Funded PhD studentship: "Making Germs Real" (King's College London/Science Museum)
Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD
working on how germs were made real to different groups and individuals. During
the late 19th century and early 20th centuries germs became entities to be
widely feared and respected, even though very few people had ever seen them.
This studentship is one of eight fully-funded awards made by the
newly-established Collaborative Doctoral Partnership managed by the Science Museum
Group. The project will be supervised by Dr Anna Maerker (King’s College
London) and Robert Bud (Science Museum, London). The studentship, which is
funded for three years full-time equivalent, will begin in September 2013.
The Studentship
The acceptance of the germ theory depended on
more than the publication of experimental results in academic journals – germs
were made real through images, objects, practices, and spaces, from
micro-photographs and three-dimensional models to new methods of washing hands
and hospital designs.
The student will be encouraged to explore rich
and under-researched parts of the Science Museum’s collection which have been
central to the experience of germs. These include the collection of educational
microscopes, illustrated books, and professional medical clothing (e.g. nurses’
uniforms). Objects such as the collection of soaps and cleaning materials can
be used to provide links to other sections of the museum.
The student will have an opportunity to
contribute to the new medical gallery planned by the Science Museum. The
doctoral researcher will create new object interpretations and identify
relevant themes for the development of storylines for the new gallery.
More generally, this project will provide an opportunity to interrogate
our models of public engagement in historical and contemporary perspective, to
investigate the roles of images, objects, and interactive practices for
knowledge creation at the museum, and to reflect critically on our understanding
of lay knowledge versus expert knowledge.
Questions may include: How did practices of
making germs real shape relationships between people? How did such practices
change understandings of disease? How did commercial interests influence the
development of new techniques and technologies for the lab, the operating
theatre, the ward, the practice, and the home? What were the moral
implications of the performance of germs, and how did they change attributions
of responsibility and authority?
The source base for the project is available
locally, at the Science Museum itself, at the Wellcome Library, the British
Library, and in the archives of local hospitals and medical associations. The
student will be helped to be a member of an active community of scholars in the
public and material culture of science.
Methodological approaches will be based on a
solid historical understanding of the history of late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century medicine. We would especially expect the student to bring or
to develop a sound familiarity with recent work in the history of Science,
Technology and Medicine which engages with the role of objects, performative
practices and with gestural knowledge. We would also expect the student to
engage with important scholarship in Science & Technology Studies on the
role of technologies for “configuring the user”, and for the relationship
between experts and publics. Depending on the student’s background, additional
approaches may include user studies in contemporary museology, or work on
performance and gesture from medical anthropology.
How to Apply
Applicants should have a good undergraduate
degree in history, the history of medicine/science or another relevant
discipline, and will need to satisfy AHRC academic and residency eligibility
criteria, including Masters level advanced research training or equivalent.
Preference may be given to candidates with prior experience working with
historical instruments and objects, though others are encouraged to apply.
Applicants should submit a short curriculum
vitae and a brief letter outlining qualifications for the studentship in the
form of a single Word file no more than three pages in total. The names and
contact details of two academic referees should also be supplied. Applications
should be sent to Anna Maerker (anna.maerker@kcl.ac.uk) no later than 5 June 2013.
Interviews are scheduled to be held in the
Science Museum, London, in the week of 17-21 June 2013.
For further information concerning the project,
please contact Anna Maerker (anna.maerker@kcl.ac.uk).
***
Dr Anna Maerker
Senior Lecturer in the History of Medicine
Department of History
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS
phone: +44 (0)20 7848 1948