The IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca has launched a call for applications offering a scholarship for a three year PhD titled: Gendered Innovation and New Technologies: A Long-Term Perspective through the Case Study of the Photographic Sector.

In the nineteenth century, photography represents one of the earliest examples of technological innovation that opened up new spaces of participation even for subjects traditionally excluded from technical and scientific knowledge, including women. As observed in other fields (e.g., computer programming), the initial phases of technological development are characterised by a relative permeability of roles, which later diminishes with increasing institutionalisation and professionalisation. Analysing these dynamics makes it possible to understand the mechanisms of gender marginalisation, providing original interpretative tools for the present.

• The project aims to:
  Recover the presence and contributions of women in the emerging technological photography industry, both as workers and as innovators.
• Examine gendered rhetoric in written discourse and visual representations in order to understand the
  patterns underlying dynamics of marginalisation and exclusion, and to devise innovative solutions to
  contemporary challenges.
• Develop interpretative categories inspired by the concept of gendered innovation, capable of highlighting the transformative role of women during phases of technological development, and useful for constructing inclusive narratives and models within STEM fields.

To find out more and apply please go to the direct link.