Dr Douglas Ogilvy Pretsell
- Title
- Research Fellow on Leverhulme project: Homosexuality in the International Classification of Diseases to 1960
- Location
- CBB 2.054
- Contact me
Biography
Douglas Pretsell is a cultural historian and Research Fellow on the Leverhulme Project Grant (2025-2027) to explore the inclusion of homosexuality in the International Classification of Diseases. He holds two PhDs, one in Neuroscience from Cambridge University and a second in History from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Originally from Scotland, Douglas has lived in Pakistan, Germany and Australia.
Research and scholarship
Douglas is a cultural historian with an interest in the nexus between queer identities and psychiatry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His current research is focused on the Sixth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases, which in 1948 codified ‘Sexual deviation’ (including homosexuality and later transgender) as a disease category. Prior to this his research has covered the emergence of the ‘urning’ identity in 1860s Germany and the subsequent psychiatric inclination to the study of same sex attracted men and women in Germany. His work has won the Rhys Isaac Prize (2022), the Nancy Millis Medal (2022) and he was one of four highly commended in the Australian Historical Association General Thesis Prize, 2023.
Publications
School of Humanities
Chancellor's Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5AA
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733109
Head of School
Dr Nick Seager
Room: CBB1.038 (Chancellor's Building, 'B' Extension)
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733142
Email: n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk
School and college outreach
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 734009
Email: outreach@keele.ac.uk
