SHNH Early Career Researcher Symposium 2025
SHNH Early Career Researcher Symposium showcasing research into Natural History. Thursday 20 February 2025 online 10.55-17.15 GMT
The Society for the History of Natural History is a diverse community of people united by an active interest in the study of natural history through time, believing that a greater awareness of how nature has been considered, documented, valued and exploited by societies and individuals worldwide leads to a deeper understanding and celebration of nature.
The Society is known for its friendliness and its meetings combine intellectual excellence with opportunities for an informal exchange of ideas. It is a focal point for the history of all aspects of natural history. This includes art, literature, biography and bibliography as well as investigative historical studies.
We are delighted to announce that in 2025 we are again hosting an Early Career Researcher Symposium, an event dedicated expressly to showcase research into the history of natural history being done by doctoral and early career researchers across the globe. This builds on the Society’s already successful annual William T. Stearn Student Essay Prize, awarded to the best original, unpublished essay in the history of natural history, which is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students worldwide.
The Eventbrite link for registration is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/early-career-researcher-symposium-2025-tickets-1135505430309
For this symposium we have welcomed papers from across the field which speak to any aspects of the history of natural history. The speakers have been drawn from individuals registered for PhD programmes or within 3 years of being awarded their doctorate.
Speakers have been convened into sessions of related 15-20 minute papers with a shared session for questions at the end of each session. Please see the programme below.
Programme Download programme
10:55am Welcome
11:00am – 12:30pm Session One
Tracing the Journey of American Cacti in China
Cynthia ST Yeung, KU Leuven, Belgium
From Local Collectors to Global Science: Hidden Histories of the Kew Herbarium
John Schaefer, University of Cambridge in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom
Language of flowers? An alternative perspective. Plant names in botanical paintings, a tool for communication and cultural obfuscation
Charlotte Brooks, Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library and Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
Lunch
1:30pm – 3pm Session Two
The Long Shadow of Linnaeus: Luke Howard’s Cloud Nomenclature and the Natural History of the Sky, 1802–1820
Brian S.-K. Li, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Cutting Peat: The Historical Ecology and Dissection of the Chat Moss Ecosystem
Andrew Osbourne, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
When Music Tamed the Beasts: Animal responses to Music in the Early Modern Period.
Tasio Rodrigo, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Break
3:30pm – 5:00pm Session Three
Hare, Hyrax, and Hart: Biblical Natural History and Hermeneutics in British Expeditions to the Holy Land, 1863-1884
Theo Detweiler, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Anachronisms in the History of (Natural) Science. The Secret Face of Isaac Newton
Matteo Costa, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Beyond the Collection: Race and the Circulation Regime of Animal Brains in the French and British Empire (1770-1850)
Maxime Guttin, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
5:00pm – 5:15pm Closing Remarks
For more information on the Society please see www.shnh.org.uk.
Archives of Natural History is the journal of the Society for the History of Natural History, publishing papers on the history and bibliography of all branches of natural history.
For more information see https://www.euppublishing.com/loi/anh.
Registered Charity no. 2103555 in England and Wales