For the Cultural History since 1750 Research Group at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium), we are looking for two doctoral students who will investigate the regulatory role of scientific societies within the scholarly community in respectively Brazil and (British) India. Both candidates will examine how scientific societies have acted as gatekeepers in a globalizing scientific landscape between ca. 1930 and ca. 1990 by simultaneously opening up and limiting access to (sub)groups (e.g. female scholars). The research will be supervised by prof. dr. Joris Vandendriessche, prof. dr. Kaat Wils and prof. dr. Idesbald Goddeeris. Each candidate will write a doctoral dissertation.

The two PhD projects are part of the larger research project GLOBAL ACADEMIES, funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) and supervised by prof. dr. Joris Vandendriessche. The project uses scientific societies as a lens to scrutinize the changing social relations between scientists at a global scale over the course of the twentieth century. The project focuses more specifically on the regulatory role of scientific societies within science (e.g. by organizing conferences, selecting speakers, allocating prizes, electing boards etc.) during a period of intense social and geopolitical changes, such as decolonization and the Cold War. To uncover this regulatory role, the project will look at how formal and informal codes of conduct (sociability) led societies to distinguish – consciously or unintentionally – between (sub)groups of scientists (e.g. women scholars, scholars with different nationalities or socio-political views), and to in- or exclude these groups from aspects of scientific practice. In addition, the project investigates how codes of conduct related to the setting and maintaining of scientific standards, and to coping with (political) dissent. The results of this research will contribute to a better awareness of the versatile regulatory role of scientific societies within science, and will offer a nuanced historical perspective to the initiatives taken by present-day academies on diversity in science.

The doctoral students will each scrutinize a selection of scientific societies, including ‘general’ scientific societies operating across disciplines and disciplinary-specific societies stemming from the domains of cancer research, astronomy and history. They will each focus on a particular geographical context: one PhD student will focus on (British) India, the other PhD student on Brazil. Both will study the functioning of Indian and Brazilian scientific societies also in relation to international scientific societies and to international organizations such as UNESCO. The research will involve journal analyses, archival research and oral history interviews.

We offer two fully funded, full-time PhD positions, each for the duration of 4 years. The initial contracts will cover 1 year. After a positive evaluation, these can be extended with 1 year and subsequently with 2 years. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the university salary scales for PhD students and highly competitive by international standards.

You will carry out your PhD as part of the international research project GLOBAL ACADEMIES (funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council, N. 101042343) in a stimulating intellectual environment.