Dr Justine S Pick

• PhD, History, University of Birmingham, 2024
• MA in West Midlands History, University of Birmingham, 2017
• BA (Hons) in History, The Open University, 2015

I started my higher education journey after a career in administration and bookkeeping, studying history with The Open University and an influential module on medicine and society. I studied for my MA and PhD part-time with University of Birmingham, joining the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures, developing my interests in how local and regional history can inform on broader themes. My research focuses on urban sanitation and public health, exploring local authority responses and the development of municipal systems during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Alongside this I have worked as a researcher on a number of local and community history projects covering Birmingham, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. Also as a research assistant and picture editor for the publisher History West Midlands, producing with the late Professor Peter Marsh, ‘The House Where the Weather Was Made’: A Biography of Chamberlain’s Highbury (2019) . I enjoy developing history engagement activities for public audiences, which includes  the heritage building tour of the University’s The Exchange, sharing the history of Birmingham Municipal Bank. I continue to research and deliver talks, walking and building tours and remain active academically as the administrative editor for the peer reviewed journal, Midland History and as executive secretary for the Society for the Social History of Medicine. As a trustee of Archives West Midlands since 2022, I bring a researcher perspective to the board and work to promote greater collaboration between local archives services and academic institutions to encourage community engagement with archives.

• Undergraduate - People and Places A
• Postgraduate - MA West Midlands History

My research overlaps urban environmental history with the social history of medicine and focuses on the development of systems for sanitation and public health in localities during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. unpicking contemporary narratives of progress. For my thesis, I looked closely at the municipal systems in Birmingham developed as part of efforts to address river pollution and improve public health. It challenges long-held views about municipal socialism, offers greater insight on the lived experience of these systems and includes chapters devoted to those who did the work of public health. I continue to research and intend to publish elements from my thesis, currently developing chapters into articles.

I also continue to work on local research projects and am currently research lead for the Unlocking The Vaults project at The Exchange. This is a National Lottery Heritage Funded Project, involving local communities and schools, to further explore and share the history and legacy of Birmingham Municipal Bank and develop and diversify what we know about this unique institution.