Anders Ekström

Anders Ekström is Professor of History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University since 2012. His research and teaching is broadly focused on modern European and Scandinavian cultural and media history and theory, with a particular emphasis on the long 19th century. Ekström's current research (September 2021) is focused on two main areas: 1) the history of temporality and cultural processes of temporalization; 2) synthesizing perspectives on the modern history of publicness.

2012-present: Professor of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University

2019-2021: Professor II in History of Knowledge, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo

2014-2020: Vice-Dean (with special responsibility for research and PhD programs), Faculty of Arts, Uppsala University

2013: Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge

2013: Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall College, Cambridge

2013: Life Member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge

2012: Professor of Media and Culture, Linköping University

2012: Adjunct Professor of Media History, Turku University, Finland

2011: Awarded “Athena of the Year” by the DIK Association and Project Athena for initiating research and policy debates on the future of the humanities

2011: The Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala’s Scientific Prize for Interdisciplinary Research

2008-2012: Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer, Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm

2007-2008: Head of Exhibitions, The Nordic Museum, Stockholm

2005-2006: Guest Researcher, University of Cambridge

2002-2003: Research Director, Swedish Institute for Studies in Education and Research (SISTER), Stockholm

2001: Guest Professor, Department of Technology and Social Change, Linköping University

2000: Appointed Professor of Museum Studies, Umeå University (declined)

2000: Associate Professor (docent), Uppsala University

1999: Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (SCASSS), Uppsala

1994-2000: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (forskarassistent), Researcher and Lecturer, Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University

1994: Johan Nordström’s and Sten Lindroth’s Award to Young Scholars for an Outstanding Work in History of Science and Ideas

1994: Ph.D. in History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University

1988-1994: Teaching Fellow and Research Assistant, Department of History of Science and Ideas, Uppsala University

1988: B.A. (Literature, History of Science and Ideas, and Aesthetics), Örebro University and Uppsala University

Anders Ekström has published broadly on modern cultural and media history and theory, with a particular focus on the long 19th century. His overall research interests include modern Scandinavian and European cultural and intellectual history (especially 1750-1950), media history, visual culture, cultural theory, museum and exhibition studies, science and society, science and media, history of humanities, and contemporary research and higher education policies. His full publication list consists of about 185 items, including fifteen individually authored, co-authored and edited books.

Ekström's current research (September 2021) is focused on two main areas: 1) the history of temporality and cultural processes of temporalization; 2) synthesizing perspectives on the modern history of publicness.

Recent and ongoing research projects

1. 2022-2025: Gardening the Globe: Historicizing the Anthropocene through the Production of Socio-Nature in Scandinavia, 1750-2020 (WP leader for subproject on "Cultivating eradication"; PI: Kyrre Kverdokk, University of Bergen; funded by the Norwegian Research Council).

2. 2022-2025: The Afterlife of Natural History (WP leader with Line Esborg, University of Oslo, for subproject on "Interdisciplinary experimentations in the Museum Lab"; PI: Brita Brenna, University of Oslo; funded by the Norwegian Research Council).

3. 2021-2022: Thinking Publics, Building Society: Revisiting the History of the Public Realm (project leader; RJ Sabbatical; funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

4. 2021-2022: The Humanities and the Modern Politics of Knowledge (with Hampus Östh Gustafsson, Uppsala University; funded by Uppsala University).

5. 2021: Frames of Coexistence: The 2021 Olof Palme Guest Professorship (project leader; with Ash Amin, University of Cambridge; funded by the Swedish Research Council).

6. 2018-2021: Dividing Times: Cultural Techniques and Disciplines Between History and Nature (with Staffan Bergwik, Stockholm University; funded by Uppsala University, Stockholm University, and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

7. 2015-2016: Integrative Research Environments (with Sverker Sörlin, KTH Royal Institute of Technology; funded by the Swedish Research Council).

8. 2013-2016: From Pompeii to Fukushima: Time, Intermediality and Transregional Imaginaries in Disaster Discourse (project leader; funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

9. 2013-2014: Exhibition Studies: A Nordic Network (with Brita Brenna, University of Oslo, and Taina Syrjämaa, University of Turku; funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

10. 2012-2013: Cultures of Disasters: A Network for Humanistic Research on Disasters" (with Kyrre Kverndokk, University of Oslo, and Isak Winkel Holm, University of Copenhagen; funded by the Norwegian Research Council).

11. 2010: Exhibitions as Media Space, 1866-1930 (project leader; funded by the Ridderstads Foundation).

12. 2010-2012: The Future of the Humanities (with Sverker Sörlin, KTH Royal Institute of Technology; funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond).

13. 2008-2012: Publics on Display: A Cultural History of Audiences and Publics (project leader; funded by the Swedish Research Council).