Project description
The hidden cost of maritime innovation
The 19th-century shift from wind to coal reduced shipping costs and travel time, but also polluted the environment and put sailors’ health at risk. The EU-funded PollSTEAM project aims to explore this transition between 1830 and 1920. It will study archival mortality and health records in Genoa and Liverpool, two of Europe’s busiest ports. The goal is to track how the introduction of coal-burning engines led to a surge in respiratory diseases and occupational hazards. Comparing the medical data of seafarers with urban landscape changes, the project shows how innovation and ecology intersected. It reframes the industrial revolution as the origin of modern environmental and public health crises in port cities.
Objective
The impact of technological advance on the environment has become an essential topic in academic research and contemporary discourse. The maritime transport industry has attracted plenty of attention, yet, the link between technological innovation in shipping and the rise of environmental and health-related issues among its workers is still largely unexplored in historical terms. PollSTEAM proposes an innovative approach to maritime studies by adopting an environmental perspective on the transition from sail to steam in shipping since the mid-19th century. Rethinking technological change in terms of environment and labour will reframe and readdress a recent research object of maritime history from an original angle, sensitive to contemporary environmentalist and healthcare solicitations.
PollSTEAM’s objective is to examine how the advent of steam shipping altered European maritime societies from an environmental perspective. Two specific research subjects will be targeted: waterfronts and seafarers in Genoa and Liverpool between 1830s and 1920. Firstly, I will analyse how the adoption of steam technology affected the natural and anthropic environment of port cities, especially on the changing relationship between port and city, where a constant detachment is observed. Port cities were materially transformed by the increasing presence of steamships, not only in terms of space but also of environmental impact. I will investigate how the city-port relationships were modified, especially the role of institutions, public opinion and urban society. Secondly, steamships are regarded as working environments. I intend to trace the emergence of environmentalist and health-related discourses among seafarers and to assess steam pollution’s health impact on them, which can be confronted with data on mortality and morbidity in the age of sail to reconceptualise with medical data the notion of steamships as deadly workplaces.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.4.1 - Widening participation and spreading excellence
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-TALENTS-02
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
700 13 IRAKLEIO
Greece
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.