PhD Projects

The Multiverse & The Agent Dependent View

Maura Burke

In this research project, I develop arguments related to the role of contingently developed cognitive features in the construction of explanations in theoretical physics. Agent-based perspectives invite one to consider the ways in which our exploratory and explanatory practices are constrained and shaped by the way we, as active participants in our universe, go about consciously and unconsciously organizing sensory information. Using case studies in cosmology, with a particular emphasis on the development and nature of multiverse theories, I investigate the rationality, epistemic status, and ontological exoticism of candidate theories within theoretical physics. These investigations primarily consider arguments related to probability theory, the nature of causation, and the role of laws in guiding intuitions and imaginations

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The Promise of Science: Building International Scientific Cooperation in post-WWII Europe, 1945-1975

Luca Forgiarini

After World War II, the rebuilding of European scientific infrastructure was seen as a crucial step in the reconstruction of war-torn Western Europe. As part of this reconstruction effort, European countries decided to collaborate on some of the first large-scale international scientific research projects, such as the Centre Européen de Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Not only was this a way to stimulate scientific recovery on a national level through regional cooperation, it was also a show of political unity that starkly contrasted the spectre of authoritarianism that had precipitated the war. Thus, in parallel to the emergence of post-war economic and political alliances, European integration also proceeded through scientific cooperation. This project will investigate the history of this cooperation through the lens of the expectations, and ideals, of the scientists and science administrators instrumental in shaping it. The project posits that post-WWII international scientific cooperation in Europe was driven by expectations of the role of science in modern society that tapped into larger cultural narratives of the utopian character of science, so-called ‘scientific utopian narratives’. These narratives painted a picture of science as the main driver of progress – materially, politically, and morally.

Drawing on scholarship from Science and Technology Studies, the project uses the notion of ‘sociotechnical imaginary’ to conceptualise European scientific cooperation as the institutionalised embodiment of specific ideals of science. Focusing on a core group of six actors instrumental in building European Science – Edoardo Amaldi, Pierre Auger, Henk Bannier, François de Rose, Gösta Funke and Jean Willems – this research aims to show how utopian scientific narratives have become enshrined in European scientific cooperation, and how science, in the process, became a symbol of European integration.

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Are the Multiverse of General Relativity and the Multiverse of Quantum Mechanics identical?

Damon Moley's research interests include the philosophy of science, foundations of physics, and the history of 20th Century physics, in particular the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics, its application to cosmology and the search for a theory of dynamics compatible with general relativity. The tentative title of this PhD thesis project is “Are the Multiverse of General Relativity and the Multiverse of Quantum Mechanics identical? A philosophical and historical inquiry into Multiverse Cosmology and the search for a more fundamental theory of physics.” Immediately prior to beginning my PhD, Damon completed the Master’s program in History and Philosophy of Science here at Utrecht University. The title of his Master’s thesis is “A Brief History of the Misinterpretation of the Everett Interpretation”.

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Visioneering Satellites: Satellite Futures in Europe, 1975-1995 (SATFUTURE)

David Skogerboe

The SATFUTURE project aims to understand the history, and future, of satellite infrastructures, focusing on satellite futures, or visions of desirable satellite infrastructures that set expectations for the future and shape the direction of technological and societal development. Focused at the intersection of history of science, technology, science & technology studies, and science communication, SATFUTURE employs concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries and visioneering to showcase how the communication of the future shapes the way technologies are developed and utilized. It asks: How have expectations shaped the development of past satellite infrastructures? In what ways were these expectations incorporated into the final product? And how have these expectations changed over time?

SATFUTURE will contribute to understanding Europe’s history in space by looking back to two of the European Space Agency’s first satellite infrastructures: Meteosat, for meteorology, and the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS), for Earth observation. These two case studies offer a unique opportunity to reflect on where Europe’s expectations of space infrastructures once were, and where they stand today. 

SATFUTURE aims to analyze how expectations, packaged in satellite futures, shaped Europe’s first satellite infrastructures. Examining these satellite futures provides a powerful means of understanding the forces that shaped our satellite infrastructures to this point, and how we are transcribing our expectations of the future onto the technologies of today.

  • PhD candidate: David Skogerboe
  • Daily Supervisor: Dr. David Baneke
  • Promotor: Prof. Dr. Toine Pieters
  • Project duration: December 1, 2022 – December 1, 2027
  • Funding: Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) (17103258)
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Black holes and the spacetime-matter distinction

Sanne Vergouwen
Sanne Vergouwen

The COSMO-MASTER project team questions the tenability of the conceptual distinction between spacetime and matter in the context of modern astronomy & cosmology, and explores the consequences of a breakdown of this distinction for both philosophy and physics. This PhD project focuses on one of the four COSMO-MASTER case studies: black holes. Are black holes matter? (Empty) spacetime? Both? Neither? 

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Putting your Heads in and Above the Clouds: Imagination in Space Science

Sabine Winters
Sabine Winters

The "Imagination in Space Science" project focuses on the epistemic value of imagination in space science and exploration. The project considers a particular aspect of space science practice: their use of imagination. The first question is: how do space scientists themselves conceive of the role of imagination in their work? Second, what is the value of imagination in future space missions (if any), and how can we account for that value, and perhaps even improve it? Overall, this project seeks to shed light on the epistemology of scientific imagination, as well as motivate greater attention to the philosophy of space science. Finally, and more broadly, the aim is to argue for the importance of imagination in space science when it comes to the ethical-political-social (disruptive) implications of the ‘how and why’ of space missions.

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