BA (Hons) in Human Sciences, Oxford University
- MSc in the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College/ University of London
- PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College/ University of London
Web profiles
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Research
Research
Research overview
Jessica’s main interests lie in the history of internationalisms and lived internationalism, international organisations and networks, humanitarianism, migration and displacement, science and expertise, the world wars and post-war reconstruction.
Current projects include the history of technical conferences and the work and impact of a short-lived but highly influential international body, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), whose activities in Europe dominated in the stretches of war-torn Europe that became the frontline of the emerging Cold War.
Research Centres and Institutes
- Director, Birkbeck Centre for the Study of Internationalism
- Member of Management Group, Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I have supervised and advised numerous successful PhD, MRes and MA dissertations on a range of topics, from the aftermaths of the two world wars to histories of particular international organisations, humanitarian programmes, and case studies of migration and displacement. I am happy to hear from prospective PhD students who would like to develop a project on any of my research interests.
CURRENT DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS:
Nicole Albrecht (Full-time, since 2020/1, funded by ESRC Ubel 1+3 studentship)
Natasha Hobday (Part-time, since 2023/4)
Lizzie Martin (Full-time, since 2023/4, funded by ESRC Ubel 1+3 studentship)
Ajmal Waqif (Full-time, since 2023/4, funded by AHRC CHASE studentship)
DOCTORAL ALUMNI SINCE 2012/13:
Simon Huxtable
Nature of Supervision: Principal Supervisor
Title of Thesis: A Compass in the Sea of Life: Soviet Journalism, the Public, and the Limits of Reform After Stalin, 1953-1968
Awarded: 2013
Current doctoral researchers
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AJMAL WAQIF
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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JEFF PORTER
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BARBARA WARNOCK
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DAVID BRYDAN
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NICOLE ALBRECHT
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JANE MUMBY
Teaching
I teach courses at all levels on modern political and social history, migration, internationalism, history of science and medicine.
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Reinisch, Jessica (2024) On the stubborn resilience of liberal internationalism. Past and Present ISSN 0031-2746. (In Press)
- Bigg, C. and Reinisch, Jessica and Somsen, G. and Widmalm, S. (2023) The art of gathering: histories of international scientific conferences. British Journal for the History of Science ISSN 0007-0874.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2023) Technical conferences as a technique of Internationalism. British Journal for the History of Science 56 (4), ISSN 0007-0874.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2019) Introduction: contemporary European historians on Brexit. Contemporary European History 28 (1), pp. 1-5. ISSN 0960-7773.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2016) Agents of internationalism. Contemporary European History 25 (2), pp. 195-205. ISSN 0960-7773.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2015) ‘Forever Temporary’: migrants in Calais, then and now. The Political Quarterly 86 (4), pp. 515-522. ISSN 0032-3179.
- Frank, M. and Reinisch, Jessica (2014) Refugees and the nation-state in Europe, 1919-59. Journal of Contemporary History 49 (3), pp. 477-490. ISSN 0022-0094.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2013) "Auntie UNRRA" at the crossroads. Past & Present 218 (S8), pp. 70-97. ISSN 0031-2746.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2011) Internationalism in relief: the Birth (and death) of UNRRA. Past & Present 210 (S6), pp. 258-289. ISSN 0031-2746.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2008) Introduction: relief in the aftermath of war. Journal of Contemporary History 43 (3), pp. 371-404. ISSN 0022-0094.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2008) 'We shall rebuild anew a powerful nation': UNRRA, internationalism and national reconstruction in Poland. Journal of Contemporary History 43 (3), pp. 451-476. ISSN 0022-0094.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2007) A new beginning? German medical and political traditions in the aftermath of the Second World War. Minerva: A Review of Science, Learning and Policy 45 (3), pp. 241-257. ISSN 0026-4695.
Book
- Reinisch, Jessica and Brydan, D., eds. (2022) Internationalists in European History. Histories of Internationalism. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781472986986.
- Frank, M. and Reinisch, Jessica, eds. (2017) Refugees in Europe, 1919-1959: a forty years’ crisis?. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781472585639.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2013) The perils of peace: the public health crisis in occupied Germany. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199660797.
- Reinisch, Jessica and White, E. (2011) The disentanglement of populations: migration, expulsion and displacement in postwar Europe, 1944-1949. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230222045.
- Bardgett, S. and Cesarani, D. and Reinisch, Jessica and Steinert, J.-D., eds. (2011) Justice, politics and memory in Europe after the Second World War. Landscapes after Battle. 2, Edgeware, Middlesex, UK: Valentine Mitchell. ISBN 9780853039426.
- Mazower, M. and Reinisch, Jessica and Feldman, David, eds. (2011) Post-War Reconstruction in Europe: International Perspectives, 1945-1949. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199692743.
- Bardgett, S. and Cesarani, D. and Reinisch, Jessica and Steinert, J.-D., eds. (2010) Survivors of Nazi persecution in Europe after the Second World War. Landscapes after Battle. 1, Edgeware, Middlesex, UK: Valentine Mitchell. ISBN 9780853039020.
Book Section
- Mangion, Carmen M. (2021) Local and global: women religious, Catholic internationalism and social justice. In: Reinisch, Jessica and Brydan, D. (eds.) Europe’s Internationalists: Rethinking the Short Twentieth Century. Histories of Internationalism. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781350107359.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2018) What makes an expert? The view from UNRRA, 1943–47. In: Trentmann, Frank and Sum, A.B. and Riviera, M. (eds.) Work in Progress. Economy and Environment in the Hands of Experts. Munich, Germany: Oekom. pp. 103-130. ISBN 9783962380106.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2017) Old wine in new bottles? UNRRA and the mid-century world of refugees. In: Reinisch, Jessica and Frank, M. (eds.) Refugees in Europe, 1919-1959: A Forty Years' Crisis?. London, UK: Bloomsbury. pp. 147-175. ISBN 9781472585639.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2011) German refugees and labour in the Soviet zone of Germany, 1945-1949. In: Reinisch, Jessica and White, E. (eds.) The Disentanglement of Populations: Migration, Expulsion and Displacement in Postwar Europe, 1944-1949. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 185-209. ISBN 9780230222045.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2011) Introduction. In: Reinisch, Jessica and White, E. (eds.) The Disentanglement of Populations: Migration, Expulsion and Displacement in postwar Europe 1943-1949. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. xiv-xxviii. ISBN 9780230222045.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2011) Refugees and labour in the Soviet zone of Germany. In: Reinisch, Jessica and White, E. (eds.) The Disentanglement of Populations: Migration, Expulsion and Displacement in postwar Europe 1943-1949. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 185-209. ISBN 9780230222045.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2011) Survivors and survival in Europe after the Second World War. In: Bardgett, S. and Cesarani, D. and Reinisch, Jessica and Steinert, J.-D. (eds.) Justice, Politics and Memory in Europe after the Second World War. Landscapes after Battle. Edgeware, Middlesex, UK: Vallentine Mitchell. pp. 1-18. ISBN 9780853039426.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2008) Le nazione hanno bisogno di cittadini sani e coraggiosi': le displaced persons, l'unrra e la sanità pubblica. In: Crainz, G. and Pupo, R. and Salvatici, S. (eds.) Naufraghi della pace: Il 1945, i profughi e le memorie divise d'Europa. Rome, Italy: Donzelli. ISBN 9788860362711.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2007) Man kommt zwangsläufig in die Rolle des Pg.-Schützers...': Entnazifizierung und Gesundheitspolitik in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone. In: Barker, P. and Ohse, M.-D. and Tage, D. (eds.) Views from Abroad: die DDR aus britischer Perspektive. Bertelsmann Verlag. pp. 79-91. ISBN 9783763935697.
- Reinisch, Jessica (2007) Zurück zu unserem virchow! medizinische karrieren, nationalhelden und geschichtsschreibung in Deutschland nach 1945. In: Huntelman, A.C. and Vossen, J. and Czech, H. (eds.) Gesundheit und Staat: Studien zur Geschichte der Gesundheitsämter in Deutschland, 1870-1950. Matthiesen Verlag. pp. 255-274. ISBN 9783786841043.
Conference Item
- Reinisch, Jessica Steinert, J.D. and Weber, I., eds. (2008) Displaced persons and public health in Germany after 1945. Beyond camps and forced labour : current international research on survivors of Nazi persecution, 2008, London, UK