Two Funded PhD Studentships in Centre for History & Philosophy of Science
Applications are now open for two fully-funded collaborative PhD studentships in the history of science, with a deadline of 5 March 2025.
Researchers in the Centre for the History & Philosophy of Science (HPS) have secured two prestigious awards to support new PhD projects in the history of modern science and technology. The projects, led by Professor Greg Radick and Professor Graeme Gooday will each involve close collaboration with a partner organisation: the National Science and Media Museum and the Institution of Engineering and Technology respectively. Both are supported by awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council via the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities.
The project with Professor Radick, “Coaxing Nature to the Screen”, will investigate how British natural history filmmaking developed in the first half of the twentieth century. In an era before television, the project will focus on the pioneering naturalist and filmmaker, Frank Percy Smith, whose archival papers are held at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. Professor Radick’s expertise in the history of modern biology will be complemented by co-supervisor Dr Annie Jamieson, Curator of Sound Technologies at the museum, who completed her own PhD at Leeds exploring the impact of new photographic techniques in the early twentieth century. For more details about the project, and for information about how to apply, visit the project page on the WRoCAH website.
Professor Gooday will serve as lead supervisor for the project “Connecting Suffragettes, Technology and Society”. In collaboration with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the project explores how Dame Caroline Haslett (1895-1957) – one of the most influential women in early twentieth century Britain – established and used a global network through her extensive letter-writing and correspondence. A large proportion of her +10,000 letters are held at the IET Library and Archive, and the project student will have the chance to reveal for the first time what Haslett’s international correspondence and network-building can tell us about women’s agency in science and technology. Co-supervision from Anne Locker, Librarian and Archivist at the IET, and Dr Katie Carpenter, in the School of History offers further opportunity for the project student to broaden their expertise in histories of modern Britain and material culture, as well as gender and science. For more details, and to apply, visit the project page here.
The Centre for HPS has a long track record in partnership work with organisations, groups, and communities beyond academia. Previous collaborative PhD projects have seen doctoral researchers conduct research with the Thackray Museum of Medicine, British Library, History of Advertising Trust, The National Archives, Boots, and the Science Museum, amongst many others. As one of the largest and longest-established units of its kind in the UK we have a vibrant community of postgraduate students, and run regular seminar series and reading groups.
