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Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich

Dr. Kim M. Hajek

 

Postdoc Research Fellow

Philosophy and History of Science and Technology

Dr Kim M. Hajek joined TUM in 2024 as a Postdoctoral Researcher attached both to the Ethical Data Initiative (EDI) and to the chair group in Philosophy and History of Science and Technology. Kim’s interdisciplinary research draws on concepts and methods from narrative theory, history of science, and intellectual history to scrutinise scientific knowledge-making and its cultural products. Her work at TUM attends to the ways narrative and textuality can enhance our critical insight into how scientists and other actors produce, manipulate, and transfer data.

Kim holds 1st-class Honours degrees (equivalent to research Masters level) in both Physics and French Language and Literature, and continued to research and teach at university level in Physics while undertaking doctoral research in the History of Science at The University of Queensland. Her PhD dissertation (2016) explored the intellectual contours of self-consciously ‘scientific’ research into hypnotism in late nineteenth-century France, as well as the ways fictional texts contributed to knowledge-making about hypnotism and the mind.

In 2016, Kim was appointed as a Lecturer (assistant professor) in French at the University of New England, Australia, and began to develop a line of research examining the role of case histories in psychology and psychotherapy. This informed her research into the way scientists use narrative as part of the interdisciplinary Narrative Science Project (led by Mary Morgan) at the London School of Economics (2018–21), from which she co-edited the volume Narrative Science: Reasoning, Representing and Knowing since 1800 (CUP, 2022). Kim then moved to a second postdoctoral research position (2021–23) as part of an international team, working on the language of virtues in 20th-century scholarly ethics codes as part of the project ‘Scholarly Vices: A Longue Durée History’ at Leiden University (led by Herman Paul). She interrogated further aspects of psychotherapeutic case-writing during her 2023 fellowship at the Vossius Center for the History of Humanities and Sciences (Amsterdam) and as a guest researcher in the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University.

Kim serves on the editorial advisory board of the history of science journals Isis and Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, and was an Associate Editor of Centaurus from 2019 to 2023. Since 2018, she has sat on the executive of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences (ESHHS), and several times chaired the programme for the society’s annual conferences. Having worked in five countries, she is passionate about internationalism, diversity, and multilingualism within scholarship.

  • History of Modern Science
  • Narrative Studies of Science
  • Medical Humanities
  • History and Theory of Psychology
  • 19th-century French Studies

Peer-reviewed books, book-chapters, and articles:

  • Kim M. Hajek, Sjang ten Hagen, and Herman Paul. “Objectivity, Honesty and Integrity: How American Scientists Talked about their Virtues, 1945–2000.” History of Science 61, no. 3 (2024): 442–69.
  • Kim M. Hajek. “En rapport avec le texte: La suggestion hypnotique entre fragment littéraire et objet scientifique à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.” In Le Réel invisible: Le Magnétisme dans la littérature (1780–1914), edited by Victoire Feuillebois and Emilie Pézard, pp. 283–95. La Revue des lettres modernes (December 2022). Paris: Classiques Garnier.
  • Mary S. Morgan, Kim M. Hajek, and Dominic J. Berry, eds. Narrative Science: Reasoning, Representing and Knowing since 1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/narrative-science/C24469AE3BC2B8EEACF8DE743BB46614#
  • Kim M. Hajek. “What is Narrative in Narrative Science? The Narrative Science Approach.” In Narrative Science: Reasoning, Representing and Knowing since 1800, edited by Mary S. Morgan, Kim M. Hajek, and Dominic J. Berry, pp. 31–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
  • Kim M. Hajek. “Félida, Doubled Personality, and the ‘Normal State’ in Late Nineteenth-Century French Psychology.” History of the Human Sciences 34, no. 2 (2021): 66–89 (Special Issue on Thinking Critically with the Normal, edited by Peter Cryle and Elizabeth Stephens).
  • Kim M. Hajek. “Periodical Amnesia and Dédoublement in Case-Reasoning: Writing Psychological Cases in Late Nineteenth-Century France.” History of the Human Sciences 33, no. 3–4 (2020): 95–110 (Special Issue on Thinking in Cases, edited by Chris Millard and Felicity Callard).
  • Kim M. Hajek. “‘A Portion of Truth’: Demarcating the Boundaries of Scientific Hypnotism in Late Nineteenth-Century France.” Notes and Records (Royal Society Journal of the History of Science) 71, no. 2 (2017): 125–39 (Special Issue on the History of Hypnotism).
  • Kim M. Hajek. “‘Je lis ça comme je lirais un roman’: Reading Scientific Works on Hypnotism in Late Nineteenth-Century France.” Australian Journal of French Studies 53 (2016): 232–45.
  • Kim M. Hajek. “Imperceptible Signs: Remnants of magnétisme in Scientific Discourses on Hypnotism in Late Nineteenth-Century France.” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 51, no. 4 (2015): 366–86.
  • Kim M. Hajek. “The Fear of Simulation: Scientific Authority in Late Nineteenth-Century French Disputes over Hypnotism.” History of Science 53, no. 3 (2015): 237–63.
  • K. M. Hajek, B. Littleton, D. Turk, T. J. McIntyre, and H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop. “A Method for Achieving Super-Resolved Widefield Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy.” Optics Express 18, no. 18 (2010): 19263–72.
  • L. Guyon, K. M. Hajek, F. Courvoisier, V. Boutou, R. Nuter, A. Vincotte, S. Champeaux, L. Bergé, and J.-P. Wolf. “Control of Lasing Filament Arrays in Nonlinear Liquid Media.” Applied Physics B 90, no. 3–4 (2007): 383–90.

Other publications:

  • Kim M. Hajek. “Narrative and the Human Sciences.” In What is the History of the Human Sciences?, edited by Roger Smith, pp. 79–107. Part 1 of The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Human Sciences, edited by D. McCallum. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4106-3_44-1
  • Kim M. Hajek. Review of Un Enfant à l’asile. Vie de Paul Taesch, by Anatole Le Bras. Centaurus 62, (2020): 214–15.
  • A. Kovachevich, K. M. Hajek, and T. J. McIntyre. “Optical Investigation of Hydrogen Fuel Penetration on a Scramjet Intake.” 14th AIAA/AHI International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Canberra, Australia, 2006.
  • T. J. McIntyre, T. N. Eichmann, A. Kovachevich, and K. Hajek. “Visualisation and Measurement of Flow on the Inlet of an Upstream Injected Supersonic-Combustion Ramjet.” Fourth Australian Conference on Laser Diagnostics in Fluid Mechanics and Combustion, edited by Z. Alwahabi (McLaren Vale, Australia: The University of Adelaide, 2005).

  • Theory and History of Psychology
  • History of Knowledge
  • Medical History
  • 19th-century French Literature
  • French as a Foreign Language

Editorial roles for scholarly journals:

  • Centaurus (Journal of the European Society for the History of Science): Associate Editor, 2019–2023.
  • Isis (A Journal of the History of Science Society): Advisory Editor, 2023–2026.
  • Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JHBS): Editorial Board Member, 2020–present.

Reviews for scholarly journals:

Bulletin of the History of Medicine; Centaurus; Isis; Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences; Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Psychology; Theory & Psychology

Languages:

English (native speaker); French (academic level—Diplôme approfondi de langue française, 2004); Dutch (B2—Diploma Nederlands als tweede taal–programma II, 2023); German (basic)

Invited Talks:

  • “Narrative in Science & Knowledge-Making.” Fact, Fake and Fiction. Multidisciplinary workshop on combating dis-information in science. Lorentz Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, 5–9 February 2024.
  • “Writing a Talking Cure: Case Histories & Routine Psychotherapy before Freud.” Seminar series of the History and Philosophy of Science Program, Online for University of Melbourne & University of Sydney, 30 May 2023.
  • “Writing a Talking Cure: Routine Psychotherapeutic Case Histories in Francophone Europe.” Vossius Center for the History of Humanities and Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 24 April 2023.
  • “Writing a Talking Cure: Textual Dynamics of Psychotherapeutic Case Histories.” Cultural History Forum. KU Leuven, Belgium, 21 April 2023.
  • Methodology Workshop on Scientific Journals as Historical Sources. Global Academies Project. KU Leuven, Belgium, 21 April 2023.
  • “The ‘Normal state’ in French personality psychology.” SDN at a Distance Seminar Series (Online). Société des Dix-Neuviémistes, 7 May 2021.
  • “What is Narrative in Narrative Science? Narrative Theory and the NS Project.” Narrative & Science Workshop. Online for Narrare: Centre for Interdisciplinary Narrative Studies at Tampere University, Finland, 26 March 2021.
  • Round-table Panellist. Dédoublement: Une figure historique et historiographique de l'histoire des sciences humaines. (Atelier en hommage au travail de Jacqueline Carroy). Centre Koyré, Paris, 27 September, 2019.
  • “Félida, Doubled Personality, and the 'Normal State' in Late 19th-century French Psychology.” Thinking Critically with the Normal Workshop. Villa Palagione, Volterra, Italy, 8–9 June, 2018.

Conference Presentations (since 2018):

  • “Psychotherapy and other Medications: Drugs and Physical Interventions in Early Psychotherapy.” 43rd Conference of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences. University of Essex, 25–28 June 2024.
  • “What are the Magic Words? Textualising Cases of Psychotherapy around the turn of the 20th Century.” ESHHS Annual Meeting. Sapienza University of Rome, 4–7 July 2023.
  • (With Sjang ten Hagen) “What Kind of People Make Good Scientists? Knowledge and Virtue in Postwar America (1950–2000).” European Society for the History of Science. Brussels, Belgium, 7–10 September, 2022.
  • “Scholarly sociability for psychologists: National codifications.” Annual Meeting of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences. SFU, Berlin, 30 August–2 September, 2022.
  • (With Sjang ten Hagen & Herman Paul) “Tact, Tolerance, and Critical Power: How Personal Qualities Mattered in American Science, 1950–2000.” History of Recent Social Science. University of Toronto, Canada, 17–19 June 2022.
  • “Setting out the road rules: Scholarly vices in 20th-century codes of conduct.” 2nd ESHS Early Career Scholars Conference. Online (Athens), 20–22 September, 2021.
  • “Narrative and the Textual Configuration of Cases in Late Nineteenth-Century Psychology.” History of Science Society. Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 23–27 July 2019.
  • “Indirect discourse, narrator distance and sociological knowledge in the early years of the Année sociologique (1896–1900).” 38th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences. Central European University, Budapest, 4–6 July, 2019.
  • “Analogous Cases in Nineteenth-Century French Psychology: Narrating and Evaluating Double Personality.” Cheiron, 51st Annual Meeting. MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada, 20–23 June, 2019.
  • “Explanation and Exemplarity: Retelling the Case of Félida X in the Medical and Popular Press.” Seventeenth Annual Conference of The Society of Dix-Neuviémistes. University of Southampton, UK, 8 - 10 April 2019
  • “Grocery Stores and Unknown Pregnancies: Detail in Retelling the Case of Félida X.” British Society for Literature and Science. Royal Holloway, Egham, 4–6 April, 2019.
  • “Dédoublement de personnalité et multiplication de récits : Réécrire le cas de Félida X… à la fin du XIXe siècle.” Colloque international de la Société Française pour l’Histoire des Sciences de l’Homme. École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, 26–28 September 2018.
  • “‘Je vais raconter l’histoire d’une jeune femme’: Retelling the Story of Félida X… in Emerging French Psychology.” ESHHS Annual Meeting. University of Groningen, 17–20 July 2018.
  • “Scientific Storytellers in French Psychological and Psychotherapeutic Observations c.a. 1875–1895.” CHEIRON: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 50th Annual Meeting. The University of Akron, USA, 21–24 June, 2018.
  • “Félida, Doubled Personality, and the 'Normal State' in Late 19th-century French Psychology.” Thinking Critically with the Normal Workshop. Villa Palagione, Volterra, Italy, 8–9 June, 2018.

  • European Society for the History of the Human Sciences (ESHHS) — Executive board member since 2018; Member of scientific committee 2018–2024.
  • Cheiron (The International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences) — Review Committee Member 2018–2023; Member of Young Scholar Award committee 2020.
  • Dutch Expertise Centre for Theory & History of Education and Psychology (DEEP), University of Groningen.
  • History Health & Healing (Dutch academic network for medical history).

  • 2023: Research Fellowship, Vossius Center for the History of Humanities and Sciences, University of Amsterdam.
  • 2017: School of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award (Languages). University of New England, Australia. (With Valentina Gosetti.)
  • 2015: Australian Society for French Studies/Australian Journal of French Studies Postgraduate Essay Prize.
  • 2014: European Society for the History of the Human Sciences (ESHHS) Early Career Award.
  • 2009: Second place, Australia and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine Ben Haneman Prize. (Postgraduate Essay Prize).
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