Call for papers: Diplomatic Studies of Science

Diplomatic Studies of Science: The Interplay of Science, Technology and International Affairs After the Second World War 

Monday, November 8th, 2021 and Tuesday November 9th, 2021

9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Maison de la Chimie, 28 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris

The Gordon Cain Conference 2021 focuses on the fascinating interplay of science, technology and international affairs after the Second World War. By doing so it marks the emergence of Diplomatic Studies of Science as a field at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies, History of Science, Diplomatic History, and International Politics. The Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the Science History Institute and the Gordon Cain Conference Fellow, Maria Rentetzi, invite contributions that explore the ways science and diplomacy have been co-produced throughout the second half of the 20th century reaching the present.

Call for Abstracts

To submit a paper to the 2021 Cain Conference, please send a 250-word abstract and a two-page CV to the following email address: Cainconference2021@sciencehistory.org. The deadline for submissions is June 13, 2021. Decisions will be made by July 7, 2021. Travel and accommodation subsidies will be available to contributors. Following the conference, Prof. Rentetzi will invite contributors to submit draft manuscripts of approximately 5,000 words for publication in an edited volume.

Conference Organizer: Maria Rentetzi

Maria Rentetzi is the chair for science, technology and gender studies in the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Theology at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany. She has been trained as a physicist and as a historian of science and technology. Her research focuses on two intertwined areas of inquiry: the investigation of the politically and historically situated character of technoscience and the critical examination of gender as a major analytic category in technoscientific endeavors. As part of her ERC Consolidator Grant project Rentetzi currently leads the development of what she calls “The Diplomatic Studies of Science.” This is a highly interdisciplinary field of research at the intersection of science and technology studies, history of science, diplomatic history, political sciences, and international affairs. Before joining FAU, she was a guest professor at the Technische Universität Berlin and a Professor for History and Sociology of Science and Technology at the National Technical University of Athens.

More Information

Please send all enquiries to Daniel Jon Mitchell, Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, Science History Institute, at dmitchell@sciencehistory.org.