WOMNH Conference 2026: International & interdisciplinary conference on women, science and museums (Web)
Time: 19.20.11.2026
Venue: Natural History Museum (NHM) Vienna, Austria
Registration (Web)
The conference organized by the NHM Vienna, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the WOMNH Network aims to explore how women have shaped scientific knowledge through networks that crossed domestic, social and institutional spaces such as natural history museums. Focussing on early modern figures as well as the increasing disciplinary differentiation of women scientists in the 19th century, it highlights diverse formats of knowledge exchange such as salons, scientific associations, museums, etc. Bringing together historical case studies and methodological reflections from the WOMNH network (established in 2024), we aim to foster and develop future women research in a variety of areas.
Programme
Thursday, 19.11.2026
09:00 Welcome Notes: Welcome by Director General Katrin Vohland (NHM Vienna) and WOMNH Network (Laurence Talairach, Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel & Sabine von Mering)
09:55 Keynote Talk: Laurence Talairach (Alexandre-Koyré Center, Institut Univ. de France, Univ. of Toulouse Jean Jaurès): Seaweed Hunting in Nineteenth-Century Britain: From Local Communities to Transnational Networks of Female Beachcombers
10:45 Session 1: Early Women Naturalists
- Romana Sammern (Univ. Salzburg): Collecting, Making, Healing: Medici Women and Networks of Medical Knowledge
- Noemi Di Tommaso (Univ. of Milan): Invisible Hands in a Visible Space: Francesca Fontana in Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Natural History Museum
- Fiona Mountain (Novelist, Cotswolds): Eleanor Glanville: Lady of the Butterflies
13:00 Session 2: Women in Earth Sciences and Microscopy Continue reading

Ambasada Polek e.V.
Institut Historische Sozialforschung (IHSF) der AK Wien
Frauenhetz – Feministische Bildung, Kultur und Politik; Reihe „ResistingSigns – Comics als queer-feministisches Medium des Widerstands“
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (HGM)
Wienbibliothek im Rathaus (WBR) und Literaturarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB)
Jüdisches Museum Wien