Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102368
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The making of the modern chemist: struggles within Enlightenment science. The project will reinterpret the emergence of modern chemistry by challenging the iconic revolution-centred approach to the history of early modern science. Examining scientific successes alongside crises and revolutionaries alongside reactionaries, the project will chart chemists' long struggle for disciplinary independence in the Enlightenment.
Passionate Knowledge: The Ethics and Politics of the Scientific Revoution. Modern science and the modern state came to the world together. They emerged from the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, which changed not only the way people understood the world, but how they understood themselves as individuals and communities. By analysing scientific, philosophical and political documents, some canonical and some rarely read, this project aims to reveal the ethical and political implications o ....Passionate Knowledge: The Ethics and Politics of the Scientific Revoution. Modern science and the modern state came to the world together. They emerged from the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, which changed not only the way people understood the world, but how they understood themselves as individuals and communities. By analysing scientific, philosophical and political documents, some canonical and some rarely read, this project aims to reveal the ethical and political implications of the rise of modern science. It is expected to be the first comprehensive study of the co-formation of science and the state in their era of origin, shedding crucial and surprising light on the place of science in culture and politics ever since.Read moreRead less
The scientific revolution: mechanisation of the world picture or the emergence of science as opposed to a world picture? This project will enhance Australia's already strong international reputation in History and Philosophy of Science by offering an account of the Scientific Revolution that meets the highest standards of both philosophical and historical scholarship. It will portray science as emerging as an autonomous discipline distinct from natural philosophy.
Making plants better, making Australia better? A history of genetic modification science, policy, and community attitudes in Australia. This project will document and analyse the history of the development of genetic modification (GM) science and policy, and the associated community attitudes and activism efforts in Australia over the last 40 years, with a focus on the development of GM for food and agricultural purposes. In addition to producing a rich historical narrative of critical scientifi ....Making plants better, making Australia better? A history of genetic modification science, policy, and community attitudes in Australia. This project will document and analyse the history of the development of genetic modification (GM) science and policy, and the associated community attitudes and activism efforts in Australia over the last 40 years, with a focus on the development of GM for food and agricultural purposes. In addition to producing a rich historical narrative of critical scientific and policy developments associated with GM in Australia. This project will explore how Australians respond to new scientific ideas and technologies, and use this evidence as the basis for a case study of prospects for future community involvement in the development of science policy particularly in association with emerging technologies.Read moreRead less
Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why a ....Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why and with what effect the term 'Gondwana' has retained such strong cultural purchase, well beyond the geological domain. This should productively recast ideas of a global south and improve understanding of what ‘Gondwana’, and deep geological time, mean for societies across the southern hemisphere. Read moreRead less
Climate change and the history of environmental determinism. In previous centuries, most scientists presumed that environment and climate determined human health, capacities and difference. By tracing this longstanding idea through the twentieth century, this project will identify implications for current climate science.
The culture of weeds: invasion biology, identity and aesthetics in Australia. Weeds are a significant threat to Australia’s biodiversity - but when does a plant become one? Defining plants and landscapes as weedy reflects not only ecological values, but also economics, aesthetics, and national identity. The question of how and why weeds spread reveals cultural values that inform the management of all invasive species.
Culture-bound syndromes, koro, and the emergence of 'cosmopolitan' psychiatry. This historical study examines the concepts of ethnicity used by psychiatrists by focusing on the ways in which one culture-bound syndrome, koro, moved from being exclusively South-East Asian to being found in a number of cultures. It will develop significant understandings of psychiatric conceptions of cultural difference.
The place of history in science: reassessing the Darwinian revolution. This project aims to examine how historical representations of Darwin and his revolutionary theory have influenced the shape and direction of modern evolutionary science itself. The project expects to show how certain historical assumptions about Darwin and natural selection have constrained evolutionary thinking in particular ways. Conversely, it will demonstrate how contemporary developments in evolutionary science have cha ....The place of history in science: reassessing the Darwinian revolution. This project aims to examine how historical representations of Darwin and his revolutionary theory have influenced the shape and direction of modern evolutionary science itself. The project expects to show how certain historical assumptions about Darwin and natural selection have constrained evolutionary thinking in particular ways. Conversely, it will demonstrate how contemporary developments in evolutionary science have changed historians’ understanding of the history of evolution. The expected outcomes include a new understanding of the mutual interactions between history and science, capacity building in the field of the history of science, and interdisciplinary collaborations across the biological sciences and humanities.Read moreRead less