Notices

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PHD Scholarship (History of Microbiology), University of Sydney

Project title: Symbiotic Synergies

Project abstract: This project aims to investigate how developments in today’s microbiology arose from earlier microbiology. The focus is human-relevant microbiology, especially in relation to health and disease. The perspective will be historical, philosophical and social, with a range of interdisciplinary skills relevant to the project goals. You’ll be working with a philosopher of biology (Maureen O’Malley) and two historians of biology and medicine (Nicolas Rasmussen UNSW, Claas Kirchhelle INSERM). We expect you to gain a PhD by publication (3-4 articles).

Start date: Any time from August 2026 to January 2027.

Eligibility/skills: Domestic or international. Good Honours or MA degree. Relevant background and willingness to learn new skills. Interest in microbiology. Must be resident in NSW while carrying out the project.

Furher Information at https://www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships/d/arc-postgraduate-research-scholarship.html and by writing Maureen O’Malley

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Opportunity: Moran Award for History of Science Research

Applications for the Australian Academy of Science’s Moran Award for History of Science Research are now open. Aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with expertise in the history of Australian science, it provides up to $10,000 to support access to archives that record the history of science in Australia, and it can be used towards travel and accommodation costs.

Applications close 1 June 2026. Check the award webpage for full requirements and how to apply.

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Opportunity: Linda Hall Library Fellowship

The following opportunity may be of interest to AAHPSSS members.

The Linda Hall Library is now accepting applications for their 2026-27 fellowship program. These fellowships provide graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and independent scholars in the history of science and related humanities fields with financial support to explore the Library’s outstanding science and engineering collections. Fellows also participate in a dynamic intellectual community alongside in-house experts and scholars from other Kansas City cultural and educational institutions.


The Linda Hall Library holds nearly half a million monographs and more than 43,000 journal
titles documenting the history of science and technology from the 15th century to the present. Its collections are exceptionally strong in the engineering disciplines, chemistry, and physics. In addition, the Library boasts extensive resources related to natural history, astronomy, earth science, environmental studies, aeronautics, life science, infrastructure studies, mathematics, and the history of the book.


The Library offers residential fellowships to support on-site research in Kansas City, as well
as virtual fellowships for scholars working remotely using resources from the Library’s digital collections. Applicants may request up to four months of funding at a rate of US$3,000 per month for doctoral students and US$4,200 per month for postdoctoral researchers.
The Library is also offering several fellowships intended for specific groups of researchers:

  • The History of Science and Medicine Fellowship, offered in partnership with the Clendening History of Medicine Library at the University of Kansas Medical Center, provides one month of residential funding (US$3,000 per month) to a doctoral student whose research examines the intersecting histories of science and medicine.
  • The Pearson Fellowship in Aerospace History provides up to two months of residential funding (US$4,200 per month) to a postdoctoral scholar studying the history of aviation or spaceflight.
  • The Presidential Fellowship in Bibliography provides up to four months of residential funding (US$4,200 per month) to a postdoctoral scholar whose research focuses on the study of books and manuscripts as physical artifacts.

    The Linda Hall Library is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive research environment and encourages members of any groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in academia to apply for fellowship support.

    All application materials are due no later than January 19, 2026. For further information, visit the Fellowships page on their website or e-mail fellowships@lindahall.org.
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Registration for the 2025 AAHPSSS Conference now open

We are pleased to announce that registration for the 2025 conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (AAHPSSS) is now open. The conference will be held in a hybrid format at the University of Queensland from Wednesday 3rd December to Friday 5th December.

Registration prices can be found below.

In-person 3-dayIn-person 1-dayRemote
FullConcessionFullConcessionFullConcession
Member$285$180$125$75FreeFree
Non-member$345$210$155$90$25$15

The registration page can be found here: https://aahpsss.net.au/conference/2025-aahpsss-conference/registration/

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Apply to join the National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science!

The Australian Academy of Science is seeking applications for ordinary membership of its 19 National Committees for Science, including the National Committee for the History and Philosophy of Science. Applications are open to active scientists, researchers and professionals from across the Australian scientific community. Membership should represent a broad range of institutions, disciplines and career stages. The Academy values diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all interested individuals.   

Applications may be made through the Academy’s portal here before 5:00 pm AEST Tuesday, 30 September 2025. Any questions about the role of National Committee members or the application process should be directed to nc@science.org.au.    

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2025 Dyason Lecture – Protestant Origins of Modern Science?

Wednesday 3 December, University of Queensland

Already in the seventeenth century the sequence of the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific revolution led some to speculate about how these ‘dual reformations’ were related.  Ever since, various thinkers have posited causal links between them. This lecture will consider a range of such possible connections – the Protestant ‘ethic’, challenges to tradition, new interpretative approaches to scripture and nature, ideas about the earthly vocation, and eschatological ideas that focused on material improvement.  It will conclude with a consideration of the ways in which ‘Protestant’ versions of history, in a secularized form, came to be incorporated in Enlightenment stories of progress and ironically became implicated in the construction of science-religion conflict narratives in the nineteenth century. 

About the speaker: Peter Harrison is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy at the University of Queensland and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Australia.  He was previously the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. From 2015-21 he was an Australian Laureate Fellow.  He has published extensively on the philosophical, scientific and religious thought of the early modern period, and is one of the world’s leading scholars on the historical relations between science and religion.

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Deadline Extended: 2025 AAHPSSS Conference CfP

The deadline for abstract submissions for the 2025 AAHPSSS Conference have been extended. Submissions are now due by August 8th. Abstracts can be submitted here.

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (AAHPSSS) will be held in a hybrid format at the University of Queensland from Wednesday 3rd December to Friday 5th December.

The signature event for the conference will be the annual Dyason Lecture, presented in 2025 by Professor Peter Harrison (University of Queensland/University of Notre Dame). Other highlights will include keynote presentations from speakers across the range of HPS disciplines, special events for postgrads and early career academics, and other organised workshops. As usual, we will award the Langham Prize for the best presentation by a postgraduate student. 

We invite participation from scholars working in any area related to the history, philosophy and social studies of science, medicine or technology (including science and technology studies, sociology of health, environmental humanities, science communication, science policy, and metascience). We will be accepting submissions for:

  • Full papers (20 minutes) – to be allocated to sessions
  • Short presentations (10 minutes) – to be allocated to sessions
  • Organised sessions (90 minutes) – format and presenters arranged by organisers

Early-career academics, research students and scholars from historically underrepresented or disadvantaged groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, women, people with disabilities, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Bursaries will be available for postgrads and insecurely-employed academics who reside outside south-east Queensland to attend in-person.

Join AAPHSSS here.

Please send any questions, suggestions or feedback to mail@aahpsss.net.au.

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Symposium in Dunedin, New Zealand: Pounamu and the History of Knowledge

Monday July 7th, 2025, 9:20am to 5:30pm

Barclay Theatre, Tūhura Otago Museum

Details and RSVP: https://otagomuseum.nz/whats-on/pounamu-and-the-history-of-knowledge

Pounamu, also known as “greenstone” and “New Zealand jade,” stands as a cornerstone in the narrative of Aotearoa New Zealand, embodying the essence of the land and the people. This is reflected in the indigenous name for the South Island, Te Waipounamu, which means “place of pounamu” or “waters of pounamu.”

Since its initial discovery post-Polynesian settlement, pounamu has been bound up with key episodes in Aotearoa’s history, from trade networks and technological adaptation in the pre-colonial period through to the Ngāi Tahu Treaty Settlement in 1998.

Along the way, pounamu has encountered many different knowledge traditions. The traditions of Kāi Tahu and other iwi Māori are the most important of these, but the stone has also been studied outside Aotearoa and by non-Māori New Zealanders, through the lens of many different disciplines: pūkōrero (traditional histories), whakairo (carving), physics, gemmology, museology, and more.

Pounamu is a window onto the historical relationship between these traditions, and onto the wider questions they raise. How does Western science interweave with Mātauraka Māori (Māori knowledge)? How do the natural sciences relate to the humanities? What effect did colonisation have on the study of pounamu, and what pathways exist to rectify and reconcile these legacies? What does the future hold for pounamu knowledge? The session will address these questions and explore how the study of pounamu can flourish using different ways of knowing.