Rosanna Evans

Profile

I am a part-time doctoral candidate in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (PRHS) at the University of Leeds. My thesis, which investigates how practical work at school influences our learning of science at school and attitudes to the subject later in our life, is co-supervised by the Science Museum as a part of an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership. 

Alongside my PhD, I work as the Learning Associate for Schools and Teachers at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge. Previously, I worked as the Learning Co-ordinator at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge. Prior to this I completed a Museum Studies MA at the University of Leicester whilst also working as the Collections Assistant at the Whipple Museum. In 2014 completed my Undergraduate BA here, at the University of Leeds, in English and History. I am co-supervised by Professor Graeme Gooday and Dr. Indira Banner at the School of Education, and Dr. Jane Desborough at the Science Museum.

Last year, I tutored on the Introduction to the History of Science undergraduate module (semester 1, 2020–2021) and co-organised a two day CDP workshop, Teaching through objects: engaging students with material culture in university and public settings.

Conference papers

• ‘From the lab to the museum: what can object-based learning in humanities gain from school science practical work?’, CDP workshop Teaching through objects: engaging students with material culture in university and public settings, 2020
• ‘Problem solving: hand- and home-made instruments in the Science Museum’s English school science teaching collections, 1944–1988’, 9th ESHS Conference - Visual, Material and Sensory Cultures of Science and XXXIX Scientific Instrument Symposium, 2020
• [External] 'Is it the International Year of the Frog? How a well­-used teaching model can be a catalyst for new research' - Object Lessons and Nature Tables: Research Collaborations between Historians of Science and University Museums, University of Reading, 2016

Placements

• Research placement on BBC podcast, ‘You’re Dead to Me’, May–August 2021

Research interests

My research explores how science equipment and apparatus has been implicated in science teaching, primarily in schools in the UK. I am using the Science Museum's Teaching Collection to construct specific object biographies, additionally recording oral histories of ex-pupils and teachers that directly recall the use of the collection as a part of their education. 

Additional research interests include science communication, representation and inclusion of diverse audiences within museum collections, learning using material culture, meaning making within museums, as well as gender and queer history.

Qualifications

• English and History BA
• Museum Studies MA