I’m pleased to share the ninth review of my 2024 monograph has been published in Historical Records of Australian Science a peer-reviewed academic journal published by @csiropublishing.bsky.social on behalf of @science.org.au the Australian Academy of Science doi.org/10.1071/HR26...

Reviews

Libby Robin (2023)What Birdo is that? A field guide to bird-people, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton. 272 pp. ISBN: 9780522879346 (PB) 978052287935

doi.org

I am looking forward to going home to Sydney this week to give a public talk at the Australian Museum for their current exhibition "Bloodsuckers: Nature's Vampires", which considers emotional responses to perceived threats as flexible responses shaped by knowledge australian.museum/event/member...

Members Night Talk: Rats, Fleas & the Plague that Haunted Sydney

When plague reached Sydney, science didn’t have all the answers. Discover how uncertainty fuels fear, and why our reactions to risk aren’t always what they seem.

australian.museum

In 2023 I was invited to collaborate with @academic.oup.com on their Environmental History bibliography. My contribution 'Epidemics in Urban Environments in the 19th and 20th Centuries' has just been published: www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/docu...

@dittemunch.bsky.social was on the @universitypress.cambridge.org's podcast 'Hot off the Press' to talk about disgust and perpetrators. Listen through the link below and read more about Ditte's book here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Cambridge University Press@universitypress.cambridge.org · 11mo ago

🎧 Hot off the Press Is feeling disgusted an immediate effective response or something deeper? Sharon Crozier-De Rosa speaks to Philippa Barr and Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic about what disgust really is. Listen to the full episode now 🔗 https://cup.org/4lL3Iuc

Public health advocates and scholars are often reluctant to accept how much disgust, pride, and other emotions (purity, eugenics, suicide) shape understanding of health.

Philippa Nicole Barr@philippabarr.bsky.social · 10mo ago

My latest article for Health and History @anzshm.bsky.social explores how emotion helped establish new hygienic norms in turn-of-the-century Sydney, revealing how disgust and pride motivated both compliance with and resistance to public health policies on plague and TB: dx.doi.org/10.1353/hah....

My latest article for Health and History @anzshm.bsky.social explores how emotion helped establish new hygienic norms in turn-of-the-century Sydney, revealing how disgust and pride motivated both compliance with and resistance to public health policies on plague and TB: dx.doi.org/10.1353/hah....

"Too often #AMR is framed as an immense although conceptually simple challenge: delay resistance to current drugs and produce new drugs. But we need to go beyond this, we need to pull every lever at our disposal to minimise infection even before we turn to drugs." www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

AMR is more complicated than a lack of drugs

Later this month (Nov 18–24) is World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW), the annual reminder of this long smouldering crisis in modern health care. This is the first year with the new name as it was formerly ...

thelancet.com

Still time to listen in as @philippabarr.bsky.social & @dittemunch.bsky.social discuss disgust - its historical, moral, social manifestations and our reactions to it!

Prof Sharon Crozier-De Rosa@scrozierderosa.bsky.social · 11mo ago

DISGUST ~ un- & dis-comforting, ingratiating its way into our senses ~ repugnant, offensive. Here, I have the absol pleasure of learning from world experts, Philippa Nicole Barr & Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic, on public health & warfare. LISTEN IN! cambridgeuniversitypress.podbean.com/e/hot-off-th...

“While very hot regions may see transmission decline, cooler areas such as coastal and northern Australia could become more vulnerable,” writes Philippa Nicole Barr in The Interpreter. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/reality-bites-why-global-dengue-epidemic-matters-australia

Reality bites: Why the global dengue epidemic matters to Australia

The mosquito-borne disease is more than a health emergency – it symbolises the injustice of climate change.

lowyinstitute.org

DISGUST ~ un- & dis-comforting, ingratiating its way into our senses ~ repugnant, offensive. Here, I have the absol pleasure of learning from world experts, Philippa Nicole Barr & Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic, on public health & warfare. LISTEN IN! cambridgeuniversitypress.podbean.com/e/hot-off-th...

🎧 Hot off the Press Is feeling disgusted an immediate effective response or something deeper? Sharon Crozier-De Rosa speaks to Philippa Barr and Ditte Marie Munch-Jurisic about what disgust really is. Listen to the full episode now 🔗 https://cup.org/4lL3Iuc

New mix from @abulmogard.bsky.social. A quiet weave of inspirations, collaborators and deep atmosphere — from Meredith Monk to Félicia Atkinson and William Basinski. “An atmosphere you could inhabit.” Listen Now → bleep.com/bleep-mix-30...

‘Unlike other proteins, prions can gain the ability to replicate, causing damage as they spread; they can jump between bodies, and sometimes even between species.’ Stephen Buranyi on prions: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Stephen Buranyi · Folding and Unfolding: Protein to Prion

How and why do proteins, which are produced by our body to build structures (such as skin and muscle) or carry out tasks...

lrb.co.uk

Had a great chat on ABC Drive about how #OneHealth is reshaping our view of pandemics. We discussed public health history, emotional responses like fear and blame, and why our institutions must evolve to reflect interdependencies. The 10-min interview starts ~1hr36 in: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Drive - ABC listen

Join us to get up to speed on the latest news and information you need to know

abc.net.au

For infectious disease experts (& those who follow them), the Arizona plague death seems to have gotten notice in nearly every news outlet around the world by now. Most of it is repetitive & uninformative. This interview w/ plague expert David Wagner is not www.scientificamerican.com/article/pneu...

Pneumonic Plague Infections in Modern Times Show the Black Death Isn’t Dead

A person in Arizona recently died of pneumonic plague—a rare and severe form of the disease. An expert explains how the bacteria that spurred the Black Death centuries ago continues to claim lives

scientificamerican.com

“Scientific collaboration on health threats offers a new pathway for regional influence” Read Philippa Nicole Barr in The Interpreter. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/one-health-diplomacy-how-australia-can-lead-regional-disease-prevention

One Health diplomacy: How Australia can lead regional disease prevention

Scientific collaboration on health threats offers a new pathway for regional influence.

lowyinstitute.org

My particular niche of the merch stand at the @anzshm.bsky.social 2025 biennial conference. Running all week at the Sydney University New Law Building Annex - come say hi 👋

As discussions restart this week at the World Health Organization in Geneva on the #PandemicAgreement, we reflect on the process to date in a new analysis, "The Pandemic Treaty - a forensic review of process and pitfalls," just published in the journal Global Public Health. bit.ly/accordprocess

The pandemic treaty: A forensic review of process and pitfalls

This article examines efforts to develop a pandemic treaty through World Health Organization member state agreement from 2021 to 2025, focusing on challenges during the process. The COVID-19 pandem...

bit.ly

Pleased with this generous review of my book by Heather Battles @anthroetc.bsky.social in Medical History: "Barr’s historical work can thus contribute to wider inter-and trans-disciplinary conversations about the design and implementation of public health responses" www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Sumera is such a wonderful composer. I was listening to the Paavo Järvi recording of his first three symphonies today and it's incredible stuff, especially the second.

Philippa Nicole Barr@philippabarr.bsky.social · last yr.

Sumera Is extraordinary, simple yet beautiful, I can't turn it off

Sumera Is extraordinary, simple yet beautiful, I can't turn it off

Mr. Symphonist@deeplyclassical.bsky.social · last yr.

This afternoon's listening: two #NewReleases featuring singularly undramatic symphonies. Koechlin's is pleasant and sonorous, but nothing really happens and after 5 minutes I couldn't stop my mind wandering. Sumera's are hauntingly atmospheric, and I loved every hypnotic minute.

Launch it!!

Emotions and Society has just published a review of my book 'Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague' and recommends it for students from high school to postgrad. Read it here: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal... #EmoSoc @jonathangheaney.bsky.social @bupjournals.bsky.social

@philippabarr.bsky.social @anzshm.bsky.social

Australian Historical Studies@ahsjournal.bsky.social · last yr.

Charmaine Robson @charmr.bsky.social reviews 'Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague', by Philippa Nicole Barr @philippabarr.bsky.social @cambridgeup.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1031...

Charmaine Robson @charmr.bsky.social reviews 'Uncertainty and Emotion in the 1900 Sydney Plague', by Philippa Nicole Barr @philippabarr.bsky.social @cambridgeup.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1031...

ANZSHM's next conference will be held in Sydney, 8-12 July 2025, with the theme ‘Health History in the Making’ 🍎 CFPs are due 28 February & we have a range of bursaries for ECR colleagues! Check out our conference website here: www.anzshm2025.com/call-for-pap...

The 1st review of my book in Spanish has been published. For Marco Agustoni, the book examines how the plasticity of emotions, particularly disgust, can be modified by changing medical knowledge dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/arti... a través de @dialnet.bsky.social

Conocimiento médico, afectos y emociones. Un abordaje teórico sobre la transformación de la sensibilidad en contextos de incertidumbre

Autoría: Marco Agustoni. Localización: Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios sobre Cuerpos, Emociones y Sociedad ( RELACES ). Nº. 46, 2024. Artículo de Revista en Dialnet.

dialnet.unirioja.es

Very pleased with this book review by the esteemed Peter Hobbins: "As an entrée to the affective impact of disease in the Australian historical context, it has much to recommend it". @jas-jozstudies.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Just published, my author chat with @amigrationhn.bsky.social - on the importance of emotion and identity to the practice of public health in turn of the century Sydney and the importance of investment in translation and language in Australian history amigrationhn.wordpress.com/2025/01/29/a...