Biomedicine on Display

Just got an email saying that the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim has announced a postdoc position to study “the production of images of the interior of the human body on the cellular level”. See more about the background for the project here: The salary is splendid: 438.500 NKK annually. More info from Merete Lie, merete.lie@ntnu.no. Deadline is 20 June, 2010.

The Wellcome Library is announcing a vacancy as Head of Discovery and Engagement. The successful applicant is supposed to play a pivotal role in making the Library’s outstanding collections accessible, help revolutionise the Library’s web presence and reading-room services, and lead its outreach, communication and marketing activities. For more info, see here. Closing date is 10 May.

We have just started a search for 1-2 positions at the level of Associate Professor (alternatively Assistant Professor).

As readers of this blog probably knows, Medical Museion is an integrated research and museum unit for promoting medical science communication based on the material and visual medical heritage. The research profile is centered around the contemporary history of the biomedical sciences, medical science communication studies, and studies of the production of the material and visual medical scientific heritage. We have a world-class collection of historical medical artefacts and images, an active program for the acquisitioning and preservation of the contemporary biomedical and biotechnological heritage, a permanent medical-historical public gallery, and an innovative temporary exhibition program.

We are looking for two new members of faculty to contribute to our integrated research, teaching, heritage and outreach programme focussing on late 20th century and contemporary medical and health sciences in a cultural, aesthetic and historical perspective. The aim of the programme is to develop new modes of research-based collecting, exhibition making and web-based outreach by combining scientific content, cultural interpretation and aesthetic expression in innovative ways.

On the outreach side, we are developing research-based science communication practices for a variety of audiences – spanning from health professionals to the general public – in the form of exhibitions and web products, and with special attention to the aesthetics of science communication.

On the acquisition side, we are in the process of developing research-based curatorial practices (heritage production) in close cooperation with research institutions, hospitals, pharma, biotech and medical device companies, and patient organisations in the region (‘museum 2.0’) .

The appointees are required to do research at an international level and research-based teaching, however most of teaching obligations are substituted with museum work.

Read the official full job description below.
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Science Museum in London is again announcing opening for Visiting Research Fellowships (£16,000 for eight months) and Short-Term Research Fellowship (£2,000 per month for a maximum of three months), both between May 2010 and May 2011) — see here or contact Peter Morris at peter.morris@nmsi.ac.uk. Deadline for applications (to Peter) is Friday 26 February.

We have just recruited Morten Hillgaard Bülow as a PhD candidate. The three-year stipend is financed by the new interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. The Center was established last year with a budget of 300 mill. DKK for a five-year period — and a smallish amount of the total will be used for studies of healthy ageing science communication in a museum context here at Medical Museion.

Morten’s project is titled “A genealogical study of the concept of ’successful aging’ and its relation to the idea of ‘human enhancement’”. More specifically, the project will investigate how the notion of ‘successful aging’ has been understood and defined in the field of neuroscience over the last decades, and how ‘successful cognitive aging’ has played together with discussions about the possibility for so called ‘cognitive enhancement’. Morten will present the project in our seminar series in January and more details will also appear here on the blog.

By the way, Morten is not a newcomer to Medical Museion. Four years ago he spent a couple of months with us as part of his studies in history and philosophy at Roskilde University (where he earned his MA last year) to work out a ‘value strategy’ for us. Welcome back to Medical Museion, Morten!

(soon I’ll present our new postdoc — stay tuned!)

The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow is looking for a new director. More here.

In the last two years, the Office of History at the National Institutes of Health has grown and changed into one of the major players in studies of contemporary history of biomedicine. In 2007 the Office got a new director, Robert Martensen who has a combined medical and historical background; last year, historian of 20th century cancer research, David Cantor, was recruited as Deputy Director and Senior Research Historian; and not long time ago they launched a new website (pretty NIH’ish look, but fills the necessary informative function well).

Martensen and Cantor are also expanding the postdoc programme. Currently, seven postdocs are associated with the Office — Eric Boyle (history of alternative and complementary medicine at NIH); Todd Olszewski (history of risk factors in terms of cholesterol and cardiovascular health); Laura Stark (history of NIH policies in ethics of human subject research); Doogab Yi (history of NIH research in cancer viruses); Chin Jou (history of obesity); Brian Casey (NIH, neurophysiology, and criminal culpability); Sharon Ku (nanotechnology and cancer).

And now they looking for #8, with a nicely vague mandate:

The Fellow will conduct research on topics of their choice under the supervision of senior staff of the Office of NIH History and assisted by contacts in the relevant Institute(s). The Fellow will be expected to participate in historical activities on campus, including presentation of one or more seminars and lectures.

Deadline 31. december — more info here.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is announcing a job as heritage manager. The succesful incumbent shall lead a team of professional staff and will be responsible for the operation and development of the College’s museums and library including collections, exhibitions, archives, members’ services and the College’s historic buildings. Closing date is 2 October. More info here.

Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, invites applications for a 3-year PhD/2-year postdoc position in the projekt ‘Communicative barriers between biomedical research and everyday health care in a museum context’:

The increasingly important role of biomedical knowledge and advanced medical technologies in Western health systems is a challenge to the public communication of and engagement with medicine, especially in science, technology and medical museums. This project aims to develop the understanding of the means through which esoteric biomedical and medico-technological knowledge and practices can be communicated to lay people in a museum exhibition context, with special emphasis on the use of material and visual cultural practices. The project is expected to help construct new physical and web-based exhibition and display practices for science, technology and medical museums.

Medical Museion is an integrated research and museum institution that focuses on the public engagement with the contemporary biomedical sciences. We are especially interested in the interface between biomedicine, material and visual studies, museum studies and studies of the participatory web. See www.corporeality.net/museion.

The salary level for a PhD-candidate in Denmark is 295,000 DKK (approx. € 39,600/ £ 34,000) p.a.

The salary levels for a postdoc is 370,000 DKK (approx. € 50,000 / £ 42,000) p.a. upwards (depending on earlier experience).

The position is part of a larger cross-faculty research program ‘Dissemination and Innovation: Health in Everyday Life’, which in turn is part of a newly established Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen (see http://healthyaging.ku.dk).

Applications for the postdoc level shall include CV and publication list; short description of background and motivation for choosing this research project; project description (max. 5 pages); and copies of degrees.

Application for the PhD level shall include a CV; short project proposal (max. 2 pages); academic transcripts; and copies of degrees.

Deadline is 1 September, 2009 at 14.00. Applications must be submitted electronically and in print (4 copies) to:

Assoc. prof. Lene Otto
Section of Ethnology, the SAXO Institute
Faculty of Humanities, Njalsgade 80
DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark
lotto@hum.ku.dk

Further information can be obtained from Professor Thomas Söderqvist, ths@sund.ku.dk, or +45 2875 3801.

For the full text of the announcement in context, see http://healthyaging.ku.dk/vacancies.

To strengthen their web presence, the people at Wellcome Collection are looking for an experienced web editor who is expected to have (among other things) experience as lead editor of a website related to museums, galleries, or exhibitions + and, more significantly, interest in managing content on the ‘extended web’, i.e. Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., and (I like this phrase) “in scoping and developing the tone of voice of a blog”. Application deadline is 22 April 2009, and the salary is acceptable (35.000 GBP + benefits). More info here: www.wellcome.ac.uk/jobs. A golden opportunity for anyone who wants to develop the participatory web dimension of Wellcome Collection. Rumours say they are particularly interested to hear from people “fired up by the content of Wellcome Collection”.

Research animals in the history of 20th century biomedicine has received quite a lot of attention in recent years. And what animal is more interesting than the pig! Our colleagues in Health Services Research Unit here in Copenhagen are announcing a three-year position as PhD-student in a new research project, headed by Lene Koch, called “Modelling pigs and humans: Understanding human/animal connections in translational research”. The general aim of the project is to “investigate the moral, socio-material, technical and organisational work that is needed in order to establish the pig as locus of producing knowledge about human life and disease”. The PhD student they are looking for right now is expected to work on a subproject titled “Extending life: The use of transgenic (humanised) pigs as disease models in biomedical research and treatment” which addresses

the social dimensions and epistemic aspirations of the emerging field of translational medicine within selected biomedical research areas. Specifically, the moral, socio-material organisational and scientific work performed to establish the pig as a potential for modelling human organs and/or functions in research settings and in patient treatment.

Sounds like a great project and a great opportunity for an exciting PhD project. Contact Lene Koch (koch@pubhealth.ku.dk) for further details.

(the pig above — from Struve Labs that produce pigs for pig-huma-tranplants — has no relation to Lene’s project)

If you are on the outlook for a job where you can combine research in medical history with public outreach — here’s your chance: The Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Manchester are looking for someone who would like to do 50% of each. The post would, they say in the announcement, “suit a historian of modern medicine, science or allied field, with a recent (or imminent) PhD, who wishes to develop their profile into the expanding area of outreach, while at the same time developing their research experience and profile”. Salary level is £28,839 – £33,432. Read more here. Prof. Michael Worboys (michael.worboys@manchester.ac.uk) can answer informal inquiries. Closing date is 30 March.

Andy Miah in the School of Media, Language and Music at the University of the West of Scotland is announcing two PhD studentships of great interest for biomedical museum and communication studies (unfortunately with a very tight deadline, viz. 12 January!)

1) Prospects of immortality: public engagement with biogerontology and life/health span expansion:

Due to its broad application to a number of other sciences, biogerontology is one of the most relevant fields of inquiry today. It speaks to the convergence of the NBIC sciences and to the redefinition of health care that arises by describing ageing as a disease to be cured, rather than a natural process to accept. Biogerontology engages us with the prospect of extending health or life span to an unknown degree and, as such, it is a controversial discipline. Over the last ten years, work in this area has shifted from scientific impossibility to becoming a core part of scientific endeavour. A range of media coverage, from aspersion to fascination, has accompanied this shift. In the literature on public understanding of science, there is no research yet attending to this distinct, but profound area of scientific inquiry. As such, this PhD studentship aims to explore the following questions:

    * How has biogerontology been articulated though the media?
    * What issues surround the political economy of research into life-extension?
    * How do different research communities orientate themselves around the various media narratives on life-extension?
    * How do journalists report research on biogerontology?
    * What can be learned from this subject area to broadly inform work into science communication?

2) The ethics of human enhancement in film:

Studies in the ethics of human enhancement have advanced considerably in the last five years through the emergence of new communities of scholarly inquiry. A number of scientific disciplines have been brought under the spotlight due to their likely use for lifestyle, non-therapeutic purposes. The connections between filmic narratives and bioethics are made manifest in recent cultural studies and can be linked to broader, literary origins. Yet, there is very little research that investigates the range of narratives that emerge on the ethics of human enhancement within film. This absence affects the degree of complexity that is brought to how such debates are played out in the media and in policy. This PhD explores the contribution of film to such imaginations and aims to add complexity to our understanding of how film conveys such alterations. It should also help us understand how film functions as a posthuman device of expressing humanly experiences, such as process of remembering, perceiving and the possible disruption of sensory encounters. It also aims to explore the limitations of cultural reference points within scientific policy making on the ethics of human enhancements, exploring the range of metaphors, analogies and stories that contribute to shaping the public understanding of science.

More here: http://www.uws.ac.uk/research/MediaStudentships.asp

The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London (UCL) have just announced a number of 3 year scholarships for their M.Phil./Ph.D. programme, beginning in September 2009.

The scholarships are open to students both from within and outside EU. You can get more info from the centre’s graduate tutor, Helga Satzinger, h.satzinger@ucl.ac.uk, or from Adam Wilkinson, a.wilkinson@ucl.ac.uk. And of course on the centre’s website. Information about UCL’s Graduate School can be found at http://www.grad.ucl.ac.uk/

Applications forms must be submitted online with the UCL Graduate School here, not later than 12 January 2009. Interviews with shortlisted candidates in early February.

More and more museums are becoming aware of the importance of offering their collections to scholars for research. If you would like to immerse yourself in Science Museum’s (London) rich collections — with over 300.000 objects relating to science, technology and medicine — you can apply for one of their new Visiting Research Fellowships (£16,000 for eight months) or Short-Term Research Fellowship (£2,000 per month for a maximum of three months), which will be awarded in 2009-2011. More info from Peter Morris, peter.morris@nmsi.ac.uk (no website info yet as far as I can see). Formalities below: Continue Reading »