2026 | Professor Joe Cain

Lockscreen samples for photography challenge to compose for 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

Phone Lock Screens – Photography Challenge (Gallery)

Screens dominate our visual landscape and beg for our attention. Wallpapers and lock screens pose particular photographic challenges, largely due to their aspect ratio. On phones, the size is odd. The adaptive brightness. The digital […]

Sample Medical Card for Croydon Schoolboys 1920s-1930s

Medical Cards for Croydon Schoolchildren 1920s-1930s

Historians must make more – and more creative – use of AI technologies for data analysis as well as for routine task of data sorting and transcription. To create a simple example, I have put […]

HPSC0028 History of Life Sciences

A historical survey of the biological sciences from the Enlightenment to the present. What are the big names and big ideas? How were they received at the time and appropriated later? Who’s been ignored and […]

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

This page is in development. Please return in September 2026. Until then, please enjoy these cartoons. What are these?

HPSC0009 Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

This page is in development. Please return in September 2026. Find out more.

Simulated bookshelf showing HPS reading list. (Credit: NanoBanana)

Reading List for MSc History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) Prep

This post lists a series of books my colleagues and I in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) talk about as useful when preparing for MSc-level study in our fields. This list doesn’t identify everything one might want to read in a subject, but it’s […]

Project Pitch Explained for HPSC0044 Undergraduates

In HPSC0044 Science and the Publishing Industry students develop a book proposal. First, they sketch an idea. Second, they deliver a project pitch. Third, they submit a book proposal. To help students think about the […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Year: 2026