Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GLOBAL ACADEMIES (Scientific societies and the globalization of science (1930-1990))
Période du rapport: 2022-10-01 au 2025-03-31
Across the world and across disciplines, scholars have participated in scientific societies, which organized conferences, allocated prizes and grants, published journals, newsletters or proceedings, and spoke out to the public. Yet, the regulatory role of these societies within an expanding and diversifying community over the course of the twentieth century has hardly been studied. The research team of GLOBAL ACADEMIES investigates formal and subtle codes of conduct, customs, rituals and procedures that were set and reinforced by scientific societies to regulate a diverse and growing community of scholars. To what extent were scholars from minority groups (such as women scholars or scholars from the Global South), or scholars with divergent (political) opinions able to get access to scientific societies? Did scientific societies function as closed circuits or rather as open networks?
To this end, the team of GLOBAL ACADEMIES studies a selection of astronomical and historical societies in India, Brazil, France, the United States, and at the International level. These include, but are not limited to, the International Astronomical Union, the American Historical Association, the Brazilian Academy of Science, and the National Academy of Sciences India. To uncover scientific societies’ gatekeeping role within the globalization of science, the project team used mixed research methods and combines archival research with the (digital) analysis of published sources and oral history.
The GLOBAL ACADEMIES-project is embedded within the Cultural History since 1750 Research Group at the University of Leuven (Belgium). Its core team is made up of prof. Joris Vandendriessche (PI), dr. Anna Cabanel (postdoctoral researcher), George Bailey (PhD researcher) and Thammy Guimarães Costa Borges (PhD researcher). Prof. Kaat Wils and prof. Idesbald Goddeeris act as co-supervisors of the PhD research. More information about the project can be found on the GLOBAL ACADEMIES-website: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/cultuurgeschiedenis/en/current-projects-/global-academies(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
To this end, the team of GLOBAL ACADEMIES studies a selection of astronomical and historical societies in India, Brazil, France, the United States, and at the International level. These include, but are not limited to, the International Astronomical Union, the American Historical Association, the Brazilian Academy of Science, and the National Academy of Sciences India. To uncover scientific societies’ gatekeeping role within the globalization of science, the project team used mixed research methods and combines archival research with the (digital) analysis of published sources and oral history.
The GLOBAL ACADEMIES-project is embedded within the Cultural History since 1750 Research Group at the University of Leuven (Belgium). Its core team is made up of prof. Joris Vandendriessche (PI), dr. Anna Cabanel (postdoctoral researcher), George Bailey (PhD researcher) and Thammy Guimarães Costa Borges (PhD researcher). Prof. Kaat Wils and prof. Idesbald Goddeeris act as co-supervisors of the PhD research. More information about the project can be found on the GLOBAL ACADEMIES-website: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/cultuurgeschiedenis/en/current-projects-/global-academies(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
The GLOBAL ACADEMIES-project has located, and obtained permission to access, archival materials of twentieth-century scientific societies on four continents. Its team of researchers have visited present-day scientific societies in India, Brazil, France and the United States, and advised on their collections and ongoing digitization efforts. The archival files located, such as reports on internal elections or correspondence on membership, have not yet been studied systematically in historical research. They enable a deep analysis of the social dynamics that steer 20th-century scholarly interactions within a global context. In addition, the project team conducted digital historical research, using text-mining, into scientific journals and other publications of scientific societies. The use of digital methodologies enabled the team to retrieve passages of scholarly identity formation (e.g. opening speeches, presentations of new members), but also to efficiently analyze paratextual information on the participation of minority groups in scientific societies (e.g. indications of co-authorship).
By combining archival research with the digital analysis of scientific publications, the project has uncovered how family and personal relations play an important role in the regulation of access to minority groups (e.g. women scholars or scholars from the Global South) within twentieth-century scientific societies. The team’s empirical case studies include, but are not limited to, the trajectories of the first female members of the Brazilian Academy of Science in the mid-twentieth century, the position of female astronomers and/or astronomers’ wives within the International Astronomical Union, and the election and relation of Indian scientists to the Royal Society of London.
The project has set up an international network of scholars to develop a special issue on “Scholarly Codes of Conduct in the Twentieth Century” for the Journal for the History of Knowledge, which will appear in 2026. The issue is edited by Joris Vandendriessche, Anna Cabanel and Kaat Wils and makes a conceptual contribution to the field of history of science and knowledge, and science studies at large. It draws historical attention to the varied roles of scholarly codes, both as explicit regulations and as subtle social practices that include or exclude individuals within scientific communities.
Finally, GLOBAL ACADEMIES has set up a relational database on conference attendance within the International Astronomical Union (IAU) between 1922 and 1991. Based on the retrieval of unique archival and published records in the IAU Archives (Paris), the team has assembled data (>12.000 data points) on the frequency of attendance, and the national representation and gender of conference-goers into an open-access data set. The database enables an analysis of the gradual diversification of the global community of astronomers through the delineation of a core/marginal group of frequent/irregular attendees, and the mapping of female attendance and changes in the geographical backgrounds of astronomers over time. The database is further used for education and will be developed into an public website for astronomers, and the public at large.
By combining archival research with the digital analysis of scientific publications, the project has uncovered how family and personal relations play an important role in the regulation of access to minority groups (e.g. women scholars or scholars from the Global South) within twentieth-century scientific societies. The team’s empirical case studies include, but are not limited to, the trajectories of the first female members of the Brazilian Academy of Science in the mid-twentieth century, the position of female astronomers and/or astronomers’ wives within the International Astronomical Union, and the election and relation of Indian scientists to the Royal Society of London.
The project has set up an international network of scholars to develop a special issue on “Scholarly Codes of Conduct in the Twentieth Century” for the Journal for the History of Knowledge, which will appear in 2026. The issue is edited by Joris Vandendriessche, Anna Cabanel and Kaat Wils and makes a conceptual contribution to the field of history of science and knowledge, and science studies at large. It draws historical attention to the varied roles of scholarly codes, both as explicit regulations and as subtle social practices that include or exclude individuals within scientific communities.
Finally, GLOBAL ACADEMIES has set up a relational database on conference attendance within the International Astronomical Union (IAU) between 1922 and 1991. Based on the retrieval of unique archival and published records in the IAU Archives (Paris), the team has assembled data (>12.000 data points) on the frequency of attendance, and the national representation and gender of conference-goers into an open-access data set. The database enables an analysis of the gradual diversification of the global community of astronomers through the delineation of a core/marginal group of frequent/irregular attendees, and the mapping of female attendance and changes in the geographical backgrounds of astronomers over time. The database is further used for education and will be developed into an public website for astronomers, and the public at large.
The function of twentieth-century scientific societies in the globalization of science has been rarely studied. The GLOBAL ACADEMIES-project moves beyond a celebratory historical discourse, still written mostly by Western scientific societies themselves, of their contributions to the gradual internationalization and democratization of scholarly communities. The team’s research has complicated this picture. Case studies of scientific societies in the Global South, such as the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences India, reveal their continued functioning within (new) national contexts and the impact of (post-)colonial dynamics on local scholarly communities. The team’s research into international scientific societies unraveled ambiguities about access to science. One the hand, scientific societies took initiatives to open up to new groups (such as women scholars or scholars from the Global South), for example by shifting conference locations to different parts of the world, or developing policies on gender equality. On the other hand, the continued operation of (Western) personal networks and established hierarchies and customs within scientific societies, for example on the level of governance and recognition, limited access of new groups to a certain level. To further unravel the complexities of such social interactions between scholars, the team proposes more analytical attention to scholarly codes of conducts both as formal rules (that exert explicit control over research practices) and as informal or unwritten rules (that govern behavior and shape a group of insiders). The team edits a special issue on this topic, bringing together an international group of specialists, for the Journal of the History of Knowledge (to appear in 2026).