University of Leeds, Centre for HPS - Four AHRC Collaborative PhD Studentships
University of Leeds, School of
Philosophy, Religion & History of Science
Centre for History &
Philosophy of Science
Four AHRC Collaborative PhD
Studentships in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
AHRC-funded
PhD studentships are available from 1 October 2012 for collaborative research
projects between the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science,
University of Leeds, and major national
institutions, including BT Archives, Action on Hearing Loss, and the National
Institutional for Agricultural Botany (NIAB).
Expression
of interest are also welcomed for a further studentship on each project for
2013-14.
1.
Transforming Communications for the UK's Hearing Loss Community: From Auditory
Barrier to Technological Assistance
This project documents the twentieth-century
development of communications technologies for the hard of hearing. It focuses
especially on the extensive resources in BT archives on dialogue and
collaborations between the Post Office telecommunication division and the Royal
National Institute for the Deaf (recently renamed as Action on Hearing Loss).
It aims to recover the key role of the hearing loss community in developing
both enhancements to telephones and also adaptable forms of digital hearing
aid, particularly in response to the wartime contexts of injury and electronic
technologies, and correlatively the rise of audiology as a new profession.
The supervisors for the project will be Graeme Gooday (Leeds HPS) and David Hay (BT Archives) with additional supervisory support from Gregory Radick (Leeds HPS), Claire Jones (University of Leeds Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine), Action on Hearing Loss, and the Thackray Museum which holds the British Society of Audiology's historic collection of hearing aids.
The project is expected to develop new historical materials for the BT Connected Earth educational resource and for Action on Hearing Loss's public documents, and also to present their research to local, national and international workshops and conferences. The first student is anticipated to focus on the pre-NHS period and the second student (2013-14) on the subsequent development of the digital hearing aid.
The supervisors for the project will be Graeme Gooday (Leeds HPS) and David Hay (BT Archives) with additional supervisory support from Gregory Radick (Leeds HPS), Claire Jones (University of Leeds Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine), Action on Hearing Loss, and the Thackray Museum which holds the British Society of Audiology's historic collection of hearing aids.
The project is expected to develop new historical materials for the BT Connected Earth educational resource and for Action on Hearing Loss's public documents, and also to present their research to local, national and international workshops and conferences. The first student is anticipated to focus on the pre-NHS period and the second student (2013-14) on the subsequent development of the digital hearing aid.
Enquiries about this project may be directed to
G.J.N.Gooday@leeds.ac.uk
2. Food
Security in the Biotech Age: The National Institute of Agricultural Botany from
1970 to the Present
Founded in 1919 and based in Cambridge, NIAB
has been at the forefront of seed testing and the development of crop-plant
varieties in Britain for nearly a century. This project will draw on a mixture
of archival sources held at NIAB and interviews with participants to
reconstruct the intellectual and institutional development of NIAB in the
biotech age – a crucial period in the Institute’s history as well as in the
wider history of the biological sciences. It aims to recover a novel
perspective on the rise of biotech and the debate over GM crops in Britain, and
more generally on the changing relations between science, commerce, and the
British state after 1970.
This is the second collaborative doctoral
project between the Leeds HPS Centre and NIAB. The new project’s
supervisors will be Gregory Radick (Leeds HPS) and Tina Barsby (NIAB).
The student is expected to create a virtual exhibit of project-related
materials and also to contribute to local, national and international meetings.
Enquiries may be directed to G.M.Radick@leeds.ac.uk
An additional, philosophically focused PhD
project funded by this award will be advertised next year.
Scholarship Funding
For both projects, applicants must be either UK
residents (full studentship) or EU nationals (fees only). They should
normally have, or expect soon to be awarded, a Masters degree in a relevant
discipline (history of science, technology and/or medicine; history), though
exceptions can be made for applicants with strong undergraduate records and
relevant experience. The studentships support three years’ full-time
work, but can be taken up on either a full-time or a part-time basis.
Standard tuition fees and maintenance grants will be paid by the AHRC to the
nominated student. In the 2012/2013 academic year full-time awards will
provide a maintenance grant payment of £13,590.00. In addition to these amounts, the AHRC will
make an additional, one off maintenance payment of £550 in May to cover the
special costs of working at two sites. Students may also be eligible for UK
study visits and one overseas study visit as well as one overseas conference
for the duration of the award. From the non-academic partner the student
will also receive a contribution to maintenance and may also be eligible for travel and related workplace
expenses. (Part-time awards provide a maintenance grant up to a maximum
of 60% of a full-time award and half the full-time rate of tuition fees.)
Renewal of the studentship each year is subject to satisfactory academic
progress.
Applications
Application forms and further details are
available from the Postgraduate Administration Office, School of Philosophy,
Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, email: humpgenq@leeds.ac.uk, tel: 0113 343 3644
or 0113 343 3623
The closing date for applications for both
studentships is Friday 29 June. Interviews for both studentships
will take place the week beginning 2 July.
Please specify whether you are applying for the
hearing-loss project, the biotech project, or both.
Graeme
Gooday, Professor of the History of Science and Technology,
Head of Department
Department of Philosophy, University of Leeds,
LEEDS, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
E-mail: g.j.n.gooday@leeds.ac.uk
Phone messages: 0113 343 3274
FAX: 0113 343 3265
Head of Department
Department of Philosophy, University of Leeds,
LEEDS, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
E-mail: g.j.n.gooday@leeds.ac.uk
Phone messages: 0113 343 3274
FAX: 0113 343 3265