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Michael Bravo, BEng MPhil PhD

University Senior Lecturer and Fellow of Downing College

Convenor of the Circumpolar History and Public Policy Research Group, Scott Polar Research Institute. Member of the Department of Geography's Society, Environment, and Development research cluster, Historical & Cultural Geography research cluster. He is also a research associate in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science.

Biography

Career:

Qualifications:

Research

Michael Bravo has an interdisciplinary background with a humanities Ph.D. (Cantab 1992) in the history and philosophy of science, building on a technical background with a B.Eng. (Carleton 1985) in satellite communications engineering. Bravo has written extensively on the role of scientific research in the exploration and development of the Arctic, exploring issues in the philosophy of experiment such as the nature of precision and calibration. In his co-edited book Narrating the Arctic (2002), he explored the implications of the Arctic's extraordinary historical diversity through the lens of the Scandinavian Arctic. He is currently leading an International Polar Year project making a comparative study of the uses of polar research stations. Under this umbrella his team has begun to assemble the first overview of the creation of polar research stations from the 1820s to the present day, linking them to other crucial developments in science such as the laboratory revolution and the invention of international scientific years (e.g. IPYs). His current concerns include the recent rise of cryo-politics, the ethics of environmental regulation, and the dangers that sea ice loss pose to the political rights and traditions of the Arctic's inhabitants.

Michael Bravo is Convenor of the Circumpolar History and Public Policy Research Group at the Scott Polar Research Institute, as well being a member of the Geography Department's Society and Environment Research Group.

Current Projects

Arctic Governance

Many significant developments in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions stem from issues of governance. Current attempts to forge self-governing political regions and environmental management regimes raise profound questions about the relationship between community and territory. Traditionally, the competing ambitions and interests of nation-states have defined the structure and boundaries of the polar regions. These histories have tended to divide and stratify the regions.

Governance is inextricably linked to the nature of communities. In my current research, I am studying models of governance around the circumpolar regions, and how their constituent communities can resolve historical conflicts with the sovereign claims of nation-states.

Maritime Geographies of Science

Whereas the importance of the world oceans for global security - particularly their circulation, oil and gas reserves, fishing stocks and indigenous culture - is now widely recognised, they are all threatened or endangered. However our knowledge of their environmental history, how they came to be the way they are, is surprisingly limited and at best fragmented. Dr. Bravo's research aims to develop the historical foundations for a new interdisciplinary understanding of the science of the oceans that can explain the nature and direction of change, and take account of the much greater and more diverse communities of historical actors or stakeholders than has been widely acknowledged.

Institutions and Public Policy in the Field Sciences

'Science' is often made to function as a vehicle of public policy. In G8 nations science and technology have a long history of involvement in economic planning. This is certainly true in the Arctic, my region of special interest, where science has played a variety of roles in colonisation, nation-building, and environmental monitoring

The use of field sciences as policy instruments remains poorly understood, for all that climate change has brought them into the public eye. I am currently working on developing new models that explain the linkages between the field sciences and public policy. To explore the practical application of models, I have also been asked to act as an advisor for the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP) Working Group 11 on "Science and the Public Interest".

The project has a strong historical foundation in order to ascertain why field stations only came into existence relatively recently (mid- to late-C19), what they are intended to accomplish, and how they have served to mediate between scientists, the state, and the inhabitants of the field. To that end, I am principal investigator and coordinator on 'Polar Field Stations and IPY History: Culture, Heritage, Governance (1882-Present)', an international collaborative project. (International Polar Year Project ID 100.)

Michael Bravo is a member of the Society and Environment Research Group in the Society, Environment, and Development Research Cluster.

Current Ph.D. students:

Recently Graduated Ph.D. Students

Publications

Selected publications

In press

Published

Teaching

External Activities

Geography Department Committees

Faculty and University Committees