Hello blog,

Well term has ended and it was quite sad in the end to say goodbye to the students I had taught this semester. My new module ‘Green Writing’ has gone well I think. We read Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and Science of Climate Change, ed. by Paul Munden (British Council, 2008). You can download it here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/switzerland-climate-change-anthology.htm. It was interesting reading this alongside news of the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. Some of the students were surprisingly knowledgeable about the issues being debated there and some of them really liked the poems in the anthology. Others debated the effectiveness of writing poetry about climate change, claiming that since it wouldn’t be read by the ‘man reading the Daily Star’ but by people who probably already believed in climate change and the need for something to be done. I did point out that it had reached them at least, and that was something…

I also attended the first meeting of the Professoriate (Professorial College) at Salford. These have been set up as quarterly meetings of all of the 108 Professors in the University. There must have been about 60 of them present, and that was daunting enough. We had a presentation on ‘Energy’ one of the University’s research themes where we heard that a typical late Victorian terrace house was to be built in a laboratory setting so that all weather and environmental conditions could be imitated and energy-saving technologies tried (see http://live.scri.salford.ac.uk/?p=337). I was glad to see that the social sciences and humanities were recognised in this presentation, and eco-poetry and ‘green’ writing even got a mention. I’m starting to think now about the teaching of the first event in our training programme now, to be held 4-8 January 2010, just at the start of the new year. The reading pack for those who would like to participate virtually is available at: http://www.litscimed.org.uk/page/learning.

All best and have a lovely Christmas!

Sharon

Dear blog,

I’m pleased to report that the ‘Thomas de Quincey, Manchester, and Medicine, 1785-1959’ was a great success. It was humbling inspiring to hear about the trials and tribulations of de Quincey’s editors, many of whom were present at the conference, as well as great to meet the new biographer of de Quincey, Robert Morrison, whose book is out now: http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-41019/The-English-Opium-Eater.htm. I am looking forward to reading this at Christmas. There were many excellent papers read during the day, and I was particularly pleased to hear more about the Mancheser surgeon Charles White from Peter Kitson. On our guided walk after the conference we saw where White’s house and museum would have been; a museum that Kitson suggested could have been intended as a rival to John Hunter’s museum in London and which Thomas de Quincey visited trying to get a glimpse of Hannah Beswick’s mummified body.

This week I’ve met with others in my school who are interested in the University’s theme of ‘Energy’ and it was fascinating to learn of the projects going on in many disciplines, from art and design to politics, that might come under this heading. One of our strengths at Salford in English is an interest in the environment, whether this is ecocriticism or ecopoetry. I’m nearly at the end of my first semester teaching a module called ‘Green Writing’ to students and I think the module has gone well. Next week is the final session, and we’re going to be looking at an anthology called Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and Science of Climate Change, edited by Paul Munden and published by the British Council. You can download the whole book here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/switzerland-climate-change-anthology.htm. It’s interesting to be looking at this material when climate change is so much in the news at the moment.

All best,

Sharon

Dear blog,

Tomorrow the ‘Thomas de Quincey, Manchester, and Medicine’ conference is taking place: http://www.iscpr.salford.ac.uk/iscpr/p/?s=32&pid=49. I’m really pleased with the programme and the participants; there has been quite a range response to the call for papers, from postgrads to Professors, from Cyprus to UCLA, and from the gothic to astronomy and hangovers. I won’t be able to empathise with the ‘Romantic hangover’ since I’m on an early train the next morning to the CCUE meeting in London, where the much-debated topic of ‘Impact’ will be discussed at length. If anyone hasn’t read Stefan Collini’s article on Impact in the Humanities in the TLS, you can read it here: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6915986.ece

The deadline for the first event of the AHRC-training session ‘Theories and Methods: Literature, Science and Medicine’ passed on 1/12/09 and we had 33 applications for only 20 places. This is both good and bad: I’m pleased that so many want to be part of the programme but sad that some people won’t get places. It does show, however, that there are doctoral students put there who affiliate their work with the programme, and that we were right to propose the programme to the AHRC. I hope that those who can’t come to events in person for whatever reason will still engage with the debates and topics covered on the social space.

This week I’ve also been organising the schedule for our research cluster (Literature, Culture, and Science: http://www.iscpr.salford.ac.uk/iscpr/p/?s=36&pid=47) at Salford’s one-day symposium on 15/1/10. We decided that instead of having a series of seminars we would have a day-long symposium and have invited two external speakers: Laurence Coupe (MMU) and Clare Brant (KCL). A number of my colleagues have suggested activities and events, including showing polaroids taken with some of the last polaroid stock to be bought (the company announced some time ago that they would stop producing instant film) and a talk on using science in novels for teenagers.   

Tonight I’m off to the Christmas drinks event at the Museum of Science and Industry. On the invitation we are promised a ride in the reproduction of George Stephenson’s Planet locomotive and I’m ridiculously overexcited about this prospect!

Best,

Sharon

Dear blog,

This has been an eventful week. On Monday I did my last stint as external examiner to the Literature and Medicine MA at King’s College, London. I’ve been an external for the MA since it began and this was my fourth and final year. It’s an excellent MA with some really great modules that I would have loved to have taken myself and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone thinking of taking this kind of course: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/english/pg/masters/litmed.html. Of course King’s has also secured Welcome money to set up a Medical Humanities centre, which is very exciting too.

Tonight I will be attending ‘Wonder: A Scientific Oratorio’  in Maxwell Hall at the University of Salford. The music will come from the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Singers, Salford Choral Society, accompanied by visual images from Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and the BBC, to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, 40 years since the moon landings and 200 years since of the death of the great composer Haydn: http://www.arts.salford.ac.uk/more_info.php?id=81.

It’s only a week to go till the Thomas de Quincey, Manchester, and Medicine, 1785-1859 conference that I have organised for Friday 4th December. All seems to be in hand (hopefully) and the programme looks great. After the day’s event we will be going on an organised walk with Emma Fox as our tour guide, exploring some of the places associated with de Quincey and early nineteenth-century science in Manchester: http://www.iscpr.salford.ac.uk/iscpr/news/article/?id=41

More next week,

Sharon

Dear blog readers, This is my first post and I’m unsure how to proceed. I’m going to use the blog as a record of relevant experiences, reading, and thoughts during the period of the AHRC-funded Collaborative Training Programme ‘Theories and Methods: Literature, Science and Medicine’. I hope it’s interesting and welcome your thoughts and comments as our programme develops. I thought I’d start with a notice – I’m sure many of you know about these already but yesterday was my first visit to the University of Nottingham’s Institute of Science and Society: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/iss/. It was hugely interesting, meeting people who work on a range of things, from the research methods of biomedicine and homeopathy to ‘biologising’ the human, from the gothic inheritance of detective fiction to medical ethics. My visit really brought home to me the variety of work being done and how much is out there that I don’t know about. I wondered how we might build bridges between the pockets of work being done that are separated by disciplinary boundaries. On their website, the Institute of Science at Society at Nottingham tells us that they are ‘Uniting the Social Sciences, Humanities and Natural Sciences’ and here are just a few of the areas they broach: •What do new discoveries mean for human dignity and social welfare? •How can scientists and the public better understand each other? •How do innovations move from the laboratory into practice and policy? •How can science best be governed?