The 52nd Annual Meeting of the International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) will be part of the 27 th International Congress of the History of Science and Technology (ICHST), t- be held at the University of Otag- in Dunedin, New Zealand, 29 June – 5 July 2025.
The theme of the Congress, “Peoples, Places, Exchanges, and Circulation" encourages exploring local knowledges, practices, and histories of science, technology, and medicine in both site-specific and global contexts. It asks how local and global contexts might be related? D- local histories change if they are analyzed using a different scale of analysis, for example, through a regional or global framework? What is the role of circulation across borders in local and global histories? Have encounters (both welcome and problematic) and exchanges of knowledge, techniques, texts, peoples, and material objects between regions, cultures, or societies resulted in new configurations in the history of science, technology, and medicine? What roles have local actors played as mediators, between different knowledge systems or between producers and consumers around the world? Contributions that explore the unacknowledged agency and contributions of Indigenous peoples and underrepresented groups in the history of science, technology, and medicine are especially welcome.
ICOHTEC 52nd Annual Meeting: Call for Papers
The ICOHTEC Programme Committee invites proposals for symposium presentations exploring the ICHST theme “Peoples, Places, Exchanges, and Circulation" from diverse historical and historiographical perspectives on technology in all historical periods and geographical areas. Scholars working at the intersection of history of technology and other fields, including anthropology, design studies, film and media studies, gender studies, social sciences, philosophy, political science, ethnic and indigenous studies, are welcome t- share their perspectives and analyses. We encourage presentations exploring multidisciplinary approaches, paradigms, research methods, and theories related t- technology.
The Programme Committee invites proposals on topics in keeping with the ICHST theme, such as:
- People: visible and invisible in science and technology
- technology from the perspective of the colonized
- technology, history, and emotions
- science and technology empowering/disempowering
- repairers and maintainers
- Places: space, society, and technology
- (portals of) globalization
- re-location and de-location of industry
- diseases and medicine in the history of cities
- technological sites and the management of disasters
- Exchange: transfer of knowledge
- "vehicles" in science and technology (trains, cars and lorries as well as books, journals,
and photography)
- technological nationalism vs. transnational science
- teaching the history of technology
- Circulation: material and immaterial histories of technology
- object biographies t- product lifecycles
- digitizing Science and Technology collections and archives
- Large Language Models (LLMs) and their impact on concepts and problematizations
- natural resources from upstream t- downstream and from use t- waste or recycling
The program committee strongly encourages proposals for pre-constituted sessions in both traditional formats (3 t- 4 presenters and a chairperson) as well as non-traditional formats, including work-in-progress sessions, roundtables, panel discussions, PechaKucha-type presentations, flash-talks, unconference sessions, poster sessions, and interactive workshops.
Individuals and groups seeking potential collaborators t- join an organized session are encouraged t- propose session topic(s) and communicate with interested individuals through the ICOHTEC Newsletter (send the call to: newsletter@icohtec.org] H-NET, or social media networks, such as ICOHTEC facebook group.
In keeping with ICHST’s aim t- bring together as many scholars as possible, participants will be limited t- one presentation. For more details, see ICHST’s Guidelines on Symposia.
Submission guidelines for ICOHTEC Symposium proposals
Please pay close attention t- submission instructions, including the word limits for required documents. All components of submitted proposals must be written in English. Submit complete proposals via the ICOHTEC online submission system at https://www.icohtec.org/w-annual-meeting/dunedin-2025/
Proposals for traditional sessions of 3 or 4 papers with a session chair must include:
- Session title.
- Name(s) of organizer(s) and their title, affiliation, and e-mail address(es).
- Session description (200-400 words).
- Individual paper abstracts (200-400 words).
- Name, title, affiliation, e-mail address, and bi- (250 words max.) of each presenter and chair.
Proposals for unconventional sessions must include:
- Session title.
- Name(s) of organizer(s) and their title, affiliation, and e-mail address(es).
- Session description (200-400 words)
- Name, title, affiliation, e-mail address, and bi- (250 words max.) of each presenter/panelist.
- Name, title, affiliation, e-mail address, and bi- (250 words max.) of chair or discussant (if any).
- Any relevant information regarding session format or requirements.
Proposals for individual papers must include:
- Paper title.
- Paper abstract (200-400 words).
- Name, title, affiliation, e-mail address, and bi- (250 words max.) of presenter.
Travel grants
ICOHTEC encourages and welcomes proposal submissions from graduate students, post-doctoral fellows,
and early career researchers and their participation in the symposium. Limited travel grants will be available.
Applications received by 15 January 2024 will be given priority consideration.
Key Dates:
Deadline for submissions of proposals t- the ICOHTEC Symposia: 1 February 2024.
Decision on accepted symposia announced: 1 June 2024
Registration opens: 11 July 2024
Programme published online: 1 May 2025
ICHST Congress opens: 29 June 2025
Programme Committee
Saara Matala (Sweden), Elena Kochetkova (Norway), Frank Edward (Tanzania)
Hug- Pereira (Portugal), Jethron Akallah (Kenya), Jan Hadlaw (Canada), Leticia Galuzzi (Brazil), Min
Fanxiang (China), Sławomir Łotysz (Poland)
Please direct any queries regarding submission process t- the Chair of the ICOHTEC programme
committee, Dr. Saara Matala, via email (matala@chalmers.se).
More information
For practical information regarding the ICHST conference, follow updates at the conference website:
https://www.ichst2025.org/
