History of Science, Medicine and Technology Postgraduate Conference 2012

Friday 8 June

At the History Faculty Lecture Theatre, George Street, Oxford (Please see http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends/maps_and_directions/index.html for a selection of maps with pdf versions to download and print)

The programme, abstracts and poster (in pdf format) can be found at http://www.wuhmo.ox.ac.uk/events/index.htm

A buffet lunch is included in the programme so please RSVP to belinda.michaelides@wuhmo.ox.ac.uk if you plan to attend.

Due to the generosity of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chemical Heritage Foundation (and other donors), the conference costs have been heavily subsidized. Graduate students in particular will benefit from these donors’ assistance (students may contact the HSS office at info@hssonline.org to volunteer for the meeting in exchange for registration). And because we want every student to be able to attend the closing banquet, students’ dinner tickets are less than the cost of dining out in Philly. Additionally, travel grants are available for students and independent scholars to offset the cost of attending the meeting. Preference will be given to HSS or CSHPS members who are on the program (the British Society for the History of Science is offering travel grants to their students).  Contact the HSS office to apply.

Philadelphia offers a diverse palette of tempting sites for historians and philosophers of science and attendees will have the option of several fascinating tours, such as the Mütter Museum, arranged in cooperation with the Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science.  We hope to see you in Philly.

Anatomy, dissection and discovery: Padua to Pall Mall

Monday 21 May, 2012

Lecture: ‘Fair Padua, nursery of anatomy’ – A talk on the University of Padua and its role at the centre of anatomical discovery in the late Renaissance

Dr Andrew Cunningham, senior research fellow in the History of medicine and philosophy of science, Cambridge University

Lecture: ‘The art of anatomy’ A talk exploring the origins of anatomical tables and the history of human tissue preservation

Dr Sam Albert, Director of Museums and Archives, Royal College of Surgeons.

Registration and reception 6pm

Lectures 6.30pm, dinner 8pm

Booking details: www.rcplondon.ac.uk/museum-and-garden/whats/anatomy-dissection-and-discovery-padua-pall-mall

Email amy.rooks@rcplondon.ac.uk

The competition is open for any public exhibition that deals with the history of science or the history of medicine. Entries are welcome from institutions in any country and exhibits may be permanent or temporary. Eligible exhibits must use artefacts or places of some kind and this may include buildings or locations, pictures, instruments, objects and books. Web-exhibits are not eligible for the prize. The closing date is 1st September 2012 and exhibits should still be available for viewing until the end of November 2012. There will be two prizes of £300, one for large and one for small exhibitions. The winning exhibit will be the subject of a special feature in the BSHS’s Viewpoint magazine.

For further details and an entrance form please visit http://www.bshs.org.uk/great-exhibitions

Any further queries should be addressed to outreach@bshs.org.uk.

The Macquarie University Research Fellowship (MQRF) Scheme is now open for formal Expressions of Interest.

About the Scheme:

MQ will offer up to seven full-time Research Fellowship positions commencing in 2013, one of which will be dedicated to an Australian Indigenous Researcher. Fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis and will be fixed-term for three years. Applicants must have been awarded their PhD on or after 1 March 2009, or submit their thesis by 29 August 2012 (or make a convincing case for early career researcher status). Any intending applicants for this scheme must discuss their Expression of Interest with their Fellowship Sponsor and work closely with them during its development.

For full details please read the Expression of Interest (EOI) Funding Rules 2013 and EOI Template, which are attached and will also be available on the Research Office website soon; you will be able to access them by clicking on ‘Macquarie University Research Fellowships Scheme (MQRF)’ at:

http://www.research.mq.edu.au/for/researchers/how_to_obtain_research_funding/funding_opportunities/internal

Faculty Review Process

The MQRF scheme is very competitive and only 20% of the applicants who submit an expression of interest will be invited to submit a full application. So this year we are asking all potential MQRF applicants to email the Faculty Research Office at ArtsRO@mq.edu.au regarding their Intention to Apply by 5 pm on Wednesday, 16 May 2012, including the following:

• name and contact details
• CV, including a list of publications
• name of the academic who has agreed to sponsor them
• working title of project

The Associate Dean Research and members of the Faculty Research Committee will review each submission and assess whether the applicant’s track record means they are competitive. Applicants will be advised of the outcome of this review process within 5 working days of submitting their Intention to Apply.

MQRF Information Seminar

We are also arranging an information seminar for potential MQRF applicants and their sponsors. All intending applicants and their Sponsors are encouraged to attend.

When: Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Time: 10 to 11 am

Location: E6A102

Chair: A/Prof. Mark Wiggins

Presenters: A/Prof. Amanda Barnier, A/Prof. Robyn Langdon, and other panel members

Topic: MQ Research Fellowship Scheme

All welcome – no RSVP required

Faculty Deadlines:

Intention to Apply (see above): due at ArtsRO@mq.edu.au by 5 pm on Wednesday 16 May.

Complete, good quality DRAFT Expressions of Interest: due at ArtsRO@mq.edu.au by 5 pm on Wednesday, 30 May. Please email them by the deadline to ensure that you have time to incorporate feedback from review and compliance checks prior to the final Central Research Office deadline of Wednesday, 13 June 2012.

Changing Tastes: How Foods Tasted in the Early Modern Period and How They Taste Now.

Professor Steven Shapin, Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University.

Description: In dietetic and natural philosophical frameworks of the period from Antiquity to the seventeenth century, the subjective experiences of taste, and indeed the experiences of digestion, testified to the make-up of the world’s edible portions. That is, such subjective experiences might be both philosophically and practically reliable. How did that framework help early modern eaters make sense of their bodies and that portion of the world that constituted their aliment? How did that sense-making capacity change over time, as new medical and scientific frameworks emerged from the eighteenth century and, finally, became scientifically dominant in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? What happened to the subjective experiences of taste when they no longer indexed how the world really is? How has the vocabulary used to describe taste changed? And how do we now know about the edible world?

5.30pm – 7.30pm, Macmillan Hall, Senate House, London.

All welcome to attend. To register email peter.niven@sas.ac.uk.

Public Art Submissions Invited

Submissions are invited from artists for a public art commission comprising of three enamel panels at Little London, Newport, Isle of Wight.

SUBMISSION PACK: Applicants should download both the Commission Brief and the Background Information documents, read carefully and follow instructions in order to submit.

Webpage here: http://www.iwight.com/council/publicServices/serviceWebPages.aspx?servID=1387&pageID=245

THE CLOSING DATE IS FRIDAY 18TH MAY

 The commission is themed on John Milne, Victorian polymath and geologist who revolutionised study of earthquakes with the invention of the Horizontal Pendulum Seismograph. Based in Japan for some years, Milne then settled at Shide, in Newport on the Isle of Wight, where he continued his studies of earth movement from Pan Chalk Pit and at his laboratory at Shide.

Milne died in 1913, and 2013 is the commemorative year, with events being planned to raise Milne’s profile.

There will be an initial shortlist of three artists, followed by a public vote to decide the finalist, who will go onto produce their design on enamel at AJ Wells & Sons Vitreous Enamellers’ studio. The project is funded through a Section 106 planning agreement, with an artist’s fee of £2500.

If you have any questions once you have read the submission pack above, please contact Nina Cullinane on (01983) 823813 or email nina.cullinane@iow.gov.uk

We look forward to seeing your designs!

This fellowship is awarded in conjunction with the research project, “The Writing of Deaf-Muteness and the Construction of Norms.” Details concerning the project may be found at http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/research/projects/MRGArnaud. Candidates should hold a doctorate at the time the fellowship begins.

The fellowship is endowed with a monthly stipend between 1.900 € and 2.300 € (fellows from abroad) or between 1.468 € and 1.621 € (fellows from Germany). Postdoctoral fellows are expected to participate in the research activities at the Institute.

The Max Planck Research Group (Sabine Arnaud) is also accepting proposals for non-funded Visiting Fellowships from one month to a year. These positions are normally open to doctoral candidates or post-docs who have external funding. The Max Planck Research Group (Sabine Arnaud) will support a limited number of funding applications to organizations such as Fulbright, DAAD, and Humboldt-Stiftung for fellowships starting in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin, offers successful candidates office space and the use of Institute facilities. Visiting Fellows are in turn expected to take part in the cultural and scientific life of the Institute, to advance their own research project, and to actively contribute to the research project, “The Writing of Deaf-Muteness and the Construction of Norms.”

The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science is an international and interdisciplinary research institute (http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/index.html). Candidates of all nationalities are welcome to apply; applications from women are especially encouraged. The Max Planck Society is also committed to equality for individuals with disabilities and encourages them to apply. The colloquium language is English—in other words, candidates must be able to present their own work and discuss that of others in fluent English.

Candidates are requested to send the following no later than June 6, 2012: a curriculum vitae (including list of publications), copies of certificates (Ph.D.), a detailed cover letter, an article or an excerpt of the dissertation (published or not, 5500 words max.), and the names and addresses of two referees (preferably including email) who have already been contacted by the applicant to confirm their willingness to submit letters of presentation.

Please send these materials to:

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Administration, Postdoc MRG Arnaud, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Electronic submission is also possible via verwaltungsleitung@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de. For administrative questions concerning the fellowships or the Institute, please contact Claudia Paaß (paass@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de), Head of Administration, or Jochen Schneider (jsr@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de), Research Coordinator.

22 June 2012, National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.

TThere will be a one-day symposium about the extraordinary contribution of the Dillwyn family in nineteenth century life. From the history of science to literary criticism, this interdisciplinary event includes talks on the Dillwyn family’s endeavours in:

• Anti-Slavery campaigns and transatlantic trade,
• nineteenth century science
• ground-breaking early photography,
• feminist literature and pioneering industrial fiction,
• nation-building politics, and
• the relationship between science and culture.

Speakers:

Professor Prys Morgan (Swansea University),
Professor Chris Evans (Glamorgan University),
Professor Iwan Morus (Aberystwyth University),
Dr David Painting,
Mr Richard Morris FRPS,
Dr Kirsti Bohata (Swansea University).

A flyer with John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s iconic 1854 image of Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn at her microscope is to be found here

This event is free, but please register by emailing DillwynProject@swansea.ac.uk

For more information visit http://www.swan.ac.uk/crew/researchprojects/dillwyn/dillwynday

The event is organised by Dr Kirsti Bohata and the Dillwyn Project at Swansea University and by the Learned Society of Wales and forms part of its new programme on the history of science and technology: http://learnedsocietywales.ac.uk/node/20.

The inaugural meeting of the Association of British Transport and Engineering Museums (ABTEM) was held at Birmingham 50
years ago and our spring seminar offers delegates the chance to both celebrate the progress made in our sector since 1962 and also to look forward to the challenges facing us in the next 50 years.

The booking form is available here. All enquiries should be sent to Tim Bryan at tbryan9@heritage-motor-centre.co.uk.