Two Collaborative PhD Studentships in History of Science

The Centre for History & Philosophy of Science is offering two fully-funded PhD scholarships to support research in the history of science and gender, and the history of trust in meteorology.

The two projects – supported by Collaborative Doctoral Awards from the Arts & Humanities Research Council – will offer supervision through project partners including the Royal Society and Cambridge University Library, as well as from academics in the Centre for History & Philosophy of Science. The successful applicants will join a thriving community of postgraduate researchers in HPS at Leeds, whose topics range across the history of science, technology and medicine from the eighteenth century to the present day. Our academic researchers have an outstanding track record in supporting postgraduates to work in partnership with organisations beyond higher education, particularly the heritage sector, and these projects offer an unparalleled opportunity to develop a range of complementary skills in engagement and collaboration, as well as in historical research.

We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for these studentships and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from UK Black, Asian, Ethnically Diverse backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. Both studentships are open to applicants based internationally, as well as those currently in the UK. All scholarships will be awarded on the basis of merit.

Project 1: “The Hidden Gender of Collections: Women and the Curation of Scientific Heritage”, with Cambridge University Library

Working with Cambridge University Library and other partner institutions, you will investigate women’s involvement in the creation and management of some of the most important scientific collections, and their curation of often-crucial scientific heritage, between the mid nineteenth and the mid twentieth centuries. You will investigate the considerable skill and expertise that such work required and will also explore the significant consequences that it had for the sciences and their public reputation.  You will be working with collections such as the Darwin Archive at Cambridge University Library, where several of Charles Darwin’s granddaughters were involved in shaping the heritage and reputation of the family and its work. In addition, you will be engaged with heritage organizations and their public engagement projects that seek to reinterpret such collections to re-expose the importance of women’s neglected scientific roles.

This project will be jointly supervised by:

• Professor Jonathan Topham (University of Leeds) 
• Dr Edwin Rose (University of Leeds)
• Elizabeth Smith (Cambridge University Library)
• Dr Katrina Dean (Cambridge University Library)

The application deadline for this project is 30 April, and you can find further details here.

Project 2: “Weather Sceptics: Almanacs and the Making of Scientific Meteorology in Nineteenth-Century Britain”, with the Royal Society

In this historical project, you will have the opportunity to explore these issues in relation to a critical moment of change in the middle of the nineteenth century, when scientists were seeking to secure the reputation of meteorology.  In particular, you will explore how they sought to use one of the most popular media of the period – the almanac – to establish the science of weather forecasting, supplanting the astrological predictions that had long filled the pages of such publications.

The research project particularly focuses on two ground-breaking almanacs – the British Almanac (1828–1914) and the Illustrated London Almanack (1845–95) – in which scientists were heavily involved, and for which extensive scientific archives survive.  Working with the Royal Society collections, you will investigate how these hugely popular publications were used by scientists to convincingly communicate the new scientific approach to weather patterns, how they used information networks in the process, and how they interacted with audiences and critics, at home and overseas.

This project will be jointly supervised by:

• Professor Jonathan Topham (University of Leeds) 
• Professor Graeme Gooday (University of Leeds)
• Dr Louisiane Ferlier (Royal Society)
• Mr Keith Moore (Royal Society)

The application deadline for this project is 6 May 2025, and you can find further details here.