Ian Wereley

Adjunct Research Professor

B.A., M.A. (�Ӱ�ԭ��), Ph.D. (�Ӱ�ԭ��)
Email Ian Wereley

Biographical Note

I am an energy historian interested in the past, present, and future of oil. My work seeks to demonstrate how history offers important lessons for navigating our own changing energy landscapes, and my recent publications include studies of energy transitions, oil company advertising, and the anthropomorphosis of fossil fuels into characters like King Coal and Prince Petroleo. I serve as an Adjunct Curator of the History of Energy at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, and am the Executive Director of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies.

Education

2018 – 2019
Postdoctoral Associate
Calgary Institute for the Humanities, Calgary

2012 – 2018
Doctor of Philosophy – History
�Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Ottawa

2010 – 2012
Master of Arts – History
�Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Ottawa

2006 – 2010
Bachelor of Arts – International History
�Ӱ�ԭ�� University, Ottawa

Publications

Ian Wereley. 2021. “Rather of Promise Than of Performance: Tracing Networks of Knowledge and Power Through the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1882-1922.” In

Ian Wereley. 2020. “Advertising an Empire of Oil: The British Petroleum Company and the Persian Khan Exhibit of 1924-1925.”

Ian Wereley. 2019. “King Coal versus Prince Petroleo: Imagining Oil, Energy, and Transition in Early Twentieth-Century Britain.” In Heather Graves and David Beard (Eds.), The Rhetoric of Oil in the Twenty-First Century. .

Ian Wereley. 2016. “Extracting the Past from the Present: Exotic Prizes, Empty Wilderness, and Commercial Conquest in Two Oil Company Advertisements, 1925-2012.”

General Audience

Ian Wereley. 2020. “.” Labour/Le Travail, vol. 85 (Spring): 304-306.

Ian Wereley. 2019. “Research on the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1898-1947.” .

PhD Dissertation: “Imagining the Age of Oil: Case Studies in British Petrocultures, 1865-1935.” .

Master’s Thesis: “Discourse of Dissent: Bernard Acworth, the British Anti-Oil Movement, and the Royal Navy’s Use of Fuels, 1927-1937.” .

Teaching and Training

2018-Present
HIST 2910 O – “A History of Oil: Science, Technology, Culture & Conflict”
Department of History, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

2019-Present
“A History of Oil: Past, Present, and Future”
Learning in Retirement Lecture Series, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

2018
“Oil History for Everyone”
Enrichment Mini-Course Program for Elementary Students
EMCP, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

Community Engagement

Invited Talks

Dec 2021 “” Bytown Museum.

Nov. 2019 “Discussions on the Future of the 3MT Competition”
CAGS 57^th Annual Conference, Halifax

Sept. 2019 Energy and Scale Conference, Banff

Nov. 2018 SSHRC Take Our Kids to Work Day, Ottawa

October 2018 Calgary Institute for The Humanities Public Lecture, Calgary

Conference Presentations

August 2020 Petrocultures: Transformations, Stavanger, Norway [Cancelled]

May 2020 Canadian Historical Association, London [Cancelled]

March 2020 American Society for Environmental History, Ottawa [Cancelled]

June 2019 Canadian Historical Association, Vancouver

May 2017 Canadian Historical Association Conference, Toronto

August 2016 Petrocultures: The Offshore Conference, St. John’s

June 2016 Environmental Studies Association of Canada Conference, Calgary

May 2016 Canadian Historical Association Conference, Calgary

May 2016 SSHRC Imagining Canada’s Future Forum, Calgary

Media Interviews

May 2022 The Globe and Mail, Toronto

March 2020 CBC Radio, Edmonton

January 2020 University Affairs Magazine, Canada

Nov. 2019 CBC Radio Saskatchewan, Regina

January 2019 FASS Newsletter, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University
Nick Ward, “A Dozen Years at �Ӱ�ԭ�� Studying History and Oil.”

Nov. 2017 Library and Archives Canada Podcast, Ottawa

April 2017 Universities Canada, Ottawa

October 2016 Universities Canada, Ottawa

Awards & Scholarships

March 2022 Teaching and Learning Services, �Ӱ�ԭ�� University
�Ӱ�ԭ�� University Experiential Learning Fund (CUELF)

2013 – 2016 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Canada Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral)

August 2016 �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

May 2016 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

March 2016 �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

March 2015 �Ӱ�ԭ�� University

April 2013 �Ӱ�ԭ�� University
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

2012 – 2013 Government of Ontario
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral)