The Science and Empire Commission (SCIEMP) is a commission of the Division for the History of Science and Technology (DHST / IUHPST) dedicated to promoting, coordinating, and disseminating research on the intersections of science, knowledge production, and imperial formations. Since its formal establishment in Liège in 1997, SCIEMP has built upon decades of intellectual engagement—beginning with the “Sciences and Empires” network in the late 1980s and early 1990s—to foster a more critical historiography of science beyond Eurocentric narratives.

Through workshops, conferences, newsletters, collaborative projects, and digital tools like our Zotero library, SCIEMP creates a space for critical, comparative, and inclusive histories of science. We support early-career researchers, amplify underrepresented voices, and connect scholars across borders and linguistic traditions.

This website serves as a research and reference platform that brings together historical materials, essays, news, and a continuously updated Zotero library organizing key bibliographic resources on the historical relationships between science and empire.

SCIEMP aims to strengthen international research networks and to provide open-access tools that contribute to more critical, inclusive, and diverse approaches to the global history of science.

Read more about SCIEMP researchers in our Microblog section