Biomedicine on Display

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 »

Our colleagues in Leeds (i.e., the Division of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds and the Thackray Medical Museum) are re-advertising a studentship for a project on nineteenth-century midwifery instruments. The successful candidate will be part of a group working on 19th-century topics connected with museums and material culture.

Applicants must be either UK residents (full studentship) or EU nationals (fees only). Relevant backgrounds include history of science, technology and/or medicine, museum studies and history. The studentship supports three years’ full-time work, but can be taken up on either a full-time or a part-time basis (over five years).

The closing date for applications is Friday 31 October 2008, and then interviews will take place in late November. Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact Adrian Wilson (a.f.wilson@leeds.ac.uk) or Graeme Gooday (g.j.n.gooday@leeds.ac.uk).

(image of early 19C obstetric forceps from Medical Museion collections)

The Hunterian Museum in London is looking for an assistant curator to develop the cataloguing and storage of its big odontological reserve collection. Successful candidates are supposed to have “a good working knowledge of primate anatomy and taxonomy, and the motivation and enthusiasm to realise the potential of a world-class research collection” + a relevant degree + some previous experience of working with collections. The pay is pretty limited (£20,000 pa), and it’s only an 18 month contract, but it’s nevertheless a good starting point for someone who wants to have a career in medical or natural history history collections. More info on the Hunterian Museum website. Closing date is 15 September.

(via Simon Chaplin)

If you happen to be based in UK or Ireland you can now apply for one of Wellcome Trust’s Arts Awards — which are given to organisations or individuals for projects that engage the public with biomedical science through the arts.

The general idea behind the scheme is that the Trust believes that art is a great mediator for the public engagement with science in general and with biomedicine in particular:

Visual art, music, moving image, creative writing and performance can reach new audiences which may not traditionally be interested in science and provide new ways of thinking about the social, cultural and ethical issues around contemporary science. Collaborative and interdisciplinary practice across the arts and sciences can help to provide new perspectives on both fields. The arts can also provide imaginative ways of engaging and educating young people in the field of science.

Thus the scheme aims to:

• stimulate interest and debate about biomedical science through the arts
• examine the social, cultural and ethical impact of biomedical science
• support formal and informal learning
• encourage new ways of thinking
• encourage interdisciplinary practice and collaborative partnerships in arts, science or education practice.

All art forms are covered by the programme, i.e. “dance, drama, performance arts, visual arts, music, film, craft, photography, creative writing or digital media”. People from a wide range of professinal backgrounds are eligible for awards, including artists, scientists, curators, filmmakers, writers, producers, directors, academics, science communicators, teachers, arts workers and education officers, and so forth. The only restriction is that the applicant and the activity must be based in UK or Ireland. Deadline is 10 October 2008 — see more one the scheme’s webpage: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/Grants/Arts-Awards

The James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at the Saïd Business School , Universitry of Oxford, is announcing two research fellows in science and technology studies. The range of research topics includes (but is not limited to): biomedical innovation and society; cognitive enhancement; converging technologies; evidence and evidence-policy relations; governance of genetic technologies; science, technology and inequality; imaging and visualisation; law, property and inequality; mundane objects and ordinary technologies; neuromarketing; security and surveillance; sociology and ethnography of the social sciences; technology, mobility and urban geographies; technoscience and its publics; and visualisation in archaeology.

The fellows are expected to: identify potential new research topics and questions; critically evaluate existing literatures and perspectives bearing on these topics; devise research projects and identify likely funding sources; submit research proposals; undertake research and writing with a view to publication in leading academic journals; contribute directly and in support of all research, take an active part in research meetings and related activities; act as a source of information and advice to other members of the group on methodologies or procedures; present papers at conferences or public meetings; etc.

It’s probably difficult to do all these things equally well, but otherwise it sounds like the Perfect Postdoc Job for an STS-oriented PhD. Deadline for applications is 14 July and informal inquiries can be addressed to Steve Woolgar, steve.woolgar@sbs.ox.ac.uk. Read more here.

The medical faculty at the University of Oslo has announced a full/associate professorship in medical history, with a focus on Norwegian history. The candidate shall have a research background in Scandinavian/Norwegian medical history, which sort of narrows the field of possible applicants. Read more here. Deadline for applications is already 1 August 2008.

Here’s an interesting job opportunity for anyone devoted to the history of contemporary biomedicine. The Office of NIH History at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. is looking for a historian to study the history of post-WWII biomedicine at NIH or supported by the NIH (this is not a severe restriction, since the NIH has financed a large portion of the significant post-WWII biomedical research efforts). The job also involves developing the Office’s virtual presence, including its website. It’s a <5 years position, and non-U.S. citizens are also welcome to apply. Potential applicants with a background in history, science studies, sociology/anthropology of medicine etc. are encouraged to contact the head of the Office of NIH History, Dr. Robert Martensen (martensenr@mail.nih.gov), to discuss the position prior to submitting their proposal. Review of applications will begin 30th June 2008.

Rina Knoeff and Robert Zwijnenberg at the Department of Art History in Leiden are announcing two ph.d. studentships in their research project ‘Cultures of Collecting: The Leiden Anatomical Collections in Context’.

The project studies how “historical and cultural practices and concerns have shaped anatomical preparations and how exhibitions of the anatomical body have informed cultural imagery of the body”—with the ultimate aim to understand ”the dynamics of anatomical collections as cultural and academic heritage and seeks to formulate positions on the relationships between the anatomical museum, popular culture and academic medicine” (read more about the project here).

One PhD student is supposed to look at how the early modern collections of Leiden University “were rooted in ideals of perfection in different fields of knowledge and expertise”, while the other is directed at “the historical and educational import of the Leiden University nineteenth-century pathological collections” (read more here).

More info from Rina Knoeff at R.Knoeff@let.leidenuniv.nl. Deadline is 1 May 2008.

Joint university and museum PhD programmes is a great idea. But what about pre-specified, detailed project announcements? I thought about this when I saw an announcement on the Mersenne list this morning about two Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) PhD studentships in history of science, technology and medicine.

The posts are announced as collaborative research projects between on the one hand the Division of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds and on the other hand the National Maritime Museum and the Thackray Museum, respectively. Great, internationally acknowledged institutions, no doubt about that. But what wonders me is that the project descriptions are so detailed in advance.

For example, the project with the Thackray Museum is called ”Industrial Illness in Cultural History: ‘La Maladie du Bradford’ in Local, National and Global Contexts (1875-1919), and the student is supposed to

investigate the impact of woolsorters’ disease or anthrax (as it later came to be known) on the Bradford community where the disease was first identified in the nineteenth century. Drawing on a range of archival and material resources at the Thackray and elsewhere, the project will also seek to assess the development of national legislation in response to the disease; place the disease in a global cultural context, especially that of the British Empire and Continental Europe; and map the interplay between the disease’s local, national and global contexts

(The museum connection is that the student ”is expected to create a virtual exhibit of project-related materials and also to contribute to local, national and international meetings”).

That’s a pretty precise project description! (Note: 1875-1919, not even 1920!) But is this a good idea? (It’s not a rhetorical question, I’m really unsure about this.)

Several of my colleagues here in Denmark have rather negative experiences from too pre-specified projects. Students who don’t formulate their own projects tend to drop out, my colleagues say, because they realise after a year or two that they aren’t really motivated.

This has been my intuition too. All my PhD-students have crafted their own projects, and they are now wonderfully independent scholars and professionals—which sort of speaks against pre-specified projects. But is their independence attributable to the fact that they followed their own vision? The negative side of the independently formulated project coin is that such projects are usually delayed – only two of my PhD students completed their projects in time; the others spent one, or two, or even three extra years. And then again, all these theses were great, almost all are either published or submitted for publication. So there may be pros and cons.

Leeds seems to have positive experiences with pre-specified projects, however, since this is the third collaborative doctoral project between the Leeds HPS division and the Thackray Museum. And I’ve heard about other predetermined projects in our field. In fact, it looks like it has become more common in the last decade or so.

Do other institutions have any experiences with this? Any opinions out there?

The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin announces two 2-year postdoctoral fellowships associated to the Research Network “History of Scientific Objects”, beginning May 2008. For more details, see http://scientificobjects.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de or contact Hannah Lund (hlund@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de). Dead-line is 1 January 2008. 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are looking for a full-time archivist in the Office of NIH History who shall maintain the documentary and artifact collections at the Office and the Stetten Museum, including more than 30,000 prints and photographs, 2,000 instruments and artifacts, 400 books, and 1,500 feet of documents and audiovisuals. Some of the collections are used in exhibits around the huge NIH campus. Salary: $66,767.00+. Applications before 23 November. See more here.

Where else on earth would you, in a Metro station, find an ad like this (bacterial colonies in a petridish) for biomedical jobs?

(Medical Center Metro station, Bethesda, 29 Oct ’07)