Society for Neuroscience Research Fellowship at UCLA

One-year fellowship, with a possible 2^nd-year extension supported by the Department of Neurobiology, to research and write history of the Society for Neuroscience (founded 1969) and its role in the development of the field of neuroscience in the late 20^th century.  Fellow will be expected to research and write a publishable historical essay within one year on the early history of the society, with likely opportunities to develop other publications, to help design and write content for a website and to assist in grant writing.  Applications are being reviewed now.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is the foremost scientific organization dedicated to the study and promotion of Neuroscience.   Since its creation in 1969, the SfN and its members have played a major role in shaping our scientific and cultural knowledge of how the brain and nervous system work, in forging a disciplinary identity for the neurosciences, and in helping to promote effective national neuroscience policy.  Documenting and preserving the early history of the SfN is important in its own right, but of tremendous contemporary scientific and scholarly value as well.  As neuroscience becomes increasingly important to fields that traditionally have eschewed methods of natural science (e.g. economics, philosophy), understanding the ways in which the SfN forged neuroscience into one of the most important intellectual pursuits of the twenty-first century can provide important insights into how the discipline will shape knowledge policy and lives in the future.  This is a history that is yet to be told.

This is a unique opportunity to help write this important history.  The research fellow will work closely with the SfN staff and leadership and with the interdisciplinary social studies of medicine team at UCLA headed by Dr. Joel Braslow.  PhD-level training in history of science and medicine required.  Interested applicants should submit CV and writing sample to Dr. Braslow at jbraslow@mednet.ucla.edu and request two letters of recommendation to be sent separately by December 1, 2013