Delegate packs wait for collection |
The day was
opened with keynote addresses from Professor David Amigoni (Keele University)
and Professor Sharon Ruston (University of Salford). Professor Amigoni’s talk
focussed on Julian Huxley’s scientific poetry, whilst Professor Ruston
discussed the implications of natural history theory on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Professor Joanna Verran, a
world-renowned microbiologist from Manchester Metropolitan University, gave the
afternoon keynote, sharing her personal experiences in engaging with colleagues,
students and ideas across the subject divide.
Delegates arrive |
The
conference welcomed delegates from the universities of Keele, Oxford, Durham,
Leeds, London and Canterbury Christ Church from both science and humanities backgrounds,
allowing the discussion to explore all aspects of the papers. The first panel,
entitled ‘What price progress? Conflicts of Science and Society in the
Nineteenth Century’, explored the relationship between the fast-moving
scientific discoveries and society of the Victorian period. The second, ‘Reading
Science, Writing Literature: Creating Interdisciplinary Texts’, examined the
ways in which literature has utilised scientific language or knowledge to frame
the ideas of the text. The final panel, ‘Bodies Politic: Fictions of Science,
War and Nationhood’, interrogated international ideas and uses of science in
literature throughout the twentieth century. All papers were very warmly
received and demonstrated the very real desire to bridge this long-established
cultural divide.
The
conference organisers, Katie McGettigan, Emilie Taylor-Brown and Jo Taylor (all
from the Research Institute for Humanities, Keele University) were very
grateful for the funding and support from Keele’s Bridging the Gap initiative,
which enabled the conference to take place. A follow-up event will be hosted on
Friday 25th May 2012 when Jonathan Lamb, Andrew W. Mellon Professor
of the humanities at Vanderbilt University, will give a talk entitled ‘Scurvy
and Nostalgia’. The event will take place in the Claus Moser Research Centre
(CM0.12) at 1pm.
Katie McGettigan introduces the morning keynotes, Prof. David Amigoni and Prof. Sharon Ruston |