Call for Papers: Metals, Minerals, and Material Worlds: Art, Extraction, and Knowledge in Central Europe and Beyond

Call for Papers: Metals, Minerals, and Material Worlds: Art, Extraction, and Knowledge in Central Europe and Beyond

An International Symposium of the Minescapes Research Project

Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague May 19-21, 2027.

We invite proposals for papers for an international symposium, Metals, Minerals, and Material Worlds: Art, Extraction, and Knowledge in Central Europe and Beyond, to be held at the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague on May 19–21, 2027. Proposals are due October 1, 2026 (see submission details below).

This symposium, organized by Tina Asmussen (German Mining Museum Bochum: Leibniz Research Museum for Georesources) and Pamela Smith (Center for Science and Society, Columbia University), with Sylva Dobalová and Martin Mádl (both Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences), is part of the ongoing series Minescapes: Socio-Natural Sites of Resource, Extraction, and Knowledge that investigates the complexity and dynamics of human-environmental interactions in mining landscapes using the concept of a “material complex.” Research on a material complex begins in a study of the natural materials and follows them through reciprocal interactions with human bodily practices, techniques, and skills into substances and objects that are given meaning, used, consumed, desired, and studied by human communities. Each of these stages—the materials; the human–material interactions via skilled practice; and the objects and subjects and their meanings in production, use, consumption, and afterlives—can and often do form self-contained sites of study and analysis. In contrast, the Minescapes events aim, through drawing upon the archives of nature (mines, forests, water systems) and society (archives, libraries, art collections), to bring together these often rich separate areas of study into a unified field in order to raise fruitful questions for individual disciplines as well as for the whole.

The Prague symposium brings together scholars from across disciplines to examine the material worlds of metals and minerals—following them from the geological and mineralogical conditions of their formation, through their extraction, smelting, processing, transport, and trade, into the objects, images, and substances they become, and on to their use, consumption, and afterlives. Central Europe—with its long and densely documented history of metal and mineral extraction, its merchant-capitalist enterprises, and its movement of materials across local and global networks—offers a rich setting for these questions, while contributions that extend the perspective beyond the region are equally welcome.

We welcome proposals from scholars in any discipline and at any career stage whose work speaks to the symposium theme. We are especially interested in contributions that bridge the disciplinary boundaries by which the study of metals and minerals has conventionally been divided. Relevant fields and approaches include, but are not limited to:

●       the history of art and art conservation, including technical art history and conservation science, with particular interest in early modern sculpture, metalwork, and the material culture of metals and minerals

●       the history of early modern science, technology, and medicine, including metallurgy, mineralogy, and alchemy

●       environmental, economic, and political-economic history, including the organization of mining, labor, capital, and trade

●       the history of mining and of mining knowledge

●       the natural sciences, including geology, geochemistry, geography, forest science, and materials science

By bringing these conventionally separate fields into conversation, the symposium aims to construct a more integrated history of art and making as human engagement with the materials of the natural environment.

Practical information

This symposium is generously supported by the Getty Foundation's Connecting Art Histories program, through the project The Material Complex of Copper in Central Europe and Beyond. In keeping with the program’s aims, the symposium seeks to bridge the historical geo-political divisions that have long separated research networks across Europe, and therefore especially encourages the participation of scholars based at Central and Eastern European institutions. Scholars from all regions and institutions are warmly invited to apply; please note, however, that the symposium's capacity to provide full financial support for travel and accommodation will be limited.

Proposals should include full name, current affiliation, and email address; a paper title; an abstract of no more than 300 words; a short CV (max. 2 pages with PhD or other terminal degree completion year or expected completion).

Submissions are due October 1, 2026, and should be sent to minescapes2027@gmail.com.

CFP: “Life Cycles under Socialist Regimes: Managing Gender Relations, Aging, and Health”

 The Institute of Contemporary History, Ljubljana, invites paper proposals for the Workshop “Life Cycles under Socialist Regimes: Managing Gender Relations, Aging, and Health,” to be held on February 16, 2027, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

State socialism, as a political and economic system, was one of the major innovations of the twentieth century and became a global phenomenon in its latter half, with socialist regimes emerging across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. State socialism can be understood as a political regime characterized by single-party government, directed modernization under systemic governmentality, and the predominance of state property. From the 1950s onward, socialist governance increasingly embraced the notion that political, economic, and social lives could be organized and governed as closed systems. With the “scientific and technological revolution” integrated into the ideology as a new stage on the path to communism, the accumulation and application of knowledge became a central function of state socialist regimes, while holistic, systemic governmentality turned into a key feature of the ideology. The workshop will explore how socialist states sought to manage human life cycles through scientific knowledge, administrative practices, and institutional interventions. Focusing on gender relations, aging, and health, it will examine these fields as central dimensions of socialist biopolitics and as sites where broader models of governance and technocratic management were developed. Bringing together perspectives from conceptual, institutional, and political history as well as the social sciences, the workshop will investigate how socialist regimes attempted to organize social reproduction, welfare, health, and individual life trajectories between the 1950s and 1991. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the development and implementation of official policies concerning family, gender, demographic change, health, and aging; group and individual responses to official policies; the role of scientific research and expert communities in shaping socialist governance; international cooperation and the circulation of knowledge, expertise, and technologies; and the communication of scientific knowledge to broader publics. We are particularly interested in approaches that examine how scientific and technological visions influenced understandings of the human body, social reproduction, and socialist futures, including the role of techno-optimism, popular science, and the intersections between science fact and science fiction. The workshop will situate these developments within a global and comparative framework, paying particular attention to the circulation of ideas, institutions, and practices beyond national boundaries.

The workshop is part of the project Socialist Management in a Global Context: Technocratic Developments in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, 1955–1991, sponsored by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS). It is part of a series of four workshops, the results of which will be published together. The selection of papers will, hence, be based on their quality and coherence. Submissions addressing developments outside the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia are explicitly encouraged.

Please submit a 300-word abstract and a short biography to PD Dr. Ivan Sablin (ivan.sablin@inz.si) by September 15, 2026. Notifications of acceptance are expected by the end of October. Invited participants will be expected to submit drafts of up to 7,000 words by February 1, 2027. The organizers will be able to provide accommodation to the participants but cannot cover their travel costs. See less

Dana Hašková: Ruská bílá emigrace v Československu

 Dana Hašková: Ruská bílá emigrace v Československu: Představitelé technických, přírodních a zemědělských věd [Russian White Emigration in Czechoslovakia: Representatives of Technical, Natural and Agricultural Sciences]. Praha: Academia, Slovanský ústav 2026. ISBN: 978-80-200-3697-1

Po revoluci v roce 1917 a následné občanské válce emigrovaly z území bývalé Ruské říše statisíce lidí. Přibližně třicet tisíc žilo i v meziválečném Československu.

Zvláštní skupinu této emigrace tvořila ruská vědecká a kulturní elita. V Československu tak působily stovky profesorů, pracovníků vysokých škol a vědců z nejrůznějších oborů.

Své odborné práce emigranti vydávali v českém i slovenském jazyce, publikovali v českém a slovenském periodickém tisku a zapojovali se do zdejšího vědeckého života. Badatelé věnující se tématu ruské emigrace se dosud zaměřovali především na představitele humanitních či uměleckých oborů. Činnost představitelů technických, přírodních a zemědělských věd zatím není podrobněji zdokumentována. V populárně-naučných publikacích a odborných článcích jsou zmiňováni pouze jednotlivci v souvislosti s výsledky své práce. Monografie Ruská bílá emigrace v Československu je tak prvním pokusem zmapovat činnost těchto techniků a přírodovědců během jejich pobytu v Československu. Uplatnili se zde jako pedagogové, v praxi i ve výzkumu a ve svých oborech mnohdy patřili ke špičkovým odborníkům. Předkládaná publikace z velké části vychází z dobového tisku, nekrologů, archivních materiálů, rodinných archivů a databáze udělených patentů. Citované dokumenty rovněž podávají svědectví o životě v emigraci a těžkostech, s nimiž se emigranti museli v běžném životě vyrovnávat.

CFP: Beyond Borders: Global Histories of Transboundary Rivers

 Beyond Borders: Global Histories of Transboundary Rivers

International Online Workshop

University of Ostrava, Czech Republic

November 19-20, 2026

 

More than 300 river basins cross international borders, providing freshwater, energy, transportation, food, and ecosystem services for billions of people. Yet transboundary rivers are far more than shared natural resources. They are political, technological, legal, ecological, and diplomatic spaces where states, engineers, scientists, international organizations, and local communities have negotiated competing visions of development, sovereignty, environmental protection, and cooperation.

Although transboundary rivers have attracted growing scholarly attention, research remains fragmented across disciplines. Environmental historians have explored changing human–river relationships; historians of technology have examined hydraulic engineering and infrastructure; historical geographers have analysed river landscapes and territorial change; scholars of Science and Technology Studies (STS) have investigated expertise and knowledge production; political scientists and scholars of international relations have focused on water diplomacy and international institutions; legal scholars have examined international water law; while hydrologists and water-governance researchers have developed sophisticated frameworks for understanding river basin management. Yet these conversations often do not intersect.

This workshop starts from the premise that understanding transboundary rivers requires genuine interdisciplinary dialogue. Rather than treating rivers simply as environmental systems or geopolitical boundaries, we invite participants to explore them as dynamic socio-environmental systems shaped simultaneously by ecology, infrastructure, science, law, diplomacy, economics, and politics.

Building upon the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) project An Environmental History of Transboundary Rivers in Cold War East-Central Europe, the workshop seeks to expand regional scholarship into a broader comparative and global conversation. It aims to establish an international interdisciplinary network dedicated to the historical study of transboundary rivers and to identify new directions for collaborative research at the intersection of environmental history, history of technology, geography, international law, political science, STS, and water governance.

 

We welcome contributions from scholars working in:

Environmental History

History of Technology

History of Science

Historical Geography

Science and Technology Studies (STS)

Water History

Environmental Humanities

Political Ecology

International Relations

International Environmental Law

Environmental Governance

Hydrology and Water Governance

Geography

Anthropology

Sociology

Environmental Planning

 

We welcome proposals on topics including, but not limited to:

Comparative histories of transboundary river basins

International river commissions and basin organizations

Environmental governance across political borders

Water diplomacy and international cooperation

Rivers during the Cold War

Hydraulic engineering, dams, and river regulation

Navigation and inland waterways

Flood protection and disaster management

Pollution, water quality, and environmental monitoring

Fisheries, wetlands, and aquatic ecosystems

Hydrological science, environmental expertise, and knowledge production

International organizations and shared waters

Climate change and the historical governance of river basins

Colonial and postcolonial river governance

Indigenous and local perspectives on transboundary rivers

Comparative and global approaches to river history

Rivers, sovereignty, and international environmental law

Methods and concepts for interdisciplinary river research

Studies covering all world regions and historical periods are welcome.

 

Format:

The workshop will be held in online format.

Rather than focusing exclusively on completed research, we particularly encourage proposals presenting original archival research, conceptual interventions, comparative perspectives, methodological reflections, and work in progress.

The workshop is designed to maximize discussion and exchange across disciplines. Each paper will receive substantial time for discussion, and the programme will conclude with a roundtable on future directions in the interdisciplinary study of transboundary rivers.

---

Submission

Please submit:

an abstract of 300–500 words

a short biography (100 words)

to: cesh@osu.cz

Submission deadline: 15 September 2026

Notification of acceptance: 1 October 2026

hybrid event: 10th Anniversary of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

10th Anniversary of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

We warmly invite you to join us in celebrating the Center’s 10th anniversary – a special occasion that marks an impressive success story.

When: Monday 27th of July 2026. Starting at 9.30am (Berlin time zone)

Where: Online via Zoom or in Presence at Paderborn University, L-Builduing Pohlweg 57, 33098 Paderborn

Since its foundation in 2016 by Prof. Dr Ruth E. Hagengruber<https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/ruth_e_hagengruber/> with the support of Svenja Schulze<https://www.svenja-schulze.de/>, then Minister for Science and Innovation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Center has developed into an internationally recognised illuminating exemplar of research.

Through groundbreaking publications, a wide range of high-calibre events, and innovative teaching and research formats, it has had a lasting impact on the visibility of women in the history of philosophy and science and has played a decisive role in reorienting academic discourse.

The anniversary offers an opportunity to look back on this development, to celebrate key milestones and to look ahead together to future projects.

The celebration will take place on July 27, 2026 from 9:30 – 12:00 (CEST) at Paderborn University. The event takes place in hybrid format. To access the zoom link please register at our indico page<https://indico.uni-paderborn.de/event/157/>.

Program:

Monday (July 27)

Room L3 204

9:30 – 12:00

Celebration – 10 Years Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists<https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/event/10th-anniversary-of-the-center-for-the-history-of-women-philosophers-and-scientists/>

Welcome

President of Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer

Deputy Mayor of Paderborn, Sabine Kramm

Office Manager for Verena Mertens, Member of the European Parliament for the OWL Constituency, Hartwig Höschen

Managing Director of the Paderborn Economic Development Agency, Jürgen Janke

Birthday Greetings

Dean of Research of Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Ilka Mindt

Executive Board of the IAPh e.v., Prof. Dr. Ma Theresa Payongayong

Women’s & Gender Research Network NRW, Dr. Corinna Bath

Deutscher Akademikerinnenbund, Prof. Dr. Dorothee Meister

Constitutive Member of ZenMeM, Peter Stadler

10 Years of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Prof. Dr. Ruth E. Hagengruber, Director

Honours

Deputy Directors 10 Years Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Project Digital Humanities Cooperation Partners

Music

Charlotte Michels: Deborah Henson-Conant (*1953)

Baroque Flamenco

Awarding Ceremony of the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize

Laudatio: Prof. Dr. Kateryna Karpenko

Thanks to the Donator: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Detmers

Music

Charlotte Michels: Henriette Renié (1875-1956) Pièce Symphonique

Official Signing of two Memoranda of Understanding

with the University of the Philippines Diliman represented by Chancellor Prof. Atty. Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, Prof. Ma Theresa T. Payongayong, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Prof. Ruth Lusterio-Rico, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy Prof. Lilybeth Lumagbas.

with the Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Kashmir, India, represented by Vice Chancellor Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, Assistant Professor Muzaffar Ali Malla, Dean Academic Affairs Prof. Sheikh Aijaz Bashir, and Dean of the School of Humanities & Social Sciences Prof. Afroz Bisati

Dr. Jil Muller

Assistant Professor, Post-doc Researcher

Philosophy Department, Paderborn University:

https://www.uni-paderborn.de/person/91668

Deputy Head and Researcher at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists:

https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/about/team/

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber

Universität Paderborn

Raum TP 8.1.45 // Tel.: 05251 60-5034

Technologie Park 8

33100 Paderborn

Germany

Wojciech Baran: 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗶̂𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 (𝟭𝟰𝟮𝟴–𝟭𝟰𝟯𝟬). 𝗘́𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗲́𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲

 Wojciech Baran: 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗶̂𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 (𝟭𝟰𝟮𝟴–𝟭𝟰𝟯𝟬). 𝗘́𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗲́𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲. Brepols 2026. 

Plus d'Infos: https://bit.ly/4gCFW4K

Cet ouvrage propose un examen approfondi de la pensée théologique à Cracovie au XVe siècle à travers l’étude et l’édition critique des principia aux Sentences de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie (1389–1456), rédigés entre 1428 et 1430 à l’Université de Cracovie. L’analyse s’ouvre sur le rôle central des Sentences de Pierre Lombard dans la formation intellectuelle des facultés de théologie médiévales, avant de retracer la figure et l’œuvre de Benoît Hesse, théologien polonais méconnu. La partie principale de la monographie examine la fonction du principium dans le cadre institutionnel et pédagogique de la faculté de théologie cracovienne, tout en mettant en lumière les orientations doctrinales et les enjeux philosophiques qui se dégagent des textes de Hesse. En complément de cette étude, le volume offre une édition critique des principia, accompagnée d’un apparat des sources, permettant d’accéder à un corpus jusqu’ici difficilement accessible. Ce travail ouvre ainsi une fenêtre sur la culture théologique de Cracovie au XVe siècle, un domaine dont la majorité des recherches demeure encore largement confinée à la langue polonaise.

TABLE DES MATIÈRES

Remerciements

Abréviations

I. Introduction doctrinale

1. Introduction

2. Benoît Hesse de Cracovie – la personne et l’œuvre

2.1. Curriculum vitae

2.2. Les œuvres

Philosophie

Théologie

Œuvres d’attribution incertaine

3. Les principia aux Sentences à l’université de Cracovie

3.1. Rôle du principium à l’université

3.2. Structure du principium de Benoît Hesse

L’invocatio

La recommendatio Sacrae Scripturae

La quaestio et sa structure

La protestatio incluse dans la première question

Le cas exceptionnel du magister concurrens

La gratiarum actio

4. La pensée de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie

4.1. Le statut épistémologique et le rôle de la théologie

Les possibilités de la raison et le rôle de la foi

La vérité de la théologie

La philosophie est-elle utile ?

La valeur scientifique de la théologie

Vision de la théologie dans le creuset du débat

Conclusion : la théologie est science et sagesse

4.2. Création et son commencement

Conception de la création dans le creuset du débat

Conclusion : le monde n’a pas de commencement et n’est pas éternel

4.3. Motif de l’incarnation

Conclusion : propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis et incarnatus est

4.4. Efficacité et nécessité des sacrements

Conclusion : les sacrements portent en eux-mêmes la grâce

5. Les principia aux Sentences de Hesse sont-ils une simple répétition d’opinions déjà connues ?

II. Principes éditoriaux

1. L’attribution des principia

2. Les témoins des textes

3. Les manuscrits

A. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1518

B. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1519

C. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1526

D. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1531

E. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 2091

S. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1538

G. Gniezno, Archiwum Archidiecezjalne, 166

H. Gniezno, Archiwum Archidiecezjalne, 165

4. Discussion stemmatique

4.1. Les groupes de manuscrits

4.1.1. Le groupe A–B–D

4.1.2. Le manuscrit S

4.1.3. Le groupe E–G–H

4.1.4. Le manuscrit C

4.2. Stemmata codicum

4.2.1. Premier principium (témoins A, S)

4.2.2. Deuxième principium (témoins B, C, S)

4.2.3. Troisième principium (témoins D, G, S)

4.2.4. Quatrième principium (témoins E, S, H)

5. Passages problématiques

6. Orthographe, ponctuation et apparats

III. Principia in quattuor libros Sententiarum – Édition critique

Abbreviationes

Principium in I librum Sententiarum

Principium in II librum Sententiarum

Principium in III librum Sententiarum

Principium in IV librum Sententiarum

Fontes

Bibliographie

Manuscrits

Tapuscrits

Éditions des œuvres de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie

Sources avant 1800

Sources après 1800

Indices

Iwona Arabas: Thesaurus mundi naturalis. Gabinet Historii Naturalnej księżnej Anny z Sapiehów Jabłonowskiej [Thesaurus mundi naturalis. The Natural History Collection of Princess Anna Sapieha Jabłonowska].

 Iwona Arabas: Thesaurus mundi naturalis. Gabinet Historii Naturalnej księżnej Anny z Sapiehów Jabłonowskiej [Thesaurus mundi naturalis. The Natural History Collection of Princess Anna Sapieha Jabłonowska]. IHN PAN / Aspra 2026. ISBN 978-83-8209-390-2

Spis tresci: https://www.aspra.pl/products/files/1086_1775531378_ysrm.pdf

Bez jakichkolwiek wątpliwości określenie Thesaurus trzeba jednak odnieść nie tylko do zbiorów [księżnej Anny Jabłonowskiej], ale również do samej książki – jest to bowiem prawdziwy skarbiec wiadomości i danych nierzadko wcześniej nieznanych lub mało znanych. […] to niezwyczajna książka o... niezwykłej kobiecie. […] ze wszech miar godna polecenia nie tylko historykom nauki, ale wszystkim miłośnikom dobrej, zajmującej lektury.

prof. dr hab. Ludwik Frey

Upór Autorki w poszukiwaniu dokumentacji transakcji z 1801 i 1802 r. zaowocował odnalezieniem stosownych dokumentów oraz, jak się wydaje, odnalezieniem części kolekcji numizmatów. Dokumenty te zostały, ze stosownym komentarzem, przedstawione w monografii, czyniąc z niej rozprawę o wielkiej wartości z zakresu rodzimego muzealnictwa oraz naukowych relacji [badaczy]. […] Zasadniczy cel monografii to jednoznaczne ustalenie motywacji utworzenia gabinetu historii naturalnej na wzór podobnych na Zachodzie oraz chęć podarowania [zbiorów] Rzeczypospolitej, osiągnięty został w wysokim stopniu precyzji.

prof. dr hab. Zbigniew J. Wójcik