Tag: talks

Posted on

AAHPSSS at CHASS 2024: Pedagogical Innovations in Philosophy of Science

Panellists: PROF. ROB WILSON (UWA), GEMMA LUCY SMART (USYD), DR. ALAN JURGENS (UOW)

This panel will explore new approaches to teaching philosophy of science, with a focus on making pedagogy more inclusive and interdisciplinary. Prof. Rob Wilson will examine how philosophy of science units can expand their appeal by incorporating diverse formats and topics such as psychiatry, bioethics, and the politics of biology. Dr. Alan Jurgens will discuss how philosophy of science connects with other disciplines, offering students insights into shared scientific processes and the influence of social norms on scientific practice, especially through the lens of feminist philosophy of science. Gemma Lucy Smart will highlight the importance of inclusivity, advocating for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to engage students from diverse backgrounds and promote critical thinking through flexible teaching methods. Together, these talks will propose a vision for philosophy of science education that is accessible, interdisciplinary, and responsive to the needs of today’s students.

The event is available both in person and online, from 10am-12pm AWST, Tuesday, November 26th.

Further details, including online access, can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pedagogical-innovations-in-philosophy-of-science-tickets-1086539953249

Posted on

2024 Dyason Lecture – Professor Alison Bashford (UNSW)

We are pleased to announce that the 2024 Dyason Lecture is set to be given by Professor Alison Bashford on Wednesday, December 4th at 6.30pm at the Forum Theatre at the University of Melbourne. The title of the lecture is Secrets Disclosed: Reading the Hand from Chiromancy to Genetics.

Speaker: Professor Alison Bashford (UNSW)
Title: Secrets Disclosed: Reading the Hand from Chiromancy to Genetics
When: 6:30pm, Wednesday 4th December
Where: Forum Theatre, Arts West, The University of Melbourne

Further details and abstract to follow.

Professor Alison Bashford

Speaker Bio:
Alison Bashford is Scientia Professor in History and Director of the Laureate Centre for History & Population at UNSW Sydney. She also directs the New Earth Histories Research Program. Her work connects the history of science, global history, and environmental history into new assessments of the modern world, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Her most recent book is An Intimate History of Evolution: The Story of the Huxley Family (Random House, 2022), winner of the Nib Literary Prize, an Economist Best Book of 2022, and shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize, 2023. Before taking up her Research Chair at UNSW, Alison Bashford was the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. She is Fellow of the British Academy and of the Australian Academy of Humanities. Secrets Disclosed: The Hand from Chiromancy to Genetics is her next book (Chicago, 2025).

Featured image credits
Richard Saunders, Palmistry, the secrets thereof disclosed…
(London, 1663).
Plate prepared for L.S. Penrose, “Finger-prints, palms and chromosomes,” Nature (1963)

Posted on

Public Lecture – Somatic Affinities: Medicine and Portraiture

Members in Melbourne may be interested in this upcoming seminar presented by Visiting Professor Ludmilla Jordanova, Emeritus Professor of History and Visual Culture at Durham University, UK, and hosted by the University of Melbourne.

When? Tuesday, June 11, 6PM

Abstract: The popularity of portraiture, especially in the English-speaking world, is well known. That medical practitioners were keen on portraits is also a familiar claim.

In this talk Professor Ludmilla Jordanova will explore the affinities between medicine and portraiture by reflecting on the notion of ‘somatic affinity’ and on the ways in which health care professionals necessarily have to make careful visual appraisals all the time.

Since ‘portrait’ is a powerful metaphor, we might say they are in the business of generating portraits. We might also plausibly claim that those who produce portraits in the literal sense are doing something that is quasi-medical. There’s a wealth of contemporary material that can be put to use here, but there is also a golden opportunity for historical research capable of making a useful contribution to the medical humanities.

For more information and tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/somatic-affinities-medicine-and-portraiture-tickets-902061318687