What does it mean for an epidemic to end, and who gets to declare that it is over? This talk presents the finding of Oxford’s multidisciplinary project ‘How Epidemics End’, which analyses the various ways in which epidemics have ended as well as how different disciplines measure and define an epidemic’s ending. More broadly, it explains how examining endings demonstrates that epidemics are not solely medical phenomena, but are also fundamentally political and social.

Erica Charters is Professor of the Global History of Medicine at the University of Oxford, where she is also Academic Lead for Medical Humanities. Her research examines the history of disease, war, and empire, and how these intersect.