STAND, Early Career Research Seminars 2025-2026, Call for Participants

 STAND (Historical Commission on Science, Technology and Diplomacy), Early Career Research Seminars 2025-2026, Call for Participants – Deadline 20 September 2025

This is an open call for participants for the STAND (Commission on Science,

Technology and Diplomacy) Early Career Researchers Seminar series for

2025-2026. The commission and its members examine the broad history of

science, technology and diplomacy and are looking for post-grads and early

career researchers to present during next year's online seminar series.

We are looking for researchers who address the history of science,

technology and medicine in their broad international contexts. Topics

include but are not limited to: science diplomacy, international

cooperation in fields related to science, technology and medicine, and the

transnational circulation of technoscientific and medical knowledge,

materials and expertise. Please see our website for more information on

previous presenters, and the work we do:

https://sciencediplomacyhistory.org/postgraduate-early-career-initiatives/

The seminars will run from October 2025 to ca. May 2026 usually on the

first Thursday of the month - dates tbc with organisers - and will be held

on Microsoft Teams.

Seminars last one hour and usually consist of a brief presentation followed

by Q&A. Possible formats include:

   -

   A pre-circulated work-in-progress paper (journal article draft, thesis

   chapter, book chapter etc) of 10-20 pages, using the seminar as an

   opportunity to gain feedback or suggestions for improvement.

   -

   A 20-30 minute presentation on your current research, followed by Q&A,

   discussion and feedback.

   -

   An ‘in conversation with’ session where you are paired with someone with

   similar research interests, to have a discussion on a particular topic. You

   can also use this time to raise questions to experts or individuals working

   on similar topics to you.

   -

   We welcome inquiries regarding alternative seminar formats, and

   encourage you to get in touch if you are interested!

Please send any expressions of interest to STAND.ECR@gmail.com, in an email

which includes your name, short bio and a brief summary of your research as

it pertains to the seminar. We don’t need anything further at this stage,

but please indicate what format of session you would prefer. We also

encourage you to email us if you have any questions, queries or would like

to be included in the mailing list for the seminars if you are not already.

We’re particularly looking for someone to fill our October (Thurs Oct 9th)

session - so if you have some work you want feedback on soon, please let us

know!

Deadline: 20 September 2025

Kind regards,

Alice Naisbitt and Kat Zouboulakis

*STAND Commission - Early Career Researchers*

*The STAND Commission is a Historical Commission of the DHST which examines

the broad history of science, technology and diplomacy.*

CFA: Hormonal Bodies in Body Politics (Zeitschrift für Körpergeschichte)

 CFA: Hormonal Bodies in Body Politics (Zeitschrift für Körpergeschichte)

Guest editors: Sophia Wagemann (Charité Berlin), Xenia Steinbach (Hannover Medical School)

Deadline for proposals: September 19, 2025

Deadline for first drafts: February 27, 2026

Hormones regulate the body: they control vital physiological functions, drive growth, shape sexual development, enable or inhibit reproduction, influence psychological processes, and are often considered to be out of balance. These varied roles are fundamental to Western biomedical discourse, as well as to how many people in transatlantic societies perceive themselves and others. Concepts such as the female hormonal cycle, puberty, menopause, and andropause demonstrate how the paradigm of hormonal regulation also imposes a temporal structure on the body. As the extraction and synthesis of hormones became possible, they came to appear both immanent to and external from the body – circulating not only within it but also around it, in the form of medications such as hormone replacement therapies, psychopharmaceuticals, contraceptives, abortifacients, as well as in cosmetics and as endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment and everyday products. The ‘hormonal body’ thus becomes a medium of transformation and optimization, positioned between the poles of stabilization and threat – both of which may arise from internal and external sources. In this multifaceted role, the relationship between hormones and bodies has been the subject of investigation within the History of Science and Science and Technology Studies (STS) for several decades. Research in these fields has critically examined the problematic incorporation of culturally entrenched notions of masculinity and femininity, particularly in relation to so-called ‘sex hormones’, and has challenged scientific attempts to biologically fix binary gender categories with genes, hormones, and chromosomes (Fausto-Sterling 2000; Oudshoorn 1994; Richardson 2013; Satzinger 2009; Sengoopta 2006). Furthermore, scholars have explored how hormone research and the pharmaceutical industry became intertwined, showing how narratives of deficiency – most often projected onto female bodies – shaped a lucrative market for hormonal products (Stoff 2004, 2012; Ratmoko 2010; Gaudillière 2005; Nordlund 2011; Watkins 2007). Studies focusing on hormonal medications have also emphasized the precarious and risk-laden nature of hormone use (Gaudillière 2006; Nemec and Olszynko-Gryn 2022; Balz et al. 2008; Schwerin et al. 2016). Lastly, hormone-based therapies have been analyzed as essential components of gender-affirming treatments, with attention drawn to the significant barriers nonbinary and trans individuals face in accessing such medications (Preciado 2013; Nass 2023).

Building on this body of research, this Special Issue seeks to explore new modes of describing historical hormone–body relations, addressing themes such as:

- Pharmaceuticals and hormonally mediated bodies

- Historical perspectives on hormonal embodiment beyond sex hormones

- Hormones as objects that traverse bodily boundaries

- Processes of embodiment and body politics in relation to hormones

- New perspectives on hormonal temporalities

- Postcolonial and non-Western perspectives on hormone–body

intertwinings

- Histories of DSD (Differences of Sex Development) or TIN∗ (trans, inter and nonbinary) medicine and hormonal interventions

- Body–environment relations

- Praxeological approaches to hormonal bodies and their regulation

We intend to propose a Special Issue on the topic of ‘hormonal bodies,’ comprising approximately 5-7 contributions in both German and English. Contributions are welcome not only from the field of history but also from historically-oriented research in the cultural, social, media, and literary sciences.

To be considered for inclusion in our proposal for a special issue please send your abstract (about 400 words) and a short bio to Sophia Wagemann (sophia.wagemann@charite.de) or Xenia Steinbach (steinbach.xenia@mh-hannover.de) by September 19, 2025.

All submissions to Body Politics will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Further information on the Open Access journal Body Politics can be found here: http://bodypolitics.de/en/about-the-journal/

Referenzen/References

Balz, Viola; Schwerin, Alexander; Stoff, Heiko; Wahrig, Bettina (Hg.) (2008): Precarious Matters/Prekäre Stoffe. The History of Dangerous and Endangered Substances in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Berlin: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte.

Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000): Sexing the Body. Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.

Gaudillière, Jean-Paul (2005): Better Prepared than Synthesized. Adolf Butenandt, Schering AG and the Transformation of Sex Steroids Into Drugs (1930-1946). In: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (4), S. 612–644.

Gaudillière, Jean-Paul (2006): Hormones at Risk. Cancer and the Medical Uses of Industrially produced Sex Steroids in Germany, 1930–1960. In: Thomas Schlich und Ulrich Tröhler (Hg.): The Risks of Medical Innovation. Risk Perception and Assessment in Historical Context. London, New York: Routledge (Routledge Studies in the Social History of Medicine, 21), S. 136–154.

Nass, Biba O. (2023): Microdosing Testosteron. Ein alternativer Beipackzettel. Berlin: Querverlag.

Nemec, Birgit; Olszynko-Gryn, Jesse (2022): The Duogynon Controversy and Ignorance Production in Post-thalidomide West Germany. In: Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online (14), S. 75–86. DOI: 10.1016/j.rbms.2021.09.003.

Nordlund, Christer (2011): Hormones of Life. Endocrinology, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and the Dream of a Remedy for Sterility, 1930-1970. Sagamore Beach: Science History Publications.

Oudshoorn, Nelly (1994): Beyond the Natural Body. An Archaeology of Sex Hormones. New York, London: Routledge.

Preciado, Beatriz (2013): Testo Junkie. Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY.

Ratmoko, Christina (2010): Damit die Chemie stimmt. Die Anfänge der industriellen Herstellung von weiblichen und männlichen Sexualhormonen 1914-1938. Zürich: Chronos Verlag.

Richardson, Sarah S. (2013): Sex Itself. The Search for Male & Female in the Human Genome. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press.

Satzinger, Helga (2009): Differenz und Vererbung. Geschlechterordnungen in der Genetik und Hormonforschung 1890-1950. Köln: Böhlau Verlag.

Schwerin, Alexander; Stoff, Heiko; Wahrig, Bettina (Hg.) (2016): Biologics. A History of Agents Made From Living Organisms in the Twentieth Century. 3. Aufl. London, New York: Routledge (Studies for the Society for the Social History of Medicine).

Sengoopta, Chandak (2006): The Most Secret Quintessence of Life. Sex, Glands, and Hormones, 1850-1950. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press.

Stoff, Heiko (2004): Ewige Jugend. Konzepte der Verjüngung vom späten neunzehnten Jahrhundert bis ins Dritte Reich. Köln: Böhlau Verlag.

Stoff, Heiko (2012): Wirkstoffe. Eine Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Hormone, Vitamine und Enzyme, 1920-1970. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Watkins, Elizabeth Siegel (2007): The Estrogen Elixir. A History of Hormone Replacement Therapy in America. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.

CFP: Transnational approaches to the long 19th century history in East-Central Europe

 CFP: Transnational approaches to the long 19th century history in East-Central Europe

Vilnius 16.04.2026 - 17.04.2026

Application deadline: 30.11.2025

Organizers: 

Kirsten Bönker / David Feest, Nordost-Institut, Lüneburg; Povilas Dikavičius, Vilnius branch of the German Historical Institute Warsaw; Jan Musekamp, German Historical Institute Warsaw; Darius Staliūnas, Lithuanian Institute of History

The long 19th century in East-Central Europe was marked by the rise and fall of empires, the struggle for national self-determination, as well as by constitutional movements, the development of civil societies, and the emergence of modern capitalist systems. They also made their impact during the First Word War that also falls within the scope of the conference. These developments had a significant regional impact, yet at the same time, they were transnational phenomena, transcending the borders of one national group, states and empires.

This conference invites scholars to engage with the region’s history from a transnational perspective, emphasizing the interconnectedness, transfer and exchange but also the boundaries between different societies, cultures, and political systems. We seek papers that explore the various dimensions of transnationalism in the long 19th century in East-Central Europe. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Imperial expansion, imperial deflation: The expansion of the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian Empires led to the incorporation of various ethnic and linguistic groups, sparking nationalist movements and resistance. The different types of politics, including administrative centralization and cultural homogenization, within empires are a transnational topic in itself. The imperial practices of governance may also be highlighted in a comparative perspective.

2. Economic integration and trade: Scholars of economic history have maintained that the degree of economic globalization reached its peak in late 19th century. The explosion of the volume of international capital caused new relations between regional and global trade networks. Therefore, the emergence of industrial capitalism and the impact of economic policies on local communities is a crucial topic when examining East-Central Europe as a transnational space.

3. Nationalism as a transnational phenomenon: recent research has shown that the transnational approach is much better able than methodological nationalism to explain the speed of dissemination of national ideas, their appeal to the masses, the successes and failures of national movements, and the phenomenon of national indifference.

4. Cultural exchange and transfer: The transmission of ideas, artistic expression, and technological innovations across national borders is a central topic of a transnational approach to history. Intensifying research on global subjects is a way of accessing the shared history of nations and cultures, which is the primary focus of cultural transfer studies. It stresses eclecticism rather than a master script of globalization or nationalization and features a pastiche of global, local, and hybrid cultures; modernist narratives intersect with local history to create new configurations.

5. Migration and diaspora: The long nineteenth century was a time when the movement of people, ideas, and cultures across national borders advanced significantly.

Scholars have spoken of a pastiche between global, local, and hybrid cultures, where modernist narratives and local history created a new mode. Immigration was also a topic where the regulating state attempted to exercise control and surveillance and enforce its concepts of citizenship. 

6. Gender, race, and class: In the same vein, categories of self- and external description developed in a local as well as a global space. The conference aims to explore how transnational processes have affected the lives of various social groups, including women, minorities, and workers, and how they have responded to these changes.

7. Environmental history: Environmental history, as a research topic on the long 19th century in East-Central Europe, can reveal the interconnectedness of human and natural systems across national borders. The expansion of empires and the rise of industrial capitalism had profound impacts on the region’s ecosystems, climate, and natural resources, leading to deforestation, pollution, and resource exploitation.

8. Political cultures and the rise of civil societies: The long 19th century was the era of increasing civic engagement, the rise of liberal movements, of women's rights movements, of societal claims to strengthen the rule of law, etc. On the one hand, we have states that increasingly try to control their citizens, and on the other, we have an emerging civil society that often counters these very efforts. The conference aims to explore political cultures and civic engagement from a comparative perspective.

9. Border Studies: The fluidity and contested nature of borders can also offer critical insights into transnational processes.  East Central Europe is often seen as the periphery of Europe. Still, to take a perspective from this region can help us to understand the continent as a whole.

10. Technological and Infrastructure Networks: The development of railways, telegraph lines, ports and other technological innovations interconnected different regions and facilitated economic, cultural, and social exchanges.

The conference welcomes contributions from a diverse range of disciplines, including history, sociology, cultural studies, economics, and political science. We encourage papers that engage with theoretical debates and methodological innovations, such as network analysis, transnational historiography, and discourse analysis.

Accommodation and travel costs will be borne by the organizer.

To submit your paper proposal, please provide a title, an abstract of 250-300 words, and a brief biographical statement. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2025. We are planning to publish selected papers. We look forward to receiving your proposals and engaging in a stimulating discussion about the long 19th-century history in East-Central Europe from a transnational perspective.

For more information, and to hand in your proposal, please contact Povilas Dikavičius (povilas.dikavicius@dhi.lt) as representative of the organizing committee.

Simon Parkin: The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege. Sceptre, 2024 (now in paperback!)

 Simon Parkin: The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege. Sceptre, 2024 (now in paperback!)

About this book

From the winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize comes a fascinating and moving untold story of the Leningrad scientists who risked everything for the future of humanity.

In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad – now St Petersburg – and began the longest blockade in recorded history. By the most conservative estimates, the siege would claim the lives of three-quarters of a million people. Most died of starvation.

At the centre of the embattled city stood a converted palace that housed the greatest living plant library ever amassed – the world's first seed bank. After attempts to evacuate the collection failed, and as supplies dwindled, the scientists responsible faced a terrible decision: should they distribute the specimens to the starving population, or preserve them in the hope that they held the key to ending global famine?

Drawing on previously unseen sources, The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad tells the remarkable and moving story of the botanists who remained at the Plant Institute during the darkest days of the siege, risking their lives in the name of science.

Biography

Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society (RHS), and is the author of A Game of Birds and Wolves and The Island of Extraordinary Captives, which was a New Yorker Book of the Year and won the Wingate Literary Prize. He lives in West Sussex.

CFP: The Greyzone of the Green Transition

CFP: The Greyzone of the Green Transition

"The Greyzone of the Green Transition" is a conference dedicated to advancing conversations on environmental justice in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It brings together senior, doctoral, and postdoctoral researchers, and activists committed to shedding light on the often-overlooked injustices and forms of resistance emerging in the region. Observing the overlap between post-communist legacies and green transition trajectories, the conference investigates how structural, gradual, and hidden forms of violence emerge in the context of resource struggles and environmental decline. We aim to deepen the theoretical framing of environmental injustice in the region and foster a space for collective reflection and action.

Proposals should include a title, abstract (up to 300 words), and a brief biography of the author(s) (up to 200 words). Please specify in your proposal which thematic cluster you opted for.

Location: Câmpu Cetății, Mureș County, Romania

Dates: 18 - 19 May 2026

Please submit your abstracts to grant.ecojust@ulbsibiu.ro by September 30th, 2025.

Find more details on our conference page: https://grants.ulbsibiu.ro/ecojust/greyzone-of-the-green-transition/

 

Milena Bartlová: Dějiny českých dějin umění II. 1970–1990. Nemožnost myslet celek [History of Czech Art II. 1970–1990. The Impossibility of Thinking the Whole].

Milena Bartlová: Dějiny českých dějin umění II. 1970–1990. Nemožnost myslet celek [History of Czech Art II. 1970–1990. The Impossibility of Thinking the Whole]. Praha: UMPRUM 2025,  ISBN 978-80-88622-30-7

Publikace je druhým dílem historického vylíčení proměn akademického oboru dějiny a teorie umění v dnešní České republice a zabývá se dvaceti lety tzv. normalizace. Navazuje na první díl Dějiny českých dějin umění 1945–1969 / Dějiny umění slouží vědě o člověku (UMPRUM 2020). Na základě rozsáhlého archivního studia, čtení dobových uměleckohistorických publikací, pamětnických rozhovorů a v neposlední řadě i svých vlastních vzpomínek a zkušeností vykresluje autorka období, kdy čeští historici a historičky umění dosáhli dlouho připravovaných cílů svého oboru, avšak museli se potýkat s omezováním svobody vědeckého bádání i vysokoškolského studia a s nemožností volného cestování. Kniha poprvé představuje blízký pohled na navigování jednotlivců i celé oborové komunity v situaci napětí mezi každodenností, podvolením a vzdorem v intelektuální společnosti 70.–80. let. Tuto dobu autorka chápe jako „naši domácí postmodernu“, jež vedla k rozštěpení reality, které však neprobíhá podle konvenčního rozlišení dobra a zla. V neposlední řadě představuje kniha teoreticky podložený pokus, jak včlenit badatelský subjekt do studia soudobých dějin. Systematický i chronologický výklad nabízejí vhled do fungování infrastruktur humanitního vědeckého oboru a odhalují strategie vyrovnávání s cenzurou i dalšími omezeními. Kniha předkládá dramatické lidské příběhy rámované konfrontací s tajnou politickou policií a požadavkem na politickou konformitu prostřednictvím členství v komunistické straně. Na druhé straně zkoumá také zkušenosti autonomie a svobody na okrajích povoleného, zejména v samizdatové produkci, přičemž klade větší důraz na vnitřně svobodné jednání než na status oběti. Práce ukazuje tři roky přestavby, zvrat listopadové revoluce a překvapení následujícího roku 1990, přičemž nabízí podněty k tomu, abychom jej přestali zjednodušeně považovat za „rok nula“. Grafika Jan Čumlivski. Vychází za finanční podpory Grantové agentury ČR. Vydání české.

Milena Bartlová je profesorkou dějin umění UMPRUM, kde se po předchozí medievistické práci začala více orientovat na moderní umění a jeho teorii. Je autorkou mnoha významných knih (Co bylo Československo?, UMPRUM 2017, Retrospektiva, UMPRUM 2018). K vydání připravila výbor Baxandallových textů Inteligence obrazu a jazyk dějin umění (UMPRUM 2019). Píše také popularizační a kulturně-politickou publicistiku.

Sophie Schwarzmaier: Transnationale Expertenkulturen und Geschlechterordnungen. Józefa Joteyko zwischen Belgien und Polen 1908–1928

 Sophie Schwarzmaier: Transnationale Expertenkulturen und Geschlechterordnungen. Józefa Joteyko zwischen Belgien und Polen 1908–1928. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag 2025. ISBN 978-3-8353-5937-6

Eine Pionierin der modernen Wissenschaft zwischen West und Ost, zwischen Labor und Öffentlichkeit.

Als eine der ersten Frauen machte sich die 1866 bei Kyjiw geborene Józefa Joteyko einen Namen in der Physiologie, der Psychologie und der Pädologie. Sie forschte, lehrte, schrieb und publizierte innerhalb wie außerhalb der Universität - stieß an Grenzen und überschritt diese. Ihr Wirken in Brüssel vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg setzte sie ab 1919 in Warschau fort, der Hauptstadt des neuen polnischen Nationalstaates.

Als ambitionierte Frau in einer Männerdomäne stellte Joteyko Vorstellungen und Praktiken darüber infrage, wer Wissenschaft als Beruf ausüben darf und wie Geschlechterunterschiede wissenschaftlich zu bestimmen sind. Als Herausgeberin und Wissenschaftsorganisatorin nutzte sie internationale Zeitschriften und Institutionen sowie ein transnationales Netzwerk zwischen West- und Ostmitteleuropa. Als beratende Expertin setzte sie sich zugleich für gesellschaftliche Nationalisierungsprozesse ein, etwa mit ihren Plänen zum Aufbau einer »polnischen Schule«.

Sophie Schwarzmaier stellt Józefa Joteyko erstmals einem breiteren Publikum vor und beleuchtet dabei die Verflechtungen europäischer Wissenschaftskulturen im ersten Viertel des 20. Jahrhunderts.

Sophie Schwarzmaier, geb. 1987, studierte Kulturwissenschaften und Europäische Kulturgeschichte in Frankfurt (Oder), Paris und Łódź und promovierte an der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). Sie arbeitet als Koordinatorin einer internationalen Graduiertenschule am Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte in Berlin.