The Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded funding under its ‘Science in Culture’ initiative for an inter-disciplinary research project at Reading called ‘Cultivating Common Ground: Biology and the Humanities’, led by Professor Nick Battey (Biology), with co-investigators Dr David Stack (History), Professor Francoise Le Saux (French) and Professor Karín Lesnik-Oberstein and Dr John Holmes (English). The aim of the project is firstly to hold a workshop (to take place on Wednesday July 18th 2012 in Reading: participation by application first to Professor Battey or Professor Lesnik-Oberstein only) in which biologists from a range of backgrounds (teaching, research, students) consider with Professor Battey and the Humanities scholars involved what the relationships are, or might be, between biology and the Humanities: how do historians, literary scholars and critical theorists engage with, and write about, biology? And is any of what they do relevant or helpful to biologists? And, if so, how or why? The second aim of the project is then to develop an ongoing network out of this initial workshop, from which to think further together about the present and potential links between these fields. You can read more about the project on its Blog at: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/cultivating-common-ground/
