Two-year Postdoc position in History / History of science and technology / Heritage or museum studies / French or British studies

The Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone, Aix-Marseille University (AMU), is shortly to commence a major academic research project, “Museums and Industry: Long Histories of Collaboration” (MaILHoC).

 MaILHoC was a successful 600,000 EUR bid to the ‘heritage, society, and ethics’ call of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage (JPI CH) administered by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) in France. 

Working with partners in the UK, Spain, and Norway, as well as with the thinktank Demos and the University of London Press, the aim of the project is to explore the impacts of industrial patronage – with a particular focus on the ethical dimensions of this relationship – on European museums of science and industry in both comparative and historical context.
The project will compare insights drawn from a wide spread of historical case studies (ranging from the construction of museum galleries to corporate science centres and the organisation of World Expos) with a range of contemporary workshops exploring the ethics of industrial patronage from a variety of perspectives.

Alongside the production of a range of scholarship, MaILHoC will also produce a thinktank style report, and promote a range of debates, discussions and workshops.

This position is based at AMU’s Humanities Faculty in Aix-en-Provence. Travel to archives in France and Britain will be required, as will participation in events organised by the various partners.

As a Postdoctoral Researcher you will bring knowledge and skills from history, history of science and technology, area studies, heritage or museum studies (or similar) to the project.

The strand of the project being developed in Aix will adopt a comparative approach focusing on France and the UK, therefore a high level of linguistic competence in both French and English is essential. You will need to be able to independently identify and master a complex set of archives, and to effectively communicate these findings with a multidisciplinary international team. The ability to work with a range of stakeholders (from curators to policy makers and patrons) and to communicate with a wide variety of public audiences would be ideal.

Main duties

• Under the supervision of the PI, scoping, selecting, and developing historical case studies examining the impact of industrial patronage on exhibition development, with an emphasis on international events such as World Expos and travelling exhibitions.
• Working with the other members of the research team to identify connections between the different international strands of research and to develop productive lines of inquiry within the project’s overall framework.
• Assisting with the development of ethics workshops.
• Attending regular project meetings and liaising with the other members of the project team, external partners and the project as a whole.
• Preparing and presenting findings of research activities to colleagues and at academic and practitioner events, including conferences and seminars.
• Publishing in relevant peer-reviewed publications, as well as contributing to a range of public and internal reports.
• Contributing to the public engagement activities of the project, including seminars, events, and workshops.