Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society

Lukas Engelmann

Senior Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow

Biography

Headshot of Lukas Engelmann

Lukas Engelmann is a historian of medicine and epidemiology. His research covers histories of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS and the third plague pandemic (1890-1950), the history of epidemiological reasoning as well as the digital transformation of public health in the present.

He leads the Epidemy research lab, which brings the history of epidemiology to bear on its applications today. He has been granted an ERC Starting Grant to work on the history of epidemiological reasoning from January 2021 to December 2025. The project description can be found here

Lukas is also a member of the executive committee of Edinburgh Infectious Diseases.

Research

  • The Epidemiological Revolution. A History of Epidemiological Reasoning in the Twentieth Century. (ERC Starting Grant, Jan 2021 - Dec 2025) 
  • Digital Epidemiology. With the Chancellor's Fellowship, Lukas works on the Long History of Digital Epidemiology. The project illuminates historical developments in biomedicine and epidemiology that led to the emergence of an epidemiological reasoning based on data and models, rather than doctors’ diagnoses and the mere counting of cases. 
  • Lukas has developed a pilot study with Bea Alex, funded by the Challenge Investment Funds (UoE), to evaluate pathways for Text-Mining Outbreak Reports of the Third Plague Pandemic. 
  • Luka collaborates on a project funded by the Australian Research Council and led by Niamh Stephenson (University of NSW), "Realising big data’s potential to address social and health inequities." 

Teaching

  • History of Western Medicine, Lecturer
  • Topics in the History of Modern Science and Medicine, Lecturer