Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded studentship at the University
of Cambridge, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Royal Society. The
PhD studentship is one of six awards being made by the AHRC Collaborative
Doctoral Partnership with the Science Museums and Archives Consortium. The
project is full-time, funded for three years and begins in October 2018. It
will be supervised by Dr Richard Powell (Scott Polar Research Institute and
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge), Dr Catherine Souch
(RGS-IBG) and Keith Moore (Royal Society), with technical training support
from Charlotte Connelly (Polar Museum, Cambridge).

 

This project aims to provide an account of the emergence of scientific
governance in Antarctica, by focusing on the Halley Bay research station.
Halley Bay was established by the Royal Society in 1956, in preparation for
the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 1957-58, and became a critical
centre for observations in global science, including for the discovery of
the ozone hole in the 1980s, until its temporary closure in 2017. The
histories of Halley Bay have never been fully investigated, and yet they
involve many important actors in British post-war science and international
governance. This project will involve research across a range of
collections and archives. The Royal Geographical Society holds papers
relating to the planning of Antarctic expeditions, including those to
Halley Bay. The Royal Society has recently catalogued their extensive
holdings of papers, films, scientific instruments and other equipment
related to the establishment of the station at Halley Bay. The Scott Polar
Research Institute (SPRI) houses objects from the Royal Society IGY
expedition, and photographs and a range of papers from the 1950s and 1960s.
The extensive archives of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
(SCAR), which was founded in tandem with the IGY, and the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS), are also held in Cambridge. There may also be the possibility
of fieldwork at relevant sites, with the support of the UK Antarctic
Heritage Trust, as part of the project. The student will have a degree of
freedom to shape the project to their own interests and specialism, given
the wealth of material available, and we anticipate that a number of
innovative connections between collections will emerge from the research.

 

Full details can be found at http://bit.ly/Halley-PhD