By Elis Jones

In July 2023 I was lucky enough to attend the conference of the International Society for the History Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), in Toronto, Canada, through financial support from the ICHO’s fellowship scheme (together with support from the conference organisers themselves and the British Ecological Society – all of which I am very grateful for!).

The conference is a large, exciting interdisciplinary meeting of people interested in the social, historical and philosophical aspects of the study of biology. Attending was an excellent opportunity to present and get feedback on my PhD project, to learn from others, and to experience Canada and the great lakes for the first time. In this short blog I’ll explain a bit about each of these.

Our Session: Conceptualising Environments in and for Research   

My PhD project focuses on understanding the role of values in coral reef science, using methods from philosophy and sociology. I have been examining coral science literature to explore how value influences scientific concepts and practices, connecting ‘values’ as something discussed by philosophers as influencing science, with ‘value’ as something attributed to coral reefs (for example when discussing their biodiversity, importance as habitats for other organisms, or ecosystem services). After identifying specific aspects of coral science which closely connect to these forms of value, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 coral scientists to gain a deeper understanding and provide data for qualitative and conceptual analysis.

The work I presented at ISHPSSB was the final chapter of my PhD, which focused on what I have been calling the ‘ecological dimensions’ of coral science. I used extracts from the interviews to apply ecological theory about organism-environment interactions to coral science itself. More specifically, I analysed the practices of coral scientists in terms of niche construction – i.e. niche construction being the activity a living entity undertakes to modify its environment, typically in terms of how it impacts the survival and reproduction of that entity (or another one) – borrowing a framework developed by Joseph Rouse in his books Articulating the World, and Social Practices as Biological Niche Construction. Coral science, I argue, is aimed at not just discovering truth (as science is often presented) but also at perpetuating the niches of various living things at the same time. The values shaping coral science include not just those traditionally associated with science – e.g. accuracy, reliability, simplicity – but the value attributed to the living beings found in coral ecosystems, such as the intrinsic value of certain organisms or species, the aesthetic value of certain reef states, or the ecological functions reef components provide one another. This shapes how things like ecological baselines – depictions of desirable or healthy ecosystem states – are constructed (see more on that here). By presenting at ISHPSSB I got lots of useful feedback from attendees which I have incorporated into my PhD as I finish writing it up. The session I took part in was titled ‘Conceptualising Environments in and for Research: Biological and Philosophical Perspectives’ and was organised by Rose Trappes & Sabina Leonelli. It included talks from Rose and Sabina, Alejandro Fábregas Tejeda, Francesca Merlin and Gaëlle Pontarotti, Joseph Rouse, Carlos Andrés Barragán and James Griesemer, and Luana Poliseli. All of these were focused on the aim of theorising about the environments of scientific researchers: both the ones they study and the ones they work in (something very important for aquatic sciences, where the environment is not always the easiest for the researcher to inhabit!). These talks were all excellent examples of the exciting work being done in the history, philosophy and social studies of science, and on the topic of research environments more generally. 

The Rest of the Conference

There were lots of great talks at the conference. Soren Brothers (curator of climate change at the Royal Ontario Museum) focused on how museums can contribute to the fight against climate change, as a site for engaging the public in scientific knowledge. He focused specifically on lakes as simultaneous markers of global and local changes. Fittingly, Crawford Lake – which he spent much time discussing – was, shortly after, nominated as the site of the ‘golden spike’ which signifies the beginning of the Anthropocene geological epoch. A session on the idea of ‘lineages’ in biology – organised by François Papale –  featured many interesting talks, including work by Joan Roughgarden on collective inheritance in coral reefs (where the complex mixture of algae and coral organisms in a reef make understanding lineages very complicated) and a talk by Louis-Patrick Haraoui on organisms as niches (which drew connections with marine environments reminiscent of a book I recently enjoyed reading, Hypersea by Dianna and Mark McMenamin). I also attended excellent talks by Daniel Davies on the idea of health in ecosystems, by Sofia Belardinelli on bio-cultural diversity and valuing ecosystems, and a memorial session to commemorate the life of Garland Allen, who had a profound intellectual and personal impact on many of the people in attendance and on the field of history of science more broadly.

Canada and the Great Lakes

After the conference I got a chance to explore Toronto and Lake Erie, having never been to Canada or seen lakes of anywhere near that size before. As well as a quick swim in the lake, I hiked around the nature reserves jutting out into it, saw my first racoon, and visited the Toronto aquarium, which has an impressive range of sea creatures: my favourites were the huge goliath groupers (the biggest fish I’ve ever seen), the smack of upside-down jellyfish, and the deep-sea isopods (don’t tell the coral!).

The conference was a great chance to get feedback on my project, learn from others about their work, and to connect with marine environments (literally and otherwise!). I would strongly recommend both ISHPSSB and the ICHO Fellowship scheme to readers and would like to thank the ICHO for supporting my attendance.

For more on my project, see http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/coralvalue, https://marinesciencestudies.co.uk, or follow me on Twitter @ElisJones20.