Dr. Sarah Qidwai
Sarah Qidwai is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Regensburg. She is a historian of science and Empire in the 19th c. Broadly speaking, she works on transnational and local perspectives of various scientific disciplines during the long nineteenth-century. Her research specialties and teaching interests include, but are not limited to, British imperialism in the long nineteenth century, science and colonialism, South Asian studies, the relationship of science and Islam, and the history of evolutionary biology. Her dissertation and initial book project focus on the Muslim polymath Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898). Through an interdisciplinary approach, she investigates the development and implementation of Sayyid Ahmad’s scientific popularization efforts and how he dealt with science’s role in its historical context.
Her current project is titled “Scientism and Empire.” She will examine how disciplines such as astronomy, geology, and evolutionary biology operated within the confines of Empire in the long 19th c.
Website: sarahqidwai.com
VITA
2021-2023
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Regensburg
EDUCATION
2021
Ph.D., History of Science, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
2015
Master of Arts, History of Science, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
2014
Bachelor of Arts, Specialist History, Minor History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
South Asian Studies; History of Evolutionary Biology; Islam and science; Science and Empire; Nineteenth Century British History; Global History of Science and Religion
LANGUAGES
English: fluent in writing, speaking and reading
Urdu: fluent in speaking and reading
French: reading and writing (with dictionary)
PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS
Marcos, P., Naramore, S., Sheldon, M., Pickman, S., Qidwai, S., and Sheppard, K., “HSS Virtual Forum: Future Series.” Isis 2021 112:3, 573-581
Robinson, S, Baumhammer, M., […] Qidwai, S., “Innovation in a crisis: rethinking conferences and scholarship in a pandemic and climate emergency” The British Journal for the History of Science, 53(4), 575-590.
“Aligarh’s Scientific Society: All But Forgotten” in Oxford of the East: Aligarh Muslim University (1920-2020). Edited by A.R Kidwai (Delhi: Viva Books, 2020), 258-274
“Studying the Qur’an: Neither Here nor There,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 33, 2 (2020): 114-121
“Re-Examining Complexity: Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Interpretation of ‘Science in Islam” in Rethinking History, Science, and Religion: An Exploration of Conflict and the Complexity Principle. Edited by Bernard Lightman (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), 50-64. *
“Darwin or Design: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Views on Human Evolution” in The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan. Edited by Yasmin Saikia and Raisur Rahim. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 214-232.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Lightman, B., Qidwai, S., eds., Global History of Evolution and Religion – to be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh press, spring 2022
Fernando T., Qidwai, S.,“South Asia’s Place in the History of Science, Religion, and Evolution in the Nineteenth Century”, in B. Lightman and S. Qidwai, eds, Global History of Evolution and Religion-- to be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh press, spring 2022
“Darwinism and the History of Evolutionary Biology: What is Excluded?” in Beyond the Darwinian Revolution: Historicizing Evolution from the Past to the Present. Edited by Ian Hesketh (accepted for publication and to be published in spring 2022, University of Pittsburgh Press) *
(*peer-reviewed)
LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
INVITED LECTURES
2021
“Astronomy and Empires” Lecture in Astronomical Revolutions, University of Toronto Mississauga
“Partition and Confederation: Science, Education, and Empire,” Lecture in HIST 3361 - British Politics, Society, and Culture Since 1688, Texas Tech University
2020
“Globalization and Colonialism: Canada, Colonialism and the Legacy of Residential Schools” Lecture in HPS200 Science and Values, IHPST
2019
“Taqi ad-Din ibn Ma’ruf (1521-1585) and Tyco Brahe (1546-1601): Rethinking the History of Astronomy and Religion,” Lecture in HPS272: Science Against Religion? A Complex History, IHPST
2018
“Darwin in India: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s perspective on Human Evolution” Lecture in HPS326: History of Science and Religion, IHPST
2016
“Introduction to Darwinism” Lecture in HPS326: History of Science and Religion
“Darwinism in Colonial India” IHPST Colloquialism
RESEARCH AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2021
“Sir Syed (1817-1898) and Science: The Place of Polymaths and Popularizers in NineteenthCentury History of Science” Translating 18th- and 19th-Century Science: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Online: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
2020
“The Munsif in Delhi: Intellectual Communities and Vernacular Translations in 19th India,” Colonial Knowledges Conference. Manchester, UK
“Complexities Around Translating Scientific Knowledge in 19th Century British India,” British Society for the History of Science Global Histories Twitter Conference - Twitter
“Decolonizing History of Evolutionary Biology: A Perspective from 19th Century India,” Cabinet of Natural History, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Cambridge, UK
2019
Session Organizer, “Science and its Local Readers in British India,” History of Science Society, Utrecht, Netherlands
“Moving from Complexity to Global Histories of Science and Religion” International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society, Birmingham, UK
“Darwin or Design? Examining Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s view of human evolution,” Workshop: Imagining the Darwinian Revolution, The Place of History in Science. International Society for Intellectual History, Queensland, Australia
“Disseminating Scientific Knowledge in Colonial India: The Origins of the Scientific Society of Aligarh (est. 1864)” British Society for the History of Science Post Graduate Conference, Cambridge, UK
“A Case-study of Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Commentary on the Holy Bible” McGill Institute for Islamic Studies Graduate Student Symposium, Montreal, Quebec
2018
“Science, Islam and India: Exploring the Complexity Thesis in the Field of Science and Religion,” History of Science Society, Seattle, Washington
“The Intersection of Christianity, Islam and Science in Colonial India,” Science and Religion – Religion and Science – Friend or Foe or Unrelated? Zürich, Switzerland
2017
“Islam’s Complexity – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) and the Relationship Between Science and Islam in Colonial India,” International Congress for the History of Science, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
“Sir Syed the nechari (naturalist),” History of Science in India Symposium, Christchurch, New Zealand
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND AFFILIATIONS
2019-2021
Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2020
Visiting Student, HPS Department, University of Cambridge
2019
Doctoral Completion Award
2014-2018
University of Toronto Fellowship
2015
Woodsworth College Leadership Award
2014
J.R MacGillivray Fellowship (University College)
2014
Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award
2014
Innis College Leadership Award
TEACHING EXPERIENCE (IHPST, University of Toronto)
2021
Course Instructor, HPS301: Science and Subjects of Empire in the Long-Nineteenth Century
Teaching Assistant, HPS100: Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (Online)
2020
Teaching Assistant, HPS301H1: Topics in the History of Science: Medicine and Public Health in the Middle East
Teaching Assistant, HPS200: Science and Values
2019
Teaching Assistant, HPS120H: How to Think About Science
2016
Teaching Assistant, HPS326H: History of Science and Religion
2015
Teaching Assistant JHE353H: History of Evolutionary Biology
CITIZENSHIP, RESEARCH, AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
2021-
Ordinary Member of Council of the British Society for the History of Science
2020-
Founder and Advisory Board Member, Virtual HistSTM
2020-2021
Research Assistant: Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation (PIE), University of Toronto
2020
Content Director, BSHS Global Digital History of Science Festival (British Society for the History of Science)
2020
Member, Virtual Forum Committee (History of Science Society)
2019-2023
Diversity Officer for the Graduate and Early Career Caucus (History of Science Society)
2016-2017
Finance and University Governance Commissioner for the University of Toronto Graduate Students Union (UTGSU)
2015-2016
Course Organizer, “Indigenous Health Histories”
ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS
History of Science Society (HSS)
British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)
Kerstin Füchsl - 22.12.2021 10:17 
- Fakultät für Philosophie, Kunst-, Geschichts- und Gesellschaftswissenschaften
- Institut für Philosophie
Professorship for History of Science
Postal Address:
Universität Regensburg
D-93040 Regensburg
Physical Address:
Universitätsstraße 31
D-93053 Regensburg