The Science of Waste
The Science of Waste: Histories for the Present and Future
Lead Supervisor: Andrew Mendelsohn
Degree Programme: Department of History, QMUL
Project Description
Aim
This project aims to understand the present and future of waste by examining its pasts. It will assess recent and long-term developmental patterns in the sciences in relation to their social and political contexts. There is scope for several doctoral projects in this area during the Living with Waste programme, as relevant sciences and fields of expertise range widely. They may include microbiology, materials science, physics and chemistry, geology, engineering and public health, and social and environmental sciences in the 20th-21st centuries.
Questions
- How have the sciences developed in relation to waste?
- Have the problems posed by waste been understood and handled differently following the observations or interventions of scientific experts?
- How have the sciences co-defined problems, co-developed methods, or co-produced ‘waste’ concepts and practices in interaction with government, business, lay expertise, occupational groups, local communities and wider publics? How have these problems, methods and concepts been shaped by activism and protest, the arts and education?
- What techniques (mathematical models, curves, narratives) and evolving standards (baselines and benchmarks, standards of living, economic indicator norms) have been developed to measure waste and to project the waste future?
- How have developments around waste in the history of the sciences been shaped by politics, economic interests and policies, market dynamics, moral economies or societal conflicts?
- What are the social backgrounds, moral and political beliefs, and professional personae of scientists, engineers, and technical experts involved in waste-producing industries (from consumer products and packaging to building construction)? And in waste-reducing initiatives and industries? What about in government regulatory agencies, or activism? What motivations and self-justifications are expressed from these different positions?
Foci
Applications are invited to address these broad questions in focused ways. Possible foci include:
- Landfills, dumps, wastelands – as sites of multiple actors and intersecting histories – including waste-related disasters, e.g. Aberfan
- Waste water systems and their problems
- Recycling, composting, biodegradability, incineration, biomass waste-to-energy, circular economies
- Agricultural and food systems and food waste
- Uses and waste of life through biological, clinical, and reproductive technologies
- Waste and its relations to industrial and consumer product design, sites and sectors of production such as mining and the construction industry
- Specific waste-reducing innovations, but also the persistence or renewal of old technologies and approaches to waste
- Evolving and contested concepts, models, and associated practices – ‘waste’ itself, pollution, ‘biodegradable’, cycle
- Testing, monitoring and data collection, risk assessment, modelling, and future projections around the accumulation or processing of waste
Further parameters
Applications are expected to identify tractable case studies and chronological periods as well as source material, demonstrating a feasible plan for how it will be researched. Proposals for comparative studies are especially welcome. Nationally comparative proposals should normally involve Britain and one or more other countries. Supervisory expertise is available especially for European and North American focused projects, but also for projects that include colonial and postcolonial South Asia or Africa.
What we're looking for in a student
Applicants are expected to have training in history, or history of science, technology, and medicine, or related fields such as science and technology studies, to a master’s degree level. Proposals must be grounded in historical approaches and research literatures but applications on these terms are welcome from applicants trained primarily in sociology, anthropology, or the politics of science and technology. Opportunities for co-supervision within the humanities & social sciences or with colleagues in fields directly involved in problems of waste (natural sciences, engineering, economics, law, policy, business & management) may be explored.
The Department of History at QMUL is home to a vibrant community of postgraduate researchers (PGRs) working across the full range of historical periods and geographical locations. There are presently around 45 full-time and part-time PhD candidates in the Department. The Department provides a robust programme of professional training, a dedicated PGR workspace, and a variety of opportunities to be involved in seminars, workshops and international PGR exchanges. PGRs benefit from being part of the wider School of Society and Environment, interacting regularly with peers in Geography, Sociology, Politics and International Relations through research and social events.
Key words: history, science, technology, experts, publics