Encounters and Exchanges in a Global Past

The Oxford Transnational and Global History SeminarLink opens in a new window is inviting submissions for a postgraduate conference, Saturday 25 June, 2022. The conference will be held in person in the Oxford History Faculty.

We welcome submissions on the theme 'Encounters and Exchanges in a Global Past.' We will explore the ways in which encounters and exchanges were experienced in the near and distant past. Despite the recent proliferation of frameworks for understanding contact and the exchange of goods, ideas and biota that accompanied it, contact is rarely considered from a truly global perspective that spans millennia, continents and disciplines.

We welcome interdisciplinary submissions relating to exchanges across time and space. We are particularly interested in submissions on:the infrastructure that underlay encounters and exchanges, such as technology and ideology; multi-scalar interaction; the role of translation in contact; the environmental history of encounters and exchanges.

Sessions will consist of 20 minute papers with time for questions and discussion.

Interested postgraduates should send a 400-word abstract and brief biography to oxfordtghs@gmail.com

Submission deadline: 1 May 2022

For further events and information visit our website http://global.history.ox.ac.ukLink opens in a new window

Metallic Empire: Science, Energy, and Industrial Imperialism in the John Percy Collection, 1817–89

Applications are invited for a fully-funded PhD studentship (fees and maintenance) to be held at the Department of History, University of Warwick and the Science Museum, London. The studentship focuses on the colonial and industrial history of the John Percy Collection, held at the Science Museum, London. The Percy Collection comprises over 3,700 mineralogical specimens, including coal from South Africa, silver from Australia, and copper from India. The collection was made by John Percy FRS (1817–1889), and then subsequently acquired by the South Kensington Museum on his death.

The call for applications for the EUI funded PhD programme is opening on 1 November 2021. The EUI Department of History and Civilisation offers exceptional opportunities to study global connections from early modern to modern European history, in the magical city and setting of Florence.

If you are new to the idea of a PhD in History at Warwick: In your first year, you will need to attend courses and seminars on methodologies and you are encouraged to apply a different approach to your research. It involves extensive reading, but it is totally worthy to spend lot of time on it, it will provide you with a solid foundation for your research. Then, in your second year, you can continue to combine ideas and start to collect data from primary resources. This year, you will routinely have discussions with your supervisor, about more details of your research. I enjoyed a lot of this year, as my supervisor was super-intelligent, she did not teach me what to do or how to do, but tried to inspire me how/what I want to do. It made me realize my potential. In your third year and fourth year, the writing starts, and the pressure increases. But don’t worry, you are not alone. In terms of my best experience so far: my supervisor and other faculty members’ encouragement over these two years. During the four-year study, there were many conferences, workshops, and seminars in the department, where I met other academics in the fields. Just talk to them, you would be surprised how helpful they are.

If I could provide only one piece of advice to future students, that would be, try your best to enjoy your research and graduate school years, enjoy life as student; as they say: it is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.